La Curie is a Southwestern indie perfume line inspired by myths, legends and mystics. Faunus, a smoldering woodsy scent, is one inspired by a forest god.
Faunus is opens with one of those leathery-mustardy synth ouds (which I like) with a delicate bergamot glimmer. It starts to smell like a new leather moto jacket with oud. Faunus dries down to a smoldering cedar incense.
OK, so I never layer perfumes because I often see it as gimmick-y (since it involves at least 2 perfumes, so more $$$) and I am not creative enough to do it. Well, I accidentally applied Faunus over Serge Lutens La Fille de Berlin, a pretty rose, that I had sprayed on hours and hours earlier. After applying Faunus, I smelled the most amazing leathery-rose and couldn’t remember what I was wearing. It hit me that I had applied Faunus over La Fille de Berlin and it smelled amazing. This motivated me to layer it with other perfumes – vanillas, roses, spicy scents and musks.
I usually scold layering because I think it suggests that a perfume isn’t “complete”. But, I may have changed my stance or at least now I understand why people do it. Please don’t take it like I’m saying that Faunus is an incomplete perfume. It smells good on its own. I’m saying that when I layer it with many perfumes, it emphasizes or adds a smoky, woodiness and you wouldn’t believe how many perfumes in my collection actually benefit from this. My perfume collection benefits from cowboys and motorcycles.
Notes listed include bergamot, oud, hay and cedarwood.
Give Faunus a try if you like woodsy scents. Or Tom Ford Private Collection Oud Wood, 10 Corso Como, Blackbird Moto Oud and/or Bvlgari Black. Faunus is unisex, leaning more to the masculine. It makes me think of Steve McQueen. Was he a forest god?
Projection is average. Longevity is above average.
The 1 oz retails for $98 at La Curie. A smaller size and samples are also available for purchase.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – A leathery oud and cedar. It’s good on its own but it helped me understand why people layer perfumes. It adds a nice leathery, woodiness that I think a lot of my perfumes could benefit from.
Sounds like one to try. Love leather, incensey scents. The price seems to be pretty reasonable too
I don’t layer as a rule either. Only inadvertently. I did mix together some Sonoma Scent Incense Pure and Velvet Rose and got a pretty good dupe of Tauer’s Incense Rose. I couldn’t afford the Incense Rose at the time and it worked out pretty well. I never thought of it as being a sign of an incomplete perfume, just something I didn’t want to spend my time doing. I already have enough trouble sniffing what’s out there without adding more to it. Maybe thinking about it in terms food may help. Tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil are all complete in themselves, but together they are sublime. Each plays off the strength of the other. And it smells pretty fabulous also.
My layering was an accident but it was a good one 🙂 I can totally see Incense Pure and Velvet Rose resulting in something awesome.
For me the incomplete I guess is me being sassy to brands like Jo Malone London. Go to the counter and they start telling me which to layer and I’m like “if those 3 are so good together and you’re going to recommend that combo to everyone, then why isn’t there 1 perfume that smells like that?” Oh…because they can sell 3 bottles instead of 1 🙂
Yeah, it makes more sense to me when I think of it like a “recipe”. Also, I realize that I have in the past really thought about how I layered my perfumes over scented body products, so it isn’t totally “bad” to me. I guess it was more about the economics of it all.
Ok, yeah. I see what you are getting at. And I totally agree. One of my main problems with Jo Malone is that they are as fleeting as perfume comes. At least on me. And the price point–pleeeze. So two or three of these bottles is a real chunk of change. I can take two steps over to the Tom Ford counter here at the downtown Seattle Nordstrom
And get a knock your socks scent with the longevity of the half life of uranium. Total marketing gimmick.
And since I’m ranting…it’s also really annoying when I visit that line’s counter because quickly someone starts recommending 2-3 perfumes for layering and then tells me, I’m paraphrasing, to do it because it’s unique “and personalized”. #1 – They recommend that combo to anyone that walks up to the counter, so it isn’t really “original”. And #2 – Many perfumes are “personalized” just because of the individual wearing it. #3 – If I cared about smelling original and unique, I wouldn’t be buying my perfumes from a department store.
Well, I feel better now.
This sounds like an excellent men’s scent.
I think it is 🙂
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