Cartier L`Heure Fougueuse, L`Heure Diaphane and L`Heure Défendue - New Fragrances

Horsehair?! Miss Laurent time at Guerlain seems to have overexposed her to Habit Rouge!

Have to try Number VII, although rose infused non-foody cocoa sounds like Cannabis Santal (and CS will be so much more affordable).

Les heures parfumées are truly exceptionnals but the price is 224 euros the 75ml bottle...!
Défendue is an incredible bitter dark cocoa accompagned by patchouli, really really dark !
I didn't smelled La Fougeueuse but it's all about horse skin..

Les heures are the most beautiful niche release today (and those two are the most incredibles imo), it's unlike any other actually, it's truly worth the smelling and the price if you can afford it.
Défendue is totally non gourmand cocoa (no sugar), extremly deep. The comparaison with Bornéo 1834 is inevitable whereas they are differents (Bornéo is more patchouli).
The packaging photo is here http://ambregris.blogspot.com/2010/0...i-cartier.html

It seems a lot of her Guerlain work has been re-attributed to her former boss, and then after she had been there years, Thierry Wasser becomes 'the chosen one' to succeed. You could speculate those factors helped her decision to take Cartier's offer.

I tried these today.

I liked IV - it has an interesting mix of tea and animalic notes.

VII was OK - seemed like an Angel ripoff (I much prefer Angel though).

VIII was "meh" - it didn't do anything for me.

As with the others in this line, I think they are over-priced - and not anything I would purchase.

I have a sample of the L`Heure Défendue. When you first open the cap it smells like chocolate milk. On the skin, the first note that hits is the cocoa again, then it settles into the patchouli. I also thought it seemed really dark and odd at first, two things I am always on the hunt for in a frag. Finally in the dry down the chocolate was pretty much gone for me, and a kind of odd, camp fire smoked out floral lingered. Jury is still out on this one. It really intrigued me at first because I thought it smelled like a very refined cocoa scent as opposed to the younger types I usually encounter (for instance Honey and the Moon by Tokyo Milk). I am going to give it another go on a different day. So far I would say definitely not worth the $250 price tag.

I tried L'Heure Defendue when I was at the boutique picking up L'Heure Fougueuse, thinking 'might as well try the chocolate one while I'm here' and was surprised to find myself really drawn into it as the afternoon went by. I own Coromandel and I know Borneo 1874 (right date?) quite well, and this one has a deeper, drier, slightly more 'noir' take on the cacao / patch interplay that I'm thinking I could maybe live with. The patchouli doesn't bother me, like some. Will definitely be picking up a proper sample next time I am across the harbour.

I'm glad I bought IV and also have been trying a sample of XIII but unlikely I'll go for this (or XII). I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what Mathilde Laurent does to fill the remaining few time slots.

PS http://graindemusc.blogspot.com/2010...urent-for.html

Inserting this review for anyone who missed it (Rickbr mentioned this series on Les Heures earlier) which I think is excellent. Iit was the mention of Attrape Coeur that first piqued my interest in IV as the chocolate/patch gourmand genre is one I usually steer clear of.

Have had these for a while and am satisfied with all in the collection.

After this thread last night I decided to wear L'Heure Defendue today. So far so good. It definitely draws you in. I am a patchouli lover so that aspect wouldn't bother me. We will see how the afternoon wears on. It definitely smells like an expensive, decadent fragrance... which it had better for this price tag. I almost hope it doesn't work out for me so I don't have to spend the $$. I think its Borneo 1834. I have heard a lot about it but never tried it, I would love to though!!

Update: VII is intoxicating. I don't find it to be a Angel rip off at all. Angel to me, is all musk and vanilla, whereas VII is all about chocolate and patchouli. The price tag is definitely a downer, but I will find a way... at some point. And until then, I will keep stocked with samples!

I wore L' Heure Fougueuse on Sunday night and Monday and I love it.

I am very familiar with the smell of dried mate leaves, my grandmother used to make the tea for herself all of the time and I remember sniffing the tea bags and smelling the brewed tea many times as a child. It's sort of hard to describe - it has a sort of dandelion-on-steroids smell, hearty, a bit dusty, and yes...something slightly animalic/flowery. It is perhaps the BEST tea scent I've smelled, only second to Tea for Two by L' Artisan (which smells more like lapsang souchong tea). I used to think I was anosmic to certain tea notes because everyone else would mention them in fragrances, where I would scratch my head thinking, 'Tea? Really!?'...like Hermessence Osmanthe Yunnan by Hermes and Theorama by Fendi. But the Cartier smells definitely, clearly and strongly of tea - rich, slightly medicinal and sharp, dried.

And then, well there's the smell of horse hair (mane) that is just so odd. Mixed with the hay and the florals (a tiny jasmine note peeks out) and the vetiver, the mix is comfortingly schizophrenic and yet eminently wearable. It feels like NO OTHER fragrance I have ever smelled before - which I love.

When the vetiver and hay/horse/florals dry down, the impression is one of green, thick oakmoss. The phantom chypre effect.

Brilliant.

Now I have to figure out how to get more of this (it's outrageously over priced). A decant is definitely in order.

Finally! Another convert. So glad to hear you like this one, Mike. It doesn't seem to get much recognition and still hasn't shown up in the directory (I logged it in a few weeks back and stuck a review of sorts in the Missing Fragrances section).

It is strangely addictive - I have been wearing it for a month or so and just keep coming back to it. I think Mathilde Laurent has really come up with something quite unique here, but it's weird because it feels so familiar and under-stated and non-gimmicky and just 'right' as well. It's as close to a perfect fit as I have found.

Strangely addictive, I agree.

Tea, I am learning, can take on so many olfactory sensations. Have you ever smelled old brewed iced tea (black tea) that's been sitting around too long? It smells like corn-on-the-cob when you drink it (I swear). Plus the pure ceremony of preparing tea, brewing it, straining it, drinking it...it's alive with smells. It's nice to explore this smell in a fragrance, so vividly.

My current tea obsession is Ginseng Oolong - this last couple of years it has turned up as one of the several choices at some of the more upmarket local restaurants here. Beautiful powdery stuff, would work nicely if someone could bottle it.

Osmanthus is very popular here in desserts (Ellena nailed it with The Different Company soliflore IMO) and it's also a great tea on it's own. I still wonder about Osmanthe Yunnan - love it but it flips into such a milky tea accord and milk is just not something you see in tea over here. Poetic license, I guess

If you're trying these Cartiers L'Heure Defendue is worth a shot IMO to contrast with Coromandel & Borneo 1874. I'm not a choco patch fan as a rule but this one is so dark, truly a 'noir' take on cacao, that I ended up grabbing it and I'm really enjoying it.

XIII is also nice - an essay on 'smoke' that also seems to reprise this Mate note (that Mathilde Laurent is apparently leaning on as a sort of Oakmoss alternative).

I actually smelled L' Heure Defendue at Sak's a month or so ago when I ran into the line accidentally. I liked it. It is on my list to sample again.

I have a sample of XIII La Treizième Heure, so I'm looking forward to wearing it soon.

rickbr, sounds like you mean L'Heure Fougueuse? Maté / Tea / Horse Mane? (Defendue is the Cacao / Patchouli).

I think you describe it well, as does Mike above - it's a very unique physical experience wearing this one. It has a character that goes beyond being a perfume, it just feels like a natural part of me in the heat. Sounds dumb but there's no better way I can put it - I tried to describe it in the Missing Fragrances forum, it's got an organic living quality to it.

L'Heure Fougueuse is now up there with Sous le Vent and Granville for me - the desert island collection for warmer weather. I went thru a bottle last summer - no shame, no regrets - one of the best purchases I have ever made.

They're all breezy, there's an effortless outdoors vibe that is common to all three, I think

Absolutely no cumin in L'HF but it does that trick that Declaration can do where if you forget about it for a while you might suddenly get a gentle whiff and turn around to see who is there. Different scent but same 'human' presence.

I revisited Goutal's Duel after wearing L'HF for a while and it seemed quite sweet by comparison, which is not how I would have described it before. The Mate note is certainly common to both but the interpretation is different. Laurent also pushes it in le Treizieme Heure and uses a dark Lapsang Soochong black tea thing to evoke a smokey quality, which is also really nice.

I wore this week both L' Heure Fougueuse (during the day, to the office) and La Treizième Heure (at a rock concert with a good friend, that evening).

I definitely enjoy the L' Heure Fougueuse more. It's much more unique, it wears easier (I like smoke, but LTH's smoke can give me a headache sometimes) and I find after I wear it that I crave smelling it again - to me this is as much evidence as I need to investigate getting a decant of this. I wish the LHF was just a tiny bit stronger but then perhaps that would upset the delicate balance it already has and I wouldn't like it? Perhaps.

I remember speaking to petruccijc about this, I think he owns a bottle now. Perhaps he'll see this thread & post his comments.