Reviews of La Fumée Classic / La Fumée by Miller Harris

La Fumée is the scent of delicious dirty secrets in a shaded, velvet-draped room. It has a sense of dreamy Orient cliché about it, all opium-puffing languor and tailored pyjamas, with a heart of sweet spice that promises all kinds of nice naughtiness. Perfumed smoke curls through the air, the lacquered casket is opened to reveal golden ambery treats infused with fresh and chewy cardamom, and the more carnal cumin, a touch of nutmeg, dark bass woods. Steep in its dreamy haze and let all manner of filth lazily cross your mind.

On me: First on, very strong silage in a perfume-y way, with strong green notes that remind of pine. Wood and spices with clear cumin, but not quite sweat yet, but hinting at it. Dries down very similar to Cuir d’Orient, with a soft wood/amber feel, overall very nice and hits a comfort spot. It wears very sheer a lot of the time, hard to detect, and vanishes almost entirely after a few hours. Eh. Not as hated as the Fumee Arabie, which is full on sweaty armpit on my skin.

WoW...so I've been feeling "restless" again and decided to (try) expanding my "go-to" fragrance wardrobe. I love every note ingredient listed in this perfume. I usually prefer incense fragrances with somewhat of a floral, or rose overtone. La Fumee listed as a nearly "straight-up" incense fragrance. So, after reading many reviews and viewing YouTube videos, I thought I'd purchase a large sample, give this much noted fragrance a try.

I AM IN LOVE with this fragrance, I am. And while so different from my usual blends, La Fumee is eerily similar to the rose, oud, wood, resin, patchouli, sandalwood stuff that I love. This fragrance is absolutely beautiful. As a more "linear" fragrance than what I usually wear, I love the simplicity and purity of this fragrance a whole lot!

The opening is intoxicating with glorious incense notes followed by a rather intense smokiness, which I love! Throughout the opening, I couldn't refrain from smelling my inner wrists and forearms. I find La Fumee totally feminine when shortly after the opening notes, creamy, silky, velvety, smooth ethereal vanilla notes rise and interplay with the ongoing lovely incense & smokiness!

Dreamy and almost light (which I'm starting to prefer, given my fragrances tend to play heavy with resinous, rather oily notes), La Fumee cloaked me in a cloud of smoky, creamy, resinous, vanilla, woody incense. The fragrance places me in a near meditative, dream-like state...it really does!

Middle floral notes quickly emerge and once again mingle nicely with all the notes and scents in play. And while I would not consider this fragrance to be complex in nature, somehow all the notes blend together nicely and land in pleasant harmony.
I imagine there's elemi, sandalwood and other woodsy, resinous notes emerging, which contribute to the pleasant dry down and base.

I did not think silage was great but when I picked my husband up from work, he immediately commented on how I (and his truck) "smelled like incense." Interesting. Now, I timed all of this loveliness and I'd say the fragrance greatly diminished on my skin at approximately 3.5 to 4 hours. So, for me longevity is moderate, not great.

As another reviewer stated, "This truly is magical stuff."

Now, I hope I didn't make an egregious error, however after reading reviews forever and contemplating a full-bottle purchase, I did purchase a full bottle of La Fumee "Intense" earlier today. Apparently, a similar yet different animal, I hope I love "Intense" as much as I love "Classic". If not, I'll likely resell my purchase on eBay and purchase La Fumee Classic, which I truly adore.

I love this fragrance. I can see wearing it for quite some time to come.

Im keeping this brief i either love fragrances or loathe them ...i really wanted to like this fragrance but O My Gees its smells terrible on my skin so bad that its making me feel ill (sadly)

I love smoky balsamic scents, and I'm really into this one. It's a spicy/woody incense that stays fairly linear on my skin but that's okay with me. I enjoy cumin in perfume and here the warm-skin scent it imbues is for me enhanced by the cardamom and coriander. And these spice notes feel dry like the seeds in my kitchen jars which helps give this scent a dusty aged character that I like. I have a jar of dried chamomile too, and here its creaminess, along with the labdanum, goes beautifully with the resins and smoke. The lavender plays a bigger part in the meld than I first realised - I can pick out this note among the others throughout, but like I mentioned, I get a fairly steady linearity from the start. Elemi up top and amber at the base ensure resinous tones through this too. The arid parchment-like quality eases after an hour or so and gives way to a woodier vibe with sharpish cedar sap; leathery birch; creamy sandalwood, and a beautifully restrained drop of oud. As it moves further into dry-down a slight sweetish floral tone comes out in the woodiness. Overall, this starts as an ancient book might smell, then later reminds me of inside a dusty old chest of drawers that once had lavender drawer-liners. Not a great deal of development but I really enjoy wearing it all the same.

La Fumee is a standard citrus-woody fragrance with some touches of incense and resin. The citrus I smell here mostly hints at orange. It is a bit reminiscent of Terre d'Hermes, and more so of Declaration (perhaps due to the cumin). Surprisingly, the citrus note sort of hangs in there and comes back now and then. Hints of leather and smoke in the dry down, but the overall vibe is very reserved and conservative. Sillage is close, and duration is at around six hours based on a moderate application.

La Fumee is well crafted, easy-to-wear, and versatile; I would use it as an office scent, or something a little more casual. My gripe with La Fumee is common to all Miller Harris scents I've tried. They are rather unexciting and lack a spark or two - at least, for me. Among light or middleweight smoky-woody scents, I find Comme des Garcons Black far more interesting and lively.

3/5

La fumee(original one as in the profile imagery, with white textbox delineating words 'la Fumee' on the box and bottle ) is always steadily on my top 5, and also the one that got me to the house 'Miller Harris' back in 2012. Still recall the evening when I was walking through the hallway to my flat following the trail my first 50 ml La fumee left in the air from the mail delivery.
I don't have that haunting 50 ml bottle with me now, but the standing out notes are scorching birch, smoldering cumin/cardamom and woody ashy dry incense/cedar. Then soft, pure and milky sensual sandalwood in the base. The original is so dense and potent as it was that I had to use sparingly and eventually chucked under the bed!! My snap-cap Jubilation XXV did not even come head to head with La Fumee in terms of performance and complexity.
I missed it one day and impulse bought the bottle in the middle which turned out to be a new packaging/reformulated bottle, I though appreciate the improved wearability and the backbone still being intact and recognizable, the enhanced cumin note is really stealing the thunder and reforming the original ethereal incensy ambery scene into a rosy mediocre BO. The rose/geranium+resin is quite uplifting and crisp, bringing the brightness and light-duty quality which the 2012 bottle lacks, however cumin and coriander seed are also there, pretty much always there like annoying neighbor kids, keep reminding of sweaty skin. The projection is good and persistent, for better or for worse, just however thinner and duller, less distinctive and shying away.
Blind bought the Intense at TJMaxx hoping the whole series could forget about cumin all together, it did! But I can hardly say it's even more interesting than the BO infused airy ambery La fumee, it's surely weightier with the density more on incense/woods, but character is missing, just distorted La Fumee DNA with 5% decrease here and 10% increase there. A cumbersome reattempt of 2012 La Fumee, and the longevity is painful among them all!
I think my exploration with 'La Fumee series' or perhaps Miller Harris ends here with my new addition of a 100ml 2012 bottle, I don't know what has happened with the company and its past repackaging/reformulation, this 2012 bottle is not as strong or as multi-faceted as I remembered, but close, rose is muted, cumin is only discernible after hours of development, and yes it develops, I can get cold and fleeting lavender in the beginning, then cedar is smoother along with the sandalwood. Labdanum is dense like oud but balanced. Lasting power is jolly good as well, best I must say.

When I placed my order for this fragrance I instantly thought "Oh no what have I done". I have had the "smokey fire like" scents before and absolutely hated them. I fell for the reviews online and reveiws on youtube and I do not regret this purchase at all. I will say the first 10 minutes isn't the best for myself. It is a fire (of logs and melting plastic) and this weird "perfumey" essence... then I get the hints of cardamom, incense and frankincense mingling as the fire falls into the background. It turns into a pleasant smokey scent with some cedar, woody notes and finally the amber to add some sweetness. Overall this is a solid thumbs up but I would TRY BEFORE YOU BUY with this one. I find this to be a true unisex early on but as it dries I feel it leans masculine. Also, it is a winter fragrance IMO and a casual scent or something for the weekends. Enjoy!

It's funny how sometimes it's the fragrances you love and wear the most are the ones you never bother to write about. I'm on my second bottle of this elegant woods and resins concoction, and yet now when I sit down to put pen to paper, I realize I've never really analyzed the notes. La Fumée performs quietly in the background of your day, like smoke from incense or oud embedded in the fabric of your clothes. It starts off on a greenish frankincense note, like crushed pine needles, pepper, and lemons, and that fresh, masculine vibe continues for much of the scent.

Wafting in and out of the composition is a light smoke note from a combination of the cade and birch tar, but there is also a dry labdanum in the mix, performing its teetering act between tinder-dry paper that's about to catch fire and liquid tar. Creamy sandalwood takes over from the piney, terpenic facets of the frankincense, nudging the scent into a faintly sweet-and-sour sweat direction. But none of that describes how easy this scent is to wear, or how pleasurable in its humming-in-the-background way. Whereas other resin scents hit you over the head, this one wears like an elegant, transparent veil that exists only at the corner of your field of vision. It's small but perfectly formed.

The amber / incense / smoke notes are right up my alley, the scent is discrete, which is convenient for the office, yet longevity is quite good. I wear it everyday at the office these days.

Incense with a touch of dry herbs, smoke, & the subtle sweetness of amber way in the background. After a couple of hours I get something softly leathery & animalic, but otherwise this is a linear fragrance on me, fading out after around ten hours.
This puts me in mind of a softer, quieter, more smooth-edged version of Goutal's Encens Flamboyant. Very nice, but since I own a bottle of the Goutal, I won't be needing to buy.

Meh
i got a sample of this as the note pyramid shouts to me. I LOVE smoky incense frags, (RBR Embers is my favourite) and really had high expectations for this.
the fragrance itself isnt bad, not at all. it is pleasant, and hits at the notes, but from a distance. Id have liked the smoky notes to really zing, and that basenote of smoky accords to beat away, but alas, its mediocre to me.
sillage is appaling on me, becomes a skin scent way way to quickly, which is a great shame.
shame, but then i cant like everything!

Miller Harris La Fumee is a flamboyant spicy-oriental honeyed concoction evocative about a bunch of smokey-sugary resinous aromas out there (Tom Ford Sahara Noir, Reminiscence Noir, Oud Pour Lui Alyssa Ashley, Shams Memo, Etro Messe de Minuit, partially Nasomatto Pardon, Lutens Chene and By Kilian Incense Oud jump easily on mind for several of their characteristics). I detect by soon a dominant frankincense, plenty of dried spicy fruits ( the burnt sugar typical vibe), woods, woodsy resins and amber. The first incensey blast is wet, misty, piquant, dusty-intoxicating, hesperidic and herbal aromatic (vaguely conjuring the Lancetti IL's top notes). Along the central stage the hesperidic wetness recedes and the sugary-spicy resins jump on the stage so smokey and honeyed. I detect a basic muskiness and a plain cedary accord. A warm, luxurious, mysterious and erotic take on resins by Miller Harris.

A really very beautiful... smoky, creamy and evocative scent.

La Fumée has really really impressed me. I love the note of Amber generally in fragrances, I think it smells amazing on skin. I also love Sandalwood for the same reasons. La Fumée has both in great quantities. The result here is nothing short of sublime.

The fragrance is centred around incense, the main note from which it derives it's name meaning "the smoke". In fact, knowing that the word "perfume" itself comes from the Latin "per fumare" or "through the smoke". I find the naming of this perfume incredibly apt and very fitting.

The central note of Frankincense is joined by dry Papyrus and sweet Elemi Resin, backed up by Coriander, Caraway and Cardamom. It's incredibly exotic and very evocative. The other main player here is the Labdanum, which is a component of Amber in most fragrances, and this is a soft, sweet smell which combines with creamy Indian Sandalwood to create a gorgeous effect on warm skin. This fragrance is dry but sweet, and this is a great combination, as it is not cloying like most other perfumes. It's very wearable and at almost any time of year.

I see this as a fantastic creation from perfumer Lyn Harris. Warm, dry and soft, yet sweet at the same time. It has an Eastern vibe which recalls the incense used in spiritual rituals but also the sweet amber and herbs which play really well on skin to make it very warm and inviting. I think the person wearing this would be very approachable, mysterious and sensual.

In short, I cannot recommend this highly enough. A highly well made creation and one certainly worthy of it's price.

Smoky incense with woods and birch make this smell very masculine and smoky. Some spices and a citrus like aromas add to the smoky masculine character of this fragrance.

The incense gives the scent a slight sweet sour sweat like note. Add this to the smoky spicy woods and you have a scent for a man's man.

Very good scent for a man to wear. Thumbs up from me!

INCENSE If you like frankincense then you will love this, it smells like mass at a catholic church. Not what I would personally wear, but I guess you might attract ex-convent girls with it...Pros: Pure unadulterated frankincenseCons: heavy duty"

oily incense and tobacco oud, very low sillage and duration

Big hit of burning incense up front - the first time I wore this I got Tibetan Buddhist style with some appropriately funky woods and burnt resins, but now it's Orthodox Church frankincense and myrrh with a hit of burning pine. I found an odd sweetness first time out but it hasn't reappeared: now I get fragrant gum, the smell of Bay laurel in flower, burning resins - Greek Church all the way - until the drydown of spices and warm labdanum. While Avignon - the comparison is inevitable - is a High Mass in winter, La Fumee is a summer saint's day on a Greek hillside in summer when the priest brings the censer outside and the smoke billows out over the sun-warmed cistus, thyme and sage. I'm glad I persisted with this one as it is rather amazing.

I find this to be a charming, dry sandalwood scent. Yet, I only give it a neutral rating. Here's why.
A scent called La Fumee should be smoky! A scent which promises a lot of incense should deliver those notes in a mysterious and haunting way.
This is a fairly safe, amiable and restrained woody scent. There are some slightly sweet spices at the beginning, and then a creamy-woody sandalwood note becomes the centre of attraction. Props to it for being dry and classy, marks deducted for not delivering on its promise.
There's no wow-factor here for me.

Not the acrid campfire, incense or tobacco of most other smoky scents - instead it's hot, dry woods, so steaming hot they're just about to catch fire. There's an almost citrusy zest to the fragrance too - no idea which note that might be. It's almost sour-sweet, in a way that reminds me a bit of immortelle - not a favourite note of mine. It only shows up in the bend of my arm - on my wrist the fragrance stays lovely: smoky and dry - but it's enough to semi-ruin the scent for me and make me give it a neutral rating.

Intensely evocative fragrance, makes me travel from an autumnal garden where leaves are burnt to a High Church service mystically shrouded in clouds of incense smoke. A hint of the Orient somewhere, balmy and warm.
Smoke is captured well and it does stay from beginning till the end. Sensual and festive, almost Proustian, if you replace the Madelaines with a smoking fireplace.
It is something I would wear in the afternoon or evening, more masculine than feminine, more holy and outdoorsy than boudoir. Synaesthesia at work every time I sniff it, it is definitely takes me on a journey!