L’Objet, a homewares brand with an Israeli owner, a French name, a porcelain atelier in Portugal, and a boutique on Madison Avenue in New York City, has developed a solid set of perfumes. The brand, founded by interior designer Elad Yifrach in 2004, initially specialised in handcrafted luxury decorative pieces for the home. Over the years, the brand’s collection has expanded to include candles, diffusers, and room sprays. Since 2023, in collaboration with Yann Vasnier and Jean-Claude Ellena, the brand has transformed its home and body products into Eau de Parfum, just like Acqua di Parma – Buongiorno – Citrus Herbal Joy. There are six fragrances in total, and I will discuss them all in this blog post. Here is a link to their homepage https://www.l-objet.com/.
Oh Mon Dieu!
Notes: cognac, coriander, caramel, pimento, lipstick, rose, jasmine, plum, blackcurrant, incense, leather, and oakmoss.
The list of notes in Oh Mon Dieu! is intriguing and includes plum, cognac, incense, blackcurrant, and leather. Additionally, the fragrance features a lipstick accord. It’s designed to come together as a daring, dark, and femme-fatale-type composition. Oh Mon Dieu! brings to mind the colour purple, and it largely succeeds in achieving its alluring theme.
Although I appreciate the plum and leather elements, there is a note that bothers me. I think the lipstick accord might be to blame. It’s a powdery floral note, suggestive of violet. If it’s not the violet, then possibly it’s the weird contrast between the sweetness of the cognac and caramel and the dryness of the leather. I’m not sure it gels. Overall, it feels a bit flatter than it ought to for a fragrance with such a plush pyramid.
Rose Noire
Notes: pimento, geranium, white pepper, clove, rose, Ceylon tea, patchouli, moss, and cedar.
Rose Noire, inspired by a rose garden at dusk, has a warm, spicy opening. Pimento and pepper lend the fragrance a distinctly earthy, woody profile. As the top notes fade, Rose Noire reveals an herbaceous tea element. Eventually, the tea note seeps into the mossy base, and the fragrance assumes a shade of brown/green.
I imagine a whole bouquet of roses as Rose noire unfolds. While I see the roses as dark red, the scent doesn’t come across quite as dark or as heavy as the name might imply. The tea aspect seems to play a vital role in softening the earthier, darker notes of the fragrance. The classic finish of earthy patchouli and moss recalls traditional chypres such as Aromatics Elixir.
Blindfold
Notes: tobacco, milk, saffron, gardenia, sandalwood, suede, patchouli, cedar, animalic notes, tonka, musk, and amber.
Yann Vasnier continues his work for L’Objet in 2025. Their newest perfume, Blindfold, is their musk entry. It’s a musk with a slightly animalic undertone. Don’t be too put off by the inclusion of civet in the notes, though, as it’s quiet and light, with a close-to-the-skin sillage. In fact, the whole fragrance feels a bit too soft, but the animalic notes prevent it from evoking associations with boring laundry musk perfumes.
Soft suede leather touches, milky white floral accents, and a creamy sandalwood and almondy/tonka base give it a touch of lift and depth, keeping my interest throughout the entire wear. It’s not my favourite from the house, however.
Things start to heat up with the final three fragrances.
Côté Maquis
Notes: salt, incense, cashmeran, labdanum, amber, ozonic notes, and musk.
I did not expect to like this as much as I did, but Vasnier creates a unique atmosphere in Côté Maquis. It’s a moody incense composition. The incense here is cold, salty, and mysterious. I visualise myself near a rocky beach on a cloudy/foggy morning. There’s an almost aldehydic sparkle to the top notes. The breeze at the seafront feels light, but Vasnier captures the salty spray of the ocean without dredging up unpleasant memories of aquatic atrocities from the 90s.
The incense in this fragrance has a resinous, pine-like character. There’s no overwhelming sense to the smoke notes. Nothing is suffocating here, and indeed, the soft cottony linen feel of the musk notes reminds me of Heeley’s Cardinal. However, where Cardinal transports me to the interior of the church, Côté Maquis places me outside. Perhaps the church sits perched on a cliff by the sea, and the wispy tendrils of incense waft outside and then mingle with the coastal air. There’s a contemplative, pensive feel to Côté Maquis, culminating in a resinous, amber accord.
Kérylos
Notes: mandarin, grapefruit, yuzu, blackcurrant, galbanum, mastic, sandalwood, musk, grass, moss, and caramel.
Kérylos impressed me, too. It’s one of the better citrus scents I’ve tried in a while. It’s the first scent that Jean-Claude Ellena signed for the brand. He uses grapefruit, yuzu, and mandarin, crafting something that almost resembles the tangy tartness of passionfruit. Maybe this effect comes from the biting acidic blackcurrant note that follows closely behind the citric top. The scent is set against a green backdrop that shifts from the bitterness of galbanum to the fresh, dewy scent of grass.
Resinous pine, mastic, and moss underpin the citrus fresh framework, forming the foundation of the fragrance. Fortunately, I don’t detect the caramel or maltol mentioned in the note pyramid. It’s an atypical composition for Ellena, showcasing more distinctive qualities. Rather than resembling a watercolour painting, Keyrlos comes across as more defined and long-lasting compared to some of his other works. That said, it might recall some aspects of Arancia Rossa by Laboratorio Olfattivo and Eau de Mandarine Ambrée by Hermès. I think Ellena has at least drawn some inspiration from those scents.
Bois Sauvage
Notes: bergamot, spices, jasmine, cypress, tobacco, vanilla, and lavender.
If I had to choose a scent from the range, I would select Bois Sauvage. It is inspired by a walk through a forest during a rainstorm. However, I’m more inclined to think of a rugged gentleman in his log cabin in the woods smoking cigars while reclining in his leather armchair. I don’t get a petrichor effect that would make me think of rain. Instead, I’m indoors with dimmed lighting surrounded by wood-paneled walls. Typically, I don’t assign gender to scents, but if Oh Mon Dieu is the feminine scent in the collection, Bois Sauvage is its masculine counterpart.
Bois Sauvage features a subtle vanilla note in the far dry out, but for the most part, Bois Sauvage lacks any sweetness. Instead, it’s dominated by a dry, leafy tobacco note. The inclusion of cypress and lavender adds an aromatic quality, with cypress contributing its crisp, clean, dry characteristics to complement the tobacco. The woody, aromatic notes evoke images of old wooden boxes and antiques. Bois Sauvage, with its chorus of woody aromatics, redolent of undisturbed wilderness, has the makings of a rough-around-the-edges fougère. There’s an earthy note in the base that resembles damp, earthy patchouli, and perhaps it’s at this point that it aligns closest with the marketing material.
The most unusual aspect of Bois Sauvage is the cola effect that I first notice after approximately 10 minutes. This effect comes and goes throughout the duration of the fragrance, likely stemming from the undefined spicy notes; I suspect it may be cinnamon or nutmeg. Their interaction with the citrus top and vanilla base might be responsible for this sensation. Interestingly, it never comes across as sugary. Could it be the balsamic fizz of myrrh? Or could it all be in my head? Indeed, I think I’ve been in the woods too long, ensconced in my perfume sampling, and need to emerge back into the real world.
Summary
This L’Objet range is strong. However, it doesn’t reinvent the olfactory wheel or break new ground. I thoroughly enjoyed sampling all six, though, and three or four made a very good impression. That’s good going for a range with only half a dozen scents. Only Blindfold and Oh Mon Dieu! weren’t to my liking. Interestingly, after I thought it had long vanished, I received several compliments for Blindfold, which I perceived to be the softest and most animalic of the compositions. All in all, it’s fair to say the collection provides enough variety to appeal to a broad range of tastes.
I’d like to point out that, although it may just be a coincidence, the scents I enjoyed most came from spray samples, while the three I didn’t like as much came from dabber samples. Additionally, I don’t recall any of the perfumes containing any rough, scratchy amberwood material, either. L’Objet positions itself at the luxury end of the market (you’d be crazy not to), with its 50ml bottles retailing for $160 USD and its 100ml bottles for $250 USD.
Which of the L’Objet offerings appeal to you?
Note: Bottle images from L’Objet. All other photos are my own. I purchased the Samples.