Les Indemodables Vanille Havane Review – Valerie Pulverail & Antoine Lie; 2020

I can’t remember the last time I was this excited about discovering a brand. Although Les Indemodables was founded over 4 years ago – by wife-and-husband team Valerie and Remi Pulverail – it’s taken me until now to find out about their work. But better late than never! I hope to write and talk at greater length about their scents in the months to come. To start with, I focussed on their latest release, Vanille Havane, in a recent episode of Love At First Scent. Here’s a link: Les Indemodables Vanille Havane review.

Some of you may be aware that Remi Pulverail is the main force behind the Atelier Francais Des Matieres: a highly-respected source of raw materials in the industry. The combination of the Atelier’s gorgeous ingredients with what are evidently superb creative instincts on Valerie’s part, and the talents of the likes of Antoine Lie, has created a range that needs to shoot up to the top of your Must Try list without any delay. Do yourselves a favour and order their discovery set. I’m confident you’ll be as bowled over as I was by the attention to detail in the compositions and by the way in which they update classic forms for a 21st century context.

It’s not for nothing that I compare the brand to Frederic Malle in my video. When the latter arrived on the scene, it was with a clear intention to pay homage to perfumery’s past: the ghosts of so many historical masterpieces can be detected in Iris Poudre, Musc Ravageur, L’Eau D’Hiver, Carnal Flower and En Passant, to name just a few. Les Indemodables appears to have a similar mission, but perhaps with an even greater emphasis on specific materials. So as you swoon over Oriental Velours or Fougere Emeraude (both of which I also touch on in the broadcast) you can’t help but be transported to the past, without ever feeling that you’ve descended to the realms of cliche or mere parody. There is no doubt these are modern pieces of work. But they prove – as so many of the greatest fragrances do – that all creators would do well to turn to their predecessors for inspiration.

Persolaise

[Les Indemodables samples provided by the brand in 2020.]

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