Year: 2010
Notes: grapefruit, raspberry, dewberry, peach, water lily, lotus, freesia, Turkish rose, Egyptian jasmine, Indian tuberose, gardenia, patchouli, musks
Comment: Avenue Montaigne is part of Les Contextuels Collection
Based on Brecourt's description, one can honestly say that Avenue Montaigne isn't really a genuine homage to the powerhouse chyprés of the 1980s, especially due to the absence of any animalic notes.
Opening with an exuberantly succulent cascade of berries and grapefruit, it deceptively starts off as a relatively straightforward (but well-blended) fruity-floral with a captivatingly abundant sweetness. It's only several minutes later that both the sharp and earthy chypré aspects surface, which one finds extremely hard to believe is solely due to the patchouli laden base.
But when it begins to transform into a caramelised floral-chypré, there's a firm sense of déjà vu – so much that (especially with regards to this house) one isn't at all surprised about. Without pussyfooting around, Brecourt describing Avenue Montaigne as harking back to the chyprés of yesteryear is simply a lame smokescreen, as it's nothing more than a re-worked version of Serge Lutens' Chypre Rouge.
As a result, it isn't particularly original but, at the same time, is far more tenacious than the very creation it's so blatantly based on – persisting for longer than 12 hours. Regardless of its apparent flaws, Avenue Montaigne is still a pretty good substitute for those who found Chypre Rouge ever so fleeting.
Opening with an exuberantly succulent cascade of berries and grapefruit, it deceptively starts off as a relatively straightforward (but well-blended) fruity-floral with a captivatingly abundant sweetness. It's only several minutes later that both the sharp and earthy chypré aspects surface, which one finds extremely hard to believe is solely due to the patchouli laden base.
But when it begins to transform into a caramelised floral-chypré, there's a firm sense of déjà vu – so much that (especially with regards to this house) one isn't at all surprised about. Without pussyfooting around, Brecourt describing Avenue Montaigne as harking back to the chyprés of yesteryear is simply a lame smokescreen, as it's nothing more than a re-worked version of Serge Lutens' Chypre Rouge.
As a result, it isn't particularly original but, at the same time, is far more tenacious than the very creation it's so blatantly based on – persisting for longer than 12 hours. Regardless of its apparent flaws, Avenue Montaigne is still a pretty good substitute for those who found Chypre Rouge ever so fleeting.
