First Impressions – L’Artisan Parfumeur – À Fleur de Pêche – L’Artisan Parfumeur is a house that has seemingly disappeared off the radar. Not helping matters has been their recent sketchy output. And here in Australia, they’re particularly challenging to track down—possibly the result of commercial distribution deals. Still, as one of the original niche houses, I’m always interested in what they’re doing. Fortunately, I procured a decant of their latest peach scent from a trusted store in Australia. I’m glad I did. It’s lovely, greatly surpassing my low expectations.
I shouldn’t have been so shocked, as L’Artisan has a way with these fruity scents. Their fig is still one of my favorite figs. And their banana scent from a couple of years ago was a quirky delight. This latest peach is a fabulous fresh chypre that thankfully doesn’t go down the path of other peach scents that too often smell tooth-achingly sweet.
Instead, À Fleur de Pêche smells realistic, akin to walking in a field of flowers on a sunny day while eating a peach. There’s certainly a mood-enhancing quality to this perfume. The opening punchy burst of bergamot, pink pepper, and the hero ingredient, peach, smells almost drinkable – tea-like.
As the fragrance develops, a jasmine note and fresh rose come through. The floral notes combine to convey a sense of purity. They never come across as too harsh. The jasmine isn’t indolic but rather creamy and milky—doubtless, the perfect peach/floral to pair with a linen outfit on a summer’s day.
Patchouli, tonka, and woods anchor the perfume, ensuring this peach retains a classy elegance. However, the impression of creamy peach remains throughout. Despite that, I never associate this peach with cheap body sprays or air fresheners. Although I’ve classified this perfume as a chypre style, it contains no discernable oakmoss. So, technically it’s not. A semi-chypre fruity floral is a more accurate classification.
Because of the well-judged semi-chypre framework, À Fleur de Pêche retains an elegance and a balance often missing in many peach perfumes. In addition, there’s almost certainly a touch of Ambroxan (officially the brand list Ambrofix) in the base notes, but even that isn’t overplayed. À Fleur de Pêche doesn’t smell like Bitter Peach. It’s much softer, less grating on my skin. Nor does it remind me of Mitsouko or Rochas Femme, either. I can’t help but enjoy it—great work from Antoine Maisondieu.
Have you tried this new perfume? Do you have a favourite peach perfume?
Other than the photo of the bottle (Fragrantica) and the peach, all images are my own. I purchased my decant.
Wonderful review and pictures! This one sounds like a yes for me!
Thanks very much, Tetê. Yes, I think it is one that is very well done. Let me know what you think of it, when you sample.
I haven’t tried this one. I have been awful about trying anything new because there are too many releases and I have lost interest in keeping up. I appreciate you doing it for us and I always enjoy reading your reviews!
Years ago the owner of Kyse perfumes had a line called by Terry and she made a wonderful peach fragrance that one of my former co-workers loved. I used to buy her a bottle every year for her birthday. My favorite from that line was Breathe. The Kyse brand sells at Luckyscent now and is primarily gourmand. I am fairly certain there is a peach dominant fragrance by Kyse.
Kyse Peche au Yuzu.
Thanks so much, Brigitte. I appreciate you reading and commenting. Lovely gesture for your colleague. The peach one sounds very nice. I remember hearing/reading a lot about a marshmallow scent from the Kyse brand.
I’m curious about this one but not enough to put in the effort to search it out.
I love stoned fruit notes & own many peach scent, though few have peach as the main note.
Mitzi, Femme, Diorella, Tresor, Arpege & Coco all immediately came to mind
Great selections! I’m not normally drawn to peach scents, but this one was very nice indeed.
Love that color of roses. The notes sound harmonious in this one. I like the scent of peach, but often am disappointed when all I smell is gamma undecalactone in the drydown. Didn’t have this problem before I smelled that molecule, though.
Thanks! That’s no good. I still think this is an interesting composition to try, though. There’s a velvety smoothness to it.
All those stunning pics, dear Daniel! I’ll always make time for this brand, with all its classics. Hope this one makes its way to South Africa as it sounds so good. Love Bana Banana. What a great post.
Thank you very much, Rich. Yes, I hope you get a chance to try it sometime. I’m intrigued to hear what you think.