Louanges Profanes 19 (2008)
by Parfumerie Generale

I do not believe that it is only because of the opening phoneme, but Parfumerie Generale LOUANGES PROFANES strikes me as vaguely reminiscent of the Keiko Mecheri LOUKHOUM series. I am working from memory here, having fully drained all three of my LOUKHOUM samples quite some time ago, but looking at the notes I do see that both contain, in addition to a huge dollop of creamy sweetness, hawthorn.

This is a very beautiful and complex oriental floral perfume, which altogether avoids the usual clichés and rampant fads, above all, vanilla patchouli. I find this composition much more oriental than floral, and the benzoin-rich drydown is simply scrumptious, with serious addiction potential!

Interestingly enough, other reviewers (at The Other Site), have compared LOUANGES to another perfume with the same opening phoneme, LOULOU! However, since I do not suffer the unmistakeable LOULOU plastic-madness headache upon donning this far more compelling and appealing creation, I must respectfully disagree...

31st October, 2011.

What an amazing opening this fragrance has -- emitting a very sweet, waxy and almost plasticky floral aroma. The drydown is just as brilliant with the benzoin, leathery incense and creamy resinous wood lasting for hours. I think Pierre is a big fan of Christopher Sheldrake at Lutens -- this fragrance is like a paean to him.

PS. God knows what Luca Turin was smelling when he reviewed this.

10th March, 2011.

This scent reminds me of a scene in my favorite movie of 2009, played out by my now favorite actor.

In Inglourious Basterds, Christopher Waltz's character asks Melanie Laurent's character to have a pastry. As she is about to take a bite he stops her, saying 'No, no... wait for the cream. It's much better with cream."

The tension in this scene is just incredible, and you find yourself screaming in your head, DON'T TAKE THE CREAM!!!

And so it is with Louanges,you know there is a good pastry lurking there, but at the last minute some evil person added a big ol' scoop of sweet cream.

That said, this is my most liked fragrance from this line, but not sure how much of a compliment that is.
But unless this scent was aiming for an oscar nomination it didn't need that huge helping of sweetness. It's just too much here.

8th February, 2010.

Interesting opening – a floral accord that seems almost bubble-gummy sweet, but there is something about the accord that holds my interest instead of my seeing it become a cliché. I think that what keeps the accord interesting is the (comparatively) heavy lily note in the mixture that dominates but in no way overcomes the lighter, more delicate, neroli and hawthorn notes… It’s a unique accord that, as Vibert says, gets dangerously close to being a disaster… but it never closes that last inch. I seem to miss a lot that is supposed to be going on in Louanges: The lily note, though prominent, does not come across to me as indole laden, and I don’t get an incense note unless that slight smoke in the background counts as such. Louanges stays rather linear in its excellent floral accord, and that accord continues into and through the drydown where the florals get a bit sweeter and unite themselves with a modicum of resinous wood note. The delicacy and artistry of the structure and movement is exceptional.

Louanges Profanes 19 is an endearing classical floral fragrance, done exceptionally well with enough edginess to remove it far from the “pretty” category and place it in the “has a strong element of depth and complexity” category. It’s lovely and memorable.

1st February, 2010.

Louanges Profanes opens on soft citrus and sugary floral notes that are almost punishingly sweet. The scent then becomes intensely powdery, with only the rapid emergence of some faintly astringent spices and an animalic, indole-laden lily and neroi accord to pull it back from the brink of unbearable mawkishness. All of this occurs within the first five minutes of wear, in a flurry of olfactory activity that flirts with disaster like the best of physical comedians. In the short time it takes Louanges Profanes to settle into its spicy, indolic white flower heart my respiratory rate is elevated and my knuckles go white. The landing is surprisingly soft, but the highly conventional arrival point is as much a disappointment as a relief after so wild a ride. It’s like watching a team of brilliant pastry chefs laboring frantically amidst clattering pans, roaring ovens, and pillars of smoke, with only a tray of brownies to show for the effort.

The spiced lily and neroli accord rests on a soft woody foundation, and the composition becomes cleaner and greener on its way to an extremely soapy, powdery drydown that would not be out of place in an Estée Lauder scent like Alliage or White Linen . Sillage and projection are both more than adequate, and Louanges Profanes has several hours’ worth of staying power, but for a high-price niche perfume I find it awfully generic. You can get more interesting white flower fragrances without the cash or the effort required to track this scent down.

12nd December, 2009.

Louanges was one of the last PGs I needed to sample to try the entire line, and in some ways I'm glad I saved it for last. Louanges is perhaps the most un-PG of the line. Fragrances in the line have a tendency towards the rich, with full compositions with loads of sillage that tend towards the gourmand. Conversely Louange typifies the line in the sense that Guillarme uses unusual combinations of notes for novel and successful effect. In this case we have a citrus/floral with a dash of incense. PGs line doesn't have a chypre, and in many ways Louanges approximates a chypre with it's combination of citrus, floral and woody notes.

As vibert mentions, this fragrance moves quickly for the first 10 minutes. Starting off with a bright neroli/lily accord, Louanges quickly becomes powdery, lightly sweet, and a bit soapy. A mild incense note moves in to create a smoky and woody contrast to the citrus/floral accord. After moving so quickly at first this heart accord then persists for a long time. It's a very enjoyable accord - the balance of green, citrus, powder/soap, and woody incense sounds like it would be too much but in fact it is far more transparent then you'd think reading a description of it. What's really nice is that the notes are so well blended that the individual notes aren't distinct, and in this way Louanges resembles the 'chypre accord'. The sillage is less than that of most Parfumerie Generales, meaning it's typical of average niche fragrances and very good. This heart accord eventually fades to a mossy/woody base, also powdery. Overall I get about 6 hours of longevity.

For people not fond of PG's gourmand style this may be a good fragrance to try. Of course the PG florals (i.e. Ether de Lilas, Ilang Ivohibe, etc.) aren't gourmand, but many are. Louanges is a unique position and occupies a unique position in the PG line.

Highly recommended.

17th August, 2009.