New L'Artisan!! Traversee du Bosphore

There's something... Not very appealing about this combination of listed notes ( apples, saffron, tulip greens, leather tanneries, and tobacco ). I mean saffron okay, but been by a tannery lately? Yikes...

However, I have a peculiar premonition that this will actually smell something like Ambre Narguille.

Mmm love the smell of Shisha, But some notes seem quite mixed up as Sugandaraja says. I'll surely be looking forward for this way either way.

Sounds exciting and I am guessing I will either love this or hate it.

This sounds really interesting to me, but why does everybody have to throw apple notes into everything these days? I could do without that particular note, but then I'm not big on fruit notes in general. Hopefully, it'll be drowned out by the cacophony of other notes in it. I'm definitely up for a sample of it when it becomes available.

I'm officially intrigued. It's either going to be amazing or completely unwearable, but it should be artful either way...

Sounds fantastic! Though the labels are kind of ugly. It looks like they were supposed to be all red and then got water damage.

Yeah, what would all that "niche" do if there wasn't a basenotes to promote their add copies?

I most recently learned to appreciate the Patchouly Patch of them. As a casual scent usable everywhere. Costly - but once You have it, so what?!
$700 $110 $98 $123 $1000?

Would You mind to give Secretions Magnifique an honest trial? If not, why? Doesn't the advertising appeal to You? Why not looking for bodyly enlightment?

I have a feeling Duchafour might be making the first real L'Artisan I buy.

I think the apple notes are explicable in that apple "tea" (a hot drink flavoured like apples) is a popular drink in Turkey. And indeed, the other notes are sort of a shopping list of ingredients one might encounter in a Turkish souk. Whether or not this translates to a convincing scent remains to be seen. But it is a concept scent, to be sure.

Oh goody, goody!! Yet another quirky frag to go with my offbeat personality! After my first try as a "nose," (haha), weird doesn't begin to describe my tastes, lol.

This one sounds really intriguing. I love the Istanbul/Bosphorus allusion - anything referencing the ancient city of Constantine will always get my attention. I've yet to find a fragrance that evokes the sublime rose water and powdered sugar notes of Turkish Delight without going all syrupy - perhaps by adding leather and saffron Duchafour will nail it, high hopes here!

Will look forward to this when it arrives. To the OP, thanks for the heads up.

This one is definitely a must-try! I love the other journey-inspired L'Artisans by Duchaufour and this one sounds very interesting indeed.

Well if he can catch that beautiful moist apple wood note from the shesha (?) pipe I'm interested - let's hope he doesn't dwell too much on the Turkish Delight, though

Sounds good.

One of my best holidays was in Istanbul, and the imagery in the NST blog is so poignant. The notes look very interesting. Another L'Artisan to look out for.

Actually I feel the opposite, I love the smell (and taste) of Turkish Delight and look forward to something that incorporates this accord.

I think Duchafour has nailed it with this one. Very well balanced. No syrup here. Very feminime to me. I would enjoy smelling my wife wear this one.

I am intrigued and will try this, but it probably won't work for me.

Me too

It always sounds exciting when L'Atisan is concerned, but I would be genuinely surprised if I either hated it or loved it - both of which would be more desireable outcomes than indifference.

Despite being constantly let down by L'Artisan, I have to admit I'm just a little bit intrigued. Duchaufour's Timbuktu was very special, after all.

I did smell it - flowery powdery perfume. With slight suede accent.
Reminded me of flour of another L`Artisan perfume ))

I tried it at Bendels last week. Turkish Delight and rose water over the Havana Vanille base with much less musk. It evolves nicely and as it stands it's a nice, soft feminine, but I am completely underwhelmed.

Doh!

Yes, a man could wear it. But, for me, the rose is too soft and too sugared. I designated it a Feminine, I'm sure it's presented as a unisex. Fragrances need to possess a bolder aspect if I'm going to feel comfortable wearing them.
I'll give it another try, as I'm a big fan of Duchaufour's work, but it seems like a rush job that goes lightly over what he's already achieved in Havana Vanille.

Vanilla and rose-water? I'm bored already...

OMG, Carmencanada's review @ Grain de Musc has me so excited to try this one. It sounds delicious!!

((excited))

Not at all what I thought it was going to be, Ambre Narguille???? not at all, it kinda reminds me of eau D'Hiver, but instead of almond, I get pistachio, rose water, saffron, but then the whole thing becomes air born, radiant like a white cloud, definetly a gourmand, but not sweet, everything in this scent radiates light and ether. STUNNING.
I went to Barneys to try the new Vetiver, after all, my last purchase was Memoir, which she also did, 5stars, I loved the top notes on coeur de vetiver, but the dry down was not becoming clear, wound up buying it, then decided to head down the street to Bendell, they have the exclusive on this one, IT WAS AMAZING!! from top to bottom, great daytime scent, any season, the vetiver didn't smell so good anymore, I wound up returning the vetiver, traverse is so much better, and unique. a must have. WOW! two 5 stars in two weeks, this year has had no stunners till now. Memoir, and Traversee.

Sounds great, I look forward to trying this at Bendels when I'm in NY next month.

It's a quite interesting fragrance, not at all what i expected, but still intereting though.
It seems that Bertrand Douchafour left aside his over spicy kaleidoscope that he used in every single fragrance. Here he is following a similar way that he did in Havana Vanille: use exotic, strong notes in a velvet mode. This produce fragrances that are never overwhelming and that demand your attention to get the nuances of the composition. I feel that i don't like his new style, it seems to much pale, doesn't match with the exotic inspirations of the travel collection.
Still, the result produces something delicious to pay attention.
I don't know why so much hate for the apple note, but here it works well at the opening, producing an aroma of a fresh apple juice, slightly sirupy. The apple juice is the first thing that i get at my skin, and it's doesn't stay so long as i wanted to last, because it's a beautiful beverage accord. I progressively detect some dominant accords after that: one of leather, which has more of a suede feel than a leather accord here, a soft powdery flowers, and something that surprised me, because it isn't listed on the notes above. I get a gray powderiness which screams iris for me. It's the same kind of iris found in Dior Homme - something that reminds me of color pencils and cement. It's between a powdery iris aroma and the grey-earthy accord of iris. For a moment on my skin the combination of aromas seems like Dior Homme made in an alternative world, where they combined the iris with a delicious apple juice, which drains any kind of sad aura in iris, and supported by a suede aroma instead of the leather and cocoa in Dior Homme.
I also get, for a moment, a quotation of another L'Artisan here, which is Saffran Troublant. The Saffron note here is worked in a similar way that the one founded in Saffran Troublant, less spicy and metalic, and more soft and with subtle floweriness.
After one hour, the scent seems to fade into a soft murmur. It's the phase were you get musky roses with a hint of sugar and honey. This rahat loukhoum accord is not trashy like the one found in Loukhoum by Keiko Mecheri, which smells like scented baby wipes for me, or like Serge Lutens Rahat Loukhoum, a incredible sweet confection of cherry-syrup almonds, honey and rose. Here it works like a kind of scarf scent, a scent which is perceptible but which is only a trace of itself, a fragrant and constant trace of musky rose, barely-there sugar and honey.
After analysing the aroma, i perceived that there's something similar in the structure with Idole de Lubin, but in a less exotic way and with the aromas switched in their progession. While Idole de Lubin starts with a honey and rum and sugar cane aroma and progress into a velvet leather base, Traversee du Bosphore starts on the opposite direction, with some modifications. After the apple accord goes away, you perceive the soft leather and the saffron, without the woody aroma, and then you get the honey, rum, completed by some powdery roses.
I wouldn't say it's a feminine creation. That are some dry and spicy edges that could make it a dare masculine. It intrigues me, because it's subtle, soft, but there are a lot of fine details to be analyzed here. It goes on the smooth direction as Scentofsoul pointed -the notes seems very blended here - but if you pay attention you can catch them individually on different moments. On me it doesn't seem to go in a top-drydown direction. I get most of notes at the opening, with different phases and accents, that start to progressively fade and leave space to the drydown. It's like the constructed a top-heart-basenotes over a base of rose, honey and sugar.

Anyone else, who has tested this, smell a prominent leather note?

Luckyscent is once again selling samples of this.

Just ordered it today. Im intrigued to say the least. I love Turkish Delight. Cheers Rex

I smell a leather which is more like a suedish aroma than leather itself. Something in the combination of leather and iris in this one makes me think of dior homme sometimes.

I finally smelled this, last week at Henri Bendels. The L'Artisan area in that store is very comprehensive and the SA is super-sweet, she took her time with me, no pressure and answered all of my questions. On the wall, in the tiny alcove, she had arranged all of the Bertrand Duchaufour scents that he did for L' Artisan in one wall - so you could see all of them, straight away. I mentioned this to her and she was shocked that I knew this. After this, she really realized how much into fragrances I was.

I tried on this and Nuit de Tuberose for the 1st time. Ray liked the NdT but I really liked the Traversee du Bosphere.

I smelled the suede leather, the sweet rosy/nutty confectionary accord, the spices. A real gourmand leather. The only other scent I have smelled that I would classify a gourmand leather is Reve en Cuir by Indult - but the L' Artisan could not be more different in it's execution. it has none of the birch tar roughness...rather the leather is sweet and smooth. At it's strongest and sweetest, in the middle notes, it sort of has an airy cotton-candy texture to it. But this faded and blended with the floral and spices nicely.

Like all of the Duchaufour scents, I know that I need to sample this one a few times before I make up my mind about it. Still...it is one of the few Duchaufour scents recently that I tested and loved immediately. If I had not already made up my mind to buy Shalimar Ode de la Vanille by Guerlain already, I think I would have come back to Miami with a bottle of this one.

I must test this again soon!

Off topic: The L'Artisan scent, La Haie Fleurie (which happens to have been done by Jean Claude Ellena, before he went over to Hermes) is fan-tastic! One of the best honeysuckle/white flower scents I've ever smelled. I sniffed the tester strip all afternoon, after I strolled out into the rain.

I agree. I am really lovin' this stuff!

Have had it for about a month now and love it.

I was at the store trying some winter scents and the guy introduces me this new fragrance.
Once upon a time I owned L' Eau de Navigateur by l' Artisan and I really loved it, so why not?
Well, the overture really amaze me but minutes later I started to think about a deja vu.
One hour later I was pretty sure that the guy sprayed my arm with Dior Homme.
This scent is not a copy of Dior Homme, in my opinion is really really close to it.

I had it for a while and I love the frag. I dont think its overblended, its just that good. Order a small sample and give a whirl. You do have to like turkish delight though. Happy New Years Rex

I get Iris, even though I don't see it listed as a note.

Just got a bottle today, the Turkish delight IS amazing, apple is really evident still waiting for the leather to kick in. Not too feminine for my tastes. This one is definitely off the beaten path. Sillage and longevity are quite good on me.

I enjoy it to. The turkish delight vibe is very unusual. I dont think its feminine at all. The drydown is beautiful. As you said its definitely unusual.

Good Choice (IMHO)

Cheers Rex

Just smelling this for the first time. Complex and extremely well made as expected from Duchaufour. It's great to smell things that smell so good.

I just can't get over how complex this is.
I hidden gem (basenotes-wise) in my opinion.

It's dynamism is mind boggling. One minute it's on the leftmost of the note spectrum then an hour later it's migrated to the other end with grace and agility.

I wear it more often than I thought I would , I love its complexity and tenacity ... its a joy to wear

I like it a lot, too.

I didn't want to, Duchaufor is like the Snoop Dogg of perfumery, in every damn video, but it's a lovely piece of work and the candle is great - excellent low key comfort scent.

I tend to agree. This is just a beautiful crafted fragrance. Its very interesting to wear - no one dull moment. Very clever art creation.
Indeed, a true joy to wear.

I now regret not picking this up when I saw a good deal on it.

How is longevity and projection? It seemed fairly light the only time I wore it on my skin.

Projection is moderate - about 2ft away for 4 hours and from there is close to skin. It lasts about 7hours on my skin.

Excellent projection and sillage.
Actually a material improvement from older releases like Dzing and others.

Hedonist calls this a gem.

Any other comments now that this has been out for two years or so?

Just how sweet is this?

It is utterly revolting. Fans of Dior Homme Intense might enjoy it.

This seems likea polarising scent of love or hate.

it certainly is dear primrose.

the sheer complexity is mesmerizing. The way it weaves in and out of a suede like leather then some tobacco and then a but of rahat loqoum (Turkish delight).

you've inspired me to wear it tomorrow.