YSL Kouros, Davidoff Cool Water & Frederic Malle Iris Poudre – Pierre Bourdon Classics

We start the year by looking back. On Monday 17th January 2022, at 1700 UK time (1200 New York, 2100 Dubai), I’ll be hosting an interview on my YouTube channel with Gabe Oppenheim, author of The Ghost Perfumer, a book which chronicles the reportedly dubious relationship between Creed and none other than Pierre Bourdon. So, as a sort of extended trailer for this event – and also as a way to recommend what is a highly readable book – I talked about three of Bourdon’s masterpieces in a recent episode of Love At First Scent: YSL Kouros, Davidoff Cool Water and Frederic Malle Iris Poudre. Here’s a link to the video: Kouros, Cool Water & Iris Poudre reviews.

Smelling these three beauties right next to each other, as it were, I was struck by how succinctly they sum up Bourdon’s style, particularly in relation to his use of syrupy, near-fermented fruit notes. There’s a suggestion of such materials right at the start of Bourdon’s career, in Kouros (an original vial of which I was fortunate enough to be able to smell during the video) as well as in Cool Water (with its huge citrus opening) and certainly in Iris Poudre (which feels like a more austere, more white-hued version of Bourdon’s own Feminite Du Bois). True gems of perfumery, each of them.

Do try to join me for next week’s interview, and if you can, please read Oppenheim’s fascinating book in advance, so that you’re able to put some interesting questions to him.

Persolaise

[Sample of the Frederic Malle provided by the brand for review purposes; sample of the original version of YSL Kouros provided by a kind viewer; the remainder are from my personal collection.]

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