L'Ombre Fauve
by Parfumerie Generale

A very pleasing mix of amber sandalwood and patchouli. A warm smoothe amber with a touch of spice woods that ends with a minty patchouli. A strange ghost note occurs with the combination of amber and patchouli that has a slight sharp wild smell to it - smells like cat fur or a light urine scent. A smoothe cuddly animal of a scent. Very enjoyable warm patchouli.

L'Ombre Fauve is a lush but light amber fragrance; a pleasing mixture of amber, sandalwood, vanilla, patchouli and musk.

While I appreciate the demure charm of the juice, I cannot say anything particularly grabs my attention or sets L'Ombre Fauve apart. Especially when compared to the more unique offerings from this house, I find this comparatively underwhelming.

For dry amber with sandalwood I'd recommend L'Air Du Desert Marocain; for a richer, sweeter amber Ambre Sultan. L'Ombre Fauve trails behind both in sillage and longevity.

Still, this is not a negative review. L'Ombre Fauve is a small fragrance with gentle charms, and does well within those parameters.

This is one of my favorites of the Parfumrie Generale line along with L'Oiseau de Nuit (Night Bird), a sweet, deep, rich, somewhat leathery labdanum paired with a fruity davana flower. L'Ombre Fauvre consists of amber, wood, musk, vanilla, and a little bit of patchouli. Like one other reviewer said, "What's not to love?" And that wraps it up for my sentiments. Wrap yourself in it and feel the glow.

Amber, musk, woods, incense and patchouli . . . what's not to like? A warm, comforting scent that's exotic, spicy and semi-sweet. It's also quite potent, so a little goes a long way. If you're a fan of rich, deep fragrances, then you should give L'Ombre Fauve a try.

The opening of L'Ombre Fauve on the skin is very rich, one can immediately identify the dry woods with a mixture of subtle spices gently sprinkled all over it, giving it a familiar "woody-spicy" accord you get to smell in dozens of Perfumes nowadays. However, that is where the similarity ends and L'Ombre Fauve leaves the runway, taking off, off to reach dazzling heights like a sleek aircraft. The Amber warms up to the touch of the skin within minutes of application, rising up alongwith the body heat radiating around you. For the shortest moment, sniffing it during it's mid-stage I got something like Milk! eek.. I thought... WTF.. that aroma quickly gave away to something smelling like slightly Burnt Rubber at first, then Unburnt Rubber... hmm, interesting.

Fortunately the milk/rubber reference soon leaves the heady mix letting the Amber now take centerstage. This Amber alongwith the mingled resinous Incense and full bodied Musk gives off one of the dreamiest sillage my nose has ever recorded. Wow..slightly sweet and truly Sumptuous in its "feel" .. one can tell the quality of the ingredients used in creating this blend. Absolutely dazzling.

The fragrance progresses on into its drydown with the Patchouli now binding the trio of Amber, Powdery Musk and Incense together with only a hint of woodiness. Matter of factly I was able to detect the Patchouli quite early on in the development, is it the Patchouli interacting with some other ingredient in the blend to create an olfactory illusion of Milk/Rubber? I don't know for sure. The drydown is as Impressive as the earlier development stages of the fragrance is.. mesmerizing and reminds one of all things Glorious. It almost alters one's perspective, elevating the wearer's state of mind and I'm saying this from the experience of having worn the fragrance and experienced the heavenly drydown myself.