Reviews of Sienne L'Hiver by Eau d'Italie

Whatever else one could say about Sienne l'Hiver, you can't fault it for lacking a concept. This is as valid an expression of winter in a bottle as one is ever likely to get. How you feel about that is something else.

I find SH engaging, even fascinating, on an intellectual level. I'm still working out how that translates to my desire to wear it. The main issue I have is a note others have flagged as “olive,” though no such note is in the pyramid. While not the all-out vinegar assault of Bois d'Ombrie, it still keeps me at an emotional arm's distance, more so than the olfactory “coolness” achieved without camphor or conifer. I probably won't shell out for a bottle, but I might return to the sample the next time I get nostalgic about snow. So, a conditional thumbs up.

Uber-dry iris, both soapy and lightly yeasty, married with discreet, similarly dessicated chypric greens and hay tones. The big surprise about this one is that, despite its elements seeming as if they were about to crumble to scented dust, its expression is silken and creamy. As time goes on, things get plumper and moister as the violet leaf comes into its own , casting a cool, sweetish green shade. A subtle thing, not particularly autumnal at all, that puts me in mind of just bathed, gurgling babies.

Green, clean florals and very unisex. Very light from beginning to end. The hay note in the middle is there and pretty nice albeit synthetic. Becomes a subtle, sweet woody scent in the drydown.

Light projection and longevity in the 4-5 hour range.

The Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Bruegel 1565

Reviews (elsewhere) had built this one up high; I half expected a misconstrued, ahead-of-its-time masterpiece. Upon trying it, I see no originality, alas there is still nothing new under the sun. Its iris is a carbon copy of Dzongkha, with very little to differentiate, throughout the drawn-out opening. I'll downplay the "olive/truffle/celery" accords...maybe I was expecting it too much based on other reviews (it's there, although I didn't find if off-putting or over the top). I enjoy the dry down most; I get a tastefully austere amber and wood, and this part seems to last, yet not project much.

Genre: Chypre

Reading its description, I held high hopes for Sienne d'Hiver. Smoke, liquor, leather - what's there not to like? The opening fed my optimism, since the smoke and leather were right up front, along with some mysterious green notes.

Then, about a half an hour into the development, I started catching a conspicuous sour note that I couldn't quite place. What could it be? I went back for a look at the note pyramid, and there it was: olives! Green olives, with pimientos in them. The effect was sharp and jarring, and soon began to remind me of Tabasco sauce - the way it smells when you stick your nose right up to the bottle. As for the truffle, if it's in there it gets steamrollered by the green olive/Tabasco accord. Too bad, because black truffle, used correctly, would be one heck of a fragrance note!

Sienne d'Hiver left me baffled and disappointed. I see no reflection of the beautiful old Tuscan city in this brew.

Really wasn't my cup of tea that geranium leaf violet petals, and fern comes off as smelling like poison ivey.

I completely get the Dzongkha reference - the opening is very similar. Both have the odd effect (in common also with Magie Noire) of making me feel...not hungry exactly, but quite literally 'un buco allo stomaco'. Weird. Anyway, that aside, I find the development of this to be too vegetal for my tastes. Clever, yes, but not really what I want to smell of - chilli peppers, a slight smokiness, a touch of truffle perhaps - it's all great, but not for me (although possibly quite true to its name).

I also find it to be quite linear: after the opening blast dies down and the body of the scent comes through, it doesn't really go any further - 5 hours in and it's exactly the same as it started.

Great longevity though.

Purchased a sample and immediately thought of cocktail sauce (sorry). After trying it again, I went from negative to neutral in my estimation of the juice. If the idea here is to smell "different" this achieves that and then some, but if the idea is to actually smell good, which is my goal, this one isn't it. I cant give it a negative rating, but I can't say it is positive either. I wanted to love this one so much, but it just isn't my cup of tea.

An experimental game of contrasts.A failure or a stroke of genius? The second option in my humble opinion, for sure. I tend to appreciate a lot such experimental type of fragrances and admire for sure the Bertrand Duchaufour's huge creativity. I suppose the perfumer's goal was by soon to create an olfactory contrast between an outdoors cold, humid and botanic atmosphere of mountain (fern, violet, ozone, olibanum, wet rocks effect etc) and an indoor cozy, comfortable and "culinary" ambience of the woody shelters erected on the hits of the stone alleys of mountain (truffles, beans, leather, chestnuts). The elements are magistrally combined all together. I detect by soon floral notes, humid earth, cedarwood, rubber, mineral molecules, stale air of grandmather bedroom, fungus of canteens, furs, iris and grass. I also detect the incensey vibe for sure and smell in the air some Dzongkha's callbacks even if to be sincere the first aroma jumped to my mind in a while after the first dab was the Petroleum's one (and some accents of Rosam), yes, i felt on my skin a sort of more fluidy, airy and light (floral) sort of HDP'one, probably because of those feels of wet leather, grass, vintage amber, cool air and wet concrete mixed together. I don't smell a particular smoky vibe while tend to feel the cold air and a standout gummy violet perfectly combined with olibanum, moulds, culinary conserves (olive, beans, truffle) and rubber in order to create a real moonshiny work of art for us. A fully deserved thumbs up.Pros: Balanced and original.Cons: Any."

Smells like excellent quality cocktail sauce with a gin martini on the side. Where's my shrimp?

Sienne L'Hiver by Eau d'Italie - One is initially treated to a rush of herbal greenness. The peppery verdancy of geranium leaf intermingles with the mowed grass, tinged with cucumber, of violet leaf. A faint sweetness from rushes and fern drift in the background. Transitioning to the heart, an animalic castoreum, with its mesmerizing salty, oily, sweaty, smoky and nutty aspects, bathes the greens in an exotic, abraded-leather aura. Iris root parades it woody floralcy, while white truffle imparts its strangely elegant, sulphuric nuances. And, frankincense flaunts its balsamic and faintly mineral, mystical aromatics. Segueing to the base, an intriguing wave of petrichor gives the illusion of raindrops spashing on cobblestones, while hay casts its sweetly warm and pungent character. Guaic wood infuses its rosy and faintly smoky woodiness. And, labdanum presents its resinous nuances of ambergris and incense, as well as tar and leather. A wondrous drydown ensues. A truly masculine scent, this well-blended and high-quality composition has radiating projection and very good longevity, about 10 hours.

Sienne L'Hiver pursues a graceful arc from briny leather, to Perrier-can iris, and descends many hours later on a wan violet leaf. With much aplomb the scent offers up a distinctive olive note – reminiscent not, thankfully, of anchoïade so much as a very dirty Martini. And while it's comparable to Dzongkha (L'artisan Parfumeur), another parched iris of Bertrand Duchaufour's from 2006, Sienne is cooler and more apparitional. But it is Duchaufour's earlier Timbuktu, with its smokey paper note and subliminal radiance, where the real similarity – of temperament – is to be found.

This is original, peculiar, captivating stuff. Now I just have to figure out how to wear it.

Sienne l'hiver: wow. I didn't think of Sienne, I didn't think of winter, when I sniffed SL'H. I didn't even know it was by my beloved Duchaufour. I just thought: WOW. How different, how unique, how original. Like a statue in a painting exibition. Something completely unexpected. Somethig completely new. Something good.

I'm very disappointed with Sienne L'hiver as it seemed to be Duchafour's masterpiece (as he said in an interview) I was expecting a lot. I love Bertand D and I have no other words than disappointment to desribe this scent. I live in tuscany, where i was born, and I can say there's absolutely nothing in this scent that reminds me of the place I live...sorry!

I really wanted to like this but just couldn't get past the sour green olive note.

A close-up photograph of wet winter soil in a field, in a place where it never actually snows. Definitely Mediterranean but from a quite uncommon point of view. Yes, there are winters in this region, too. Quite insensible on me although it's a beautiful photograph. I guess it would be miraculous on the right woman.You see, no man can be that tender, and it requires a pinch of tenderness to complement this cold but lively soil.

Every time I wear it I get into depression.I have it for two years and I hardly wear it 5 times.Smells like white dead-nettle.

Do I like this? Not really. Would I wear it? No. But I have to give it thumbs up for originality and execution. It's completely unlike anything else I've tried.My initial impression was of lychee. Actually, it reminds me of a particular food or beverage, but one that I wasn't quite able to place. A positive association nonetheless.After reading the reviews here, I do smell the olive loud and clear, and that seems to be the best description. It doesn't seem to diminish for me over time; I still got a strong olive note several hours into the development.

Unconventional and complex, constantly transforming scent that succeeds more to evoke than to charm in a game of senses and memories. Once you come across the odd but brief (10 min.maximum) opening which is a blend of earthy and edible notes (reminds me of a minestrone soup mix) you get a nice heart of iris and musk. However the best is yet to come. The base is paved with moist soil and wood notes brought directly from the rainy Italian countryside. Not for everyone but still very nice.

The olive type note overwhelmed everything else and I had to scrub this one off. I could sense some other notes trying to struggle out, but it never happened. I can't imagine why this was created this way, unless they didn't test on all skin types. In any case, this is obviously a sample first fragrance. I can't speak to longevity or sillage because I had to get it off quickly, within the hour.

Dry, earthy booze. Way to hot in the spice department and smells like a Greek bazaar. I get a lot, and I mean a lot of the lovie scent from this. Olives and liquor. That's not something I enjoy smelling or wearing.

I bought a sale-price decant of this without having tried it! So it was a gamble! But i usually love earthy, truffley notes and wintery inspired perfumes - and the gamble paid off. I expected it to be along the lines of a CB perfume, which I admire but often find them more evocative of a real-life smell rather than feeling like a 'perfume'. Whereas Sienne L'Hiver somehow managed to smell like a man-made scent whilst retaining all the earthly elements that it drew from. Very, very nice. I probably would not have bought if if i had sampled it first, but I am glad i have 8mls in my collection and will enjoy wearing it this winter!

Unusual. Sienne opens on a sweet-and-sour, very recognizable violet leaf note. I enjoy it in theory, but find it hard to actually *wear*, and that's one of the reasons I would not buy this, well constructed though it undoubtedly is. Violet leaf is astringent and sour, and I've seen it compared to everything from black olives to green beans, but for me smells closest to pickled jalapeños. Anyway, the violet leaf does calm down and the rest of the fragrance is an excellent, gentle mix of mildly sweet spices and resins. Not for me.