Frederic Malle: Musc Ravageur & Bigarade Concentree

I recently ran across an article about Frederic Malle in the Weekend Magazine edition of the Financial Times — it was gushingly complimentary and focused on the concept of Frederic Malle hiring the top perfume creators of our time to design the fragrances that they most wanted to make, regardless of cost or market trends.

It sounds like a good PR story, and if completely true, a fascinating way to position a perfume brand — more as works of perfume art than mere scents for daily wear. An acquaintance of mine actually described the Malle line in just that way, as more intellectually interesting than easily wearable, so I figured it would be good to test that assertion for myself with the two Frederic Malle spray vials in my To Do drawer: Musc Ravageur and Bigarade Concentree.

MUSC RAVAGEUR: I’ve had a variety of experiences with musk scents — the light, barely there veil of LesNez L’Antimatiere; the weirdly attractive S-eX from S-Perfume; the pleasant though overhyped Serge Lutens Muscs Kublai Khan; the oh too-flowery Bruno Acampora Musc — so I was definitely interested in what a master of perfumery (Maurice Roucel, creator of Hermes 24 Faubourg, Rochas Tocade, Gucci Envy, Shalini and more) would concoct as his must-have take on Musc.

What’s most striking about Musc Ravageur is that it is immediately attractive, straight out of the nozzle. A number of high-quality potions require the patience of Job as you wait for them to unfurl, but Musc Ravageur isn’t the least bit shy and you get the goods right from the start. It’s not flowery, either, which is a good thing, as I felt all the florals in the Bruno Acampora Musc pretty much knee-capped the composition, crippling its ability to function as a real musc fragrance should (IMO).

But Musc Ravageur does have its faults. For all its outright charm, the cinnamon gets a little thick and the vanilla rather overdone. The musc is there, and it’s high quality, but it keeps itself too much in the background as the cinnamon and vanilla do their tag-team tap dance — there have been complaints that MR is cloying, and I can fully understand where that sentiment comes from. Even the slightest over-application and you might feel like you’ve been soaked with a vanilla/sandalwood hose.

Actually, MR resembles more a classic Guerlain fragrance with that sweet vanilla base than a contemporary, 21st century musc, but if that’s what Maurice Roucel wanted, then that’s what he got. I wouldn’t buy this for myself, but someone who really appreciates the scent of vanilla, as well as the House of Guerlain, might go truly mad for a bottle of it.

BIGARADE CONCENTREE: Jean Claude Ellena was the master perfumer tapped for this assignment, and he delivers in his usual, understated style.

I’m probably not the best person to review this fragrance, as citrus perfumes leave me entirely unmoved and Bigarade Concentree is like one long, drawn-out hallway strewn with orange rinds.

There’s a hint of bitter earthiness to the mix, but it’s mostly a day trip down the orange grove highway, and if that’s your thing, then you’ll love Bigarade Concentree. If a full-on orange peel perfume doesn’t sound appealing, then it would be best to skip BC altogether, even despite the presence of Jean Claude Ellena’s name on the label.

***Note: Frederic Malle is the only perfume line that recognizes the perfume creator’s work by listing his/her name prominently on the brand label. Most contemporary perfume brands, including the mainstream lines such as Armani, Dior, Calvin Klein, YSL, etc, all hire outside perfumers to create their fragrances, yet they never put their names on the bottle or give them credit in their ads and PR materials.