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Burr gives Fracas by Piguet five stars

post #1 of 31
5/16/08 at 1:35pm
Thread Starter 
I almost posted this on the Womens board - but we've been discussing Fracas here on the mens thread recently so I thought I'd post it over here.

Male fans of tuberose unite!

'There are perfume legends, there are perfumer legends, and then there are perfumes that become obsessions. Fracas is all three, which is a hat trick less common that youd think. Still more extraordinary, Fracas is built on a concept of tuberose, a small white flower (unrelated to rose; the name comes from the Latin word describing the plants tuberous root system) that generates an overpowering scent and is notorious among perfumers for being a difficult raw material to master. Which is perhaps why Fracass perfumer, Germaine Cellier, managed it...'

Read the full review here.
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post #2 of 31
5/16/08 at 1:44pm
It's a shame Germaine Cellier isn't still alive, she was a fantastic perfumer. She created fantastic fragrances like Fracas, Bandit, Vent Vert & Eau D'Hermes. Truly amazing.
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post #3 of 31
5/16/08 at 1:45pm
it deserves six stars!
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post #4 of 31
5/16/08 at 1:49pm
I read the review from the link! All I can say is that this is one of those times I agree with Burr 100% - though I think his descriptions of some of the animalic/indolic accords are a bit over the top! (A bouquet of Jasmine smells a bit different than a bucket containing poop and sweaty underwear, for instance, a mistake you might make when reading his article! )

I also found it interesting the person who is assigned to essentially curate the scent keeping it smelling true to the original design. What a tough job!! Though I suppose it is half the job Ellena does for Hermes.
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post #5 of 31
5/16/08 at 2:13pm
Wow, first New Haarlem, now Fracas?! Guess I'll be adding another to my collection...
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post #6 of 31
5/16/08 at 6:41pm
Wearing Fracas is like having to endure your rich girlfriends' wrinkly, loud-mouthed, jewellery-flashing mother. To me it doesn't smell like Cellier was able to control this raw material with panache. Thanks but I like my tuberose painted with a little more deftness ...I will stick with Carnal Flower.
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post #7 of 31
5/16/08 at 11:38pm
Thread Starter 
Last year I found tuberose flowers at my local florist (for the first time) and had two bunches of them in my house. The smell...well, it's extremely indolic. Kind of like a constant barrage of dirty yet floral notes - as if a tuberose scented candle was left on in the other room. Quite incredible. I can only imagine what these flowers smell like in the ground.

I have yet to actually give Fracas a full wearing. I always see the tester at Sephora. I want to reach over and give it a go, but I ultimately know that if I test Fracas, I can't really test anything else the whole day.
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post #8 of 31
5/17/08 at 1:24am
I think Fracas pour femme is one of the most stunning female fragrances out there. There have been very few female perfumes which have stopped me in my tracks and made me ask "What are you wearing? You smell wonderful!", yet Fracas made me do exactly that only a month or so again.

I love the smell of tuberose and the young lady who was wearing it smelled both beautiful and sexy as hell at the same time.

It made me go and buy the male version as a blind buy - which was a mistake because it's terrible.
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post #9 of 31
5/17/08 at 7:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeperez23 View Post

I want to reach over and give it a go, but I ultimately know that if I test Fracas, I can't really test anything else the whole day.


Mike - it is soo worth not being able to test anything else that day! It is a classic that everyone at least a little bit interested in perfume MUST test!

Also one of my all-time faves. I also wear it as a weapon when I wish hubby out of the house; he detests it!
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post #10 of 31
5/17/08 at 8:17am
All this talk about Fracas is getting me very, very curious about what it's like. I have no idea what tuberose smells like - or perhaps more accurately, I've smelled it before but have not yet linked the name to the note yet.

I haven't seen Fracas at any of the counters nearby to test it - what are some good suggestions for other easy-to-find examples of tuberose done right? I feel this urge to just blind-buy a bottle of Fracas, but from everything I gather about it, that seems like it might be a risky move
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post #11 of 31
5/17/08 at 8:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by zztopp View Post

Wearing Fracas is like having to endure your rich girlfriends' wrinkly, loud-mouthed, jewellery-flashing mother. To me it doesn't smell like Cellier was able to control this raw material with panache. Thanks but I like my tuberose painted with a little more deftness ...I will stick with Carnal Flower.

Funny ... I have a large decant of Carnal Flower and a bottle of Fracas - and aside from the butter notes in Fracas, they are amazingly close (I happen to find Fracas to be a bit deeper than Carnal Flower, but if pressed, I may back away from that description).

So my suggestion would be to get BOTH!

But if you have painful associations with Fracas, sure, steer clear. Though I am surprised the association isn't with both since the central floral note is so so similar? I believe FM even attributed his CF to Fracas - as a homage.
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post #12 of 31
5/17/08 at 8:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by musse View Post

Mike - it is soo worth not being able to test anything else that day! It is a classic that everyone at least a little bit interested in perfume MUST test!

Haha! I was going to say that. Even if it is not "for you" it is one of those perfumes you owe it to yourself to try.

Mike, do what I did and get a sample of Fracas from Sephora and take it home and enjoy! If you liked it as much as I did, you will go back to the store and snag it! As far as EdP's go - its quite affordable.
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post #13 of 31
5/17/08 at 9:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by echerub View Post

All this talk about Fracas is getting me very, very curious about what it's like. I have no idea what tuberose smells like - or perhaps more accurately, I've smelled it before but have not yet linked the name to the note yet.

I haven't seen Fracas at any of the counters nearby to test it - what are some good suggestions for other easy-to-find examples of tuberose done right? I feel this urge to just blind-buy a bottle of Fracas, but from everything I gather about it, that seems like it might be a risky move

It is so powerful and so big, it is risky. Sephora seems to have it in my area (just came in) - and the EDP is plenty strong - so you can get a sample of it - or just spray it on right there. In Toronto, I am not sure where, but right across the border, in Buffalo there is one in the big mall there.
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post #14 of 31
5/17/08 at 9:35am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by echerub View Post

I haven't seen Fracas at any of the counters nearby to test it - what are some good suggestions for other easy-to-find examples of tuberose done right? I feel this urge to just blind-buy a bottle of Fracas, but from everything I gather about it, that seems like it might be a risky move

Tuberose soliflore fragrances are not easy to find. Fracas is really the only one I can think of that is easy to find in stores. There are many other tuberose fragrances, but most of them are luxury/niche: Tubereuse by Prada; Tubereuse by Annick Goutal; Carnal Flower by Frederic Malle; Tubereuse Indiana by Creed; Beyond Love by By Kilian; Noix de Tubereuse by Miller Harris; Tubereuse Criminelle by Serge Lutens.
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post #15 of 31
5/18/08 at 7:38am
So big it's risky... yeah, that's pretty much the impression I'm getting about Fracas. But, I guess there's something to be said for starting work at a new office that's 58km/36miles away - there's a Sephora on the way! I'll have to check it out after work sometime this week to see if they have Fracas there. I sure hope so, because that'll make testing to see if I like it (and tuberose) a whole lot easier.

Mike, thanks for the suggestions. I may need to look into getting some samples of some of the ones you've listed if there aren't any testers at the Sephora up here. Or maybe I'll need to look into them even after testing it out
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post #16 of 31
5/18/08 at 1:12pm
Whatever you do don't wear it at the office! :-)

I was at Sephora yesterday and noted that they didn't have a tester of this out...
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post #17 of 31
5/18/08 at 1:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tmp00


I was at Sephora yesterday and noted that they didn't have a tester of this out...

They also had a tester out at our local Neimans.
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post #18 of 31
5/18/08 at 3:40pm
It is absolutely worth testing Fracas, and only Fracas, for the day. Do the same with Carnal Flower (TPC has samples of CF - no affiliation). Fracas wears better on me than CF does - it's a potent, but not entirely asphyxiating, white floral and that's about it. Creamy, not sharp, but very potent. It's kind of a histrionic scent in that it is unwavering in its presence and demands to be noticed and could totally annoy everyone in your path - not that that's an entirely bad thing, but just beware that you won't be under the radar when you wear this. People will have opinions one way or the other.

Also, despite the fact that most stores carry it, I never - literally never - smell it while I'm out. Maybe it's such an aphrodesiac (sp?) that folks never make it out of the house once it's on!

Oh, yeah, about the rating, despite the fact that I don't have a place for it in my fragrance life, I agree with Burr's 5* for this scent - it is a spectacular scent in itself.
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post #19 of 31
5/18/08 at 7:28pm
So after my sampling of Fracas this weekend, I really have fallen for it. So I ordered it - found a really good deal online
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post #20 of 31
5/18/08 at 7:45pm
It's a brand new unit and brand new team I'm moving over to - walking in wearing Fracas during my first week there might get me started on the wrong foot
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post #21 of 31
5/19/08 at 6:38am
Fracas is not all that powerful and potent on me, nor particularly indolic to my nose. Well...it is quite potent and perfumey in the first few minutes (mine is the edp). But soon after that, it starts going all creamy & soapy on me. I think it's the orange blossom that does that - it really makes Fracas a rather tame scent on me, which would be boring except that the greenery adds some crispness and a slight stemmy spiciness. I've had a couple of people comment on how "clean" I smell when I'm wearing Fracas. No dirty sweaty unwashed underwear or other notes like that at all. Go figure. But perhaps the civet and indolic (more expensive) florals are more evident in the parfum?

Edited to add: I don't mean to give the impression that this is a bland scent - it is very long lasting, has a lot of presence, and is not very cooperative with other fragrances (and God forbid my mother ever gets her hands on a bottle!). But I just don't find it all that dirty and animalic.
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post #22 of 31
5/19/08 at 7:38am
lilybelle,
I think folks sometimes over emphasize the role of "indoles" in florals - because a bouquet of Jasmine and Tuberose will not smell anything like a bucket of excrement and dirty panties - and some of the descriptions might have you think otherwise.
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post #23 of 31
5/19/08 at 8:36am
Has anybody tried Fracas for men? There aren't too many reviews of it on here. Even though its somewhat hard to find, it could be had for pretty cheap.
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post #24 of 31
5/19/08 at 8:56am
Fracas is such an animalic scent. I am not a huge lover of tuberose, but I love Fracas and Tubereuse Indiana. Fracas is just such a great white floral scent, but it has depth to it and it is not too sparkley. I have a vintage bottle, so it may smell slightly more animally than the newer; stupid restrictions and such. But I just adore it on a warm spring/summer day; nothing can truly beat this scent.
And yes, tuberose in its un-picked state is quite a pungent scent, very unique.
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post #25 of 31
5/19/08 at 9:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mudassir View Post

Has anybody tried Fracas for men? There aren't too many reviews of it on here. Even though its somewhat hard to find, it could be had for pretty cheap.

I asked this the other day in a different thread. The word "vile" is used to describe it.....

http://community.basenotes.net/showthread.php?t=210062
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post #26 of 31
5/19/08 at 11:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bromo33333 View Post

lilybelle,
I think folks sometimes over emphasize the role of "indoles" in florals - because a bouquet of Jasmine and Tuberose will not smell anything like a bucket of excrement and dirty panties - and some of the descriptions might have you think otherwise.

lol! I think you're right. I just went to spray a little Fracas on my wrist - my gosh, it really is gorgeous, isn't it?!! Hmm...still not getting any excrement. I am getting a minty note though. Where did that come from? And some butter (not booty-butter! :-O ). I was expecting Jicky parfum to reek - but I love it. Maybe I like the dirty bits and just don't recognize them as such. Yep, there might be too much emphasis on indoles and animalic notes. If I can relish some of the really nasty-smelling cheeses I love, indoles and civet are a piece of cake.
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post #27 of 31
5/19/08 at 1:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by petruccijc View Post

I asked this the other day in a different thread. The word "vile" is used to describe it.....

http://community.basenotes.net/showthread.php?t=210062

Yup - Scentiments has a 100mL bottle for something like $12.99 ... does not bode well!
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post #28 of 31
5/19/08 at 1:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lilybelle View Post

lol! I think you're right. I just went to spray a little Fracas on my wrist - my gosh, it really is gorgeous, isn't it?!! Hmm...still not getting any excrement. I am getting a minty note though. Where did that come from? And some butter (not booty-butter! :-O ). I was expecting Jicky parfum to reek - but I love it. Maybe I like the dirty bits and just don't recognize them as such. Yep, there might be too much emphasis on indoles and animalic notes. If I can relish some of the really nasty-smelling cheeses I love, indoles and civet are a piece of cake.

I think so! And I love the smell of Civet - especially in Mouchoir de Monsieur and Jicky - while it does not smell the animalic is pleasant in the way poop is NOT!

Fracas has a wonderful development - at least on my skin - and I do smell a slight roundedness and buttery bitterness that I figure have to be the indoles they are talking about. It all seems to give the scent a nice structure, but don't dominate it to my nose at least.

It is a wonderful scent!

I wonder if we should have a Fracas synchronization day?
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post #29 of 31
5/19/08 at 1:40pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bromo33333 View Post

lilybelle,
I think folks sometimes over emphasize the role of "indoles" in florals - because a bouquet of Jasmine and Tuberose will not smell anything like a bucket of excrement and dirty panties - and some of the descriptions might have you think otherwise.

You are correct Bromo3333 - in fact, I am going to carry this conversation over to a seperate thread because I think it holds a lot of insight into understanding indoles and perhaps some people might not be reading our comments because the title of thread is about 'Fracas'.
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post #30 of 31
5/20/08 at 5:54am
I've always liked Fracas as the most intoxicating and surreal tuberose scent: it's onirical and fierce at the same time, mixing pureness and lust. About the indolic theme, I would highlight that usually the indolic flowers are the ones that better melt into the skin mixing with the natural indolic character of the natural skin smell and they have nothing to share with anything else!
One over all is jasmine that is frequently used as a glue for other notes due to its indolic character
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post #31 of 31
5/23/08 at 9:33pm
Tried Fracas for the first time yesterday - the Sephora on my way back from work had it! It was way on the lower shelf, but then they put the Serge Lutens fragrances there as well. I've been to one of the Sephoras downtown and they didn't have as interesting a selection as this one in the suburbs.

Anyhow, I really liked the experience with Fracas! It was a little sweet, a little floral, smooth and playful in feel. I didn't notice anything objectionable about it, and if applied lightly, I'd wear it out without issues. I might not wear it to work, but otherwise, I think it's quite nice. I just might need to get myself a bottle after all
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