Male scents that smell "french"

[Schad]

There are certain scents that scream "french perfumery" to me. I tend to like this. I've noticed a lot of them, but not all, are powder based.

To me these fit this category:
L'Instant de Guerlain Pour Homme
Habit Rouge
Dior Homme

Any others you think fit this? Guerlain as a house is as "french smelling" as it gets IMO so I'm sure they have quite a few that fit this category.

 

[lamaman3]

Rive Gauche!

 

[Matt555]

What does "French" smell like?

 

[petr]

L'artisan

 

[Schad]

What does "French" smell like?

exactly

 

[tehtimmeh]

Agree re: Guerlain being "french" smelling. I just haven't been enamored with that house (ducks for cover). I find most of their scents to just be "ok" and still cannot wrap my head around the Derby hype. Habit Rogue is probably their best scent (the only one that I own) and it does have a very "french" vibe IMO.

Chanel also has several that I would consider falling into the french-like camp, but mostly their older frags marketed toward women.

 

[StylinLA]

The return of tehtimmeh!

I kind of think French and traditional perfume go hand in hand... Most of the scents I would judge very French make heavier use of traditional perfume notes. Whereas contemporary designer style scents are making heavier use of newer notes, gourmands. Or they are combining them in different ways...Tobacco Vanille for example. The newer stuff is lighter and often sweeter.

Guerlain certainly does spring to mind as very French. But then, they are very French. Their stuff is usually quite refined, and even with newer releases, you can smell the tradition in them.

 

[jakespoppy]

I have also wondered what makes fragrances smell "French" vs "Italian" vs "English". "English" seems to usually apply to scents that have a traditional barber shop scent, but even that is interesting since Italian barber shops seem to be referenced pretty frequently as well. I honestly don't have a clue what "French" vs "Italian" smells like, at least not that I would smell a fragrance and think "that's French". I believe the difference exists, I just haven't paid that kind of attention to categorize them that way.

 

[Matt555]

L'artisan

Now what does this smell like?

I have also wondered what makes fragrances smell "French" vs "Italian" vs "English". "English" seems to usually apply to scents that have a traditional barber shop scent, but even that is interesting since Italian barber shops seem to be referenced pretty frequently as well. I honestly don't have a clue what "French" vs "Italian" smells like, at least not that I would smell a fragrance and think "that's French". I believe the difference exists, I just haven't paid that kind of attention to categorize them that way.

I don't think I would have any way of ever guessing where a perfume was made or what nationality is smelled like unless someone told me.

 

[Austin]

I don't really know what French is like. to my mind American = loud, British = traditional, French = sophisticated, Italian = earthy.

 

[Niles]

I don't really know what French is like. to my mind American = loud, British = traditional, French = sophisticated, Italian = earthy.

Those are pretty good descriptors. You could make a case for American fragrances equaling boring with all the aquatic/fresh releases over the years. But the ones I am thinking of in that category are directed toward the younger crowd so I digress...

 

[legrandfromage]

Canoe.

 

[jakespoppy]

Those are pretty good descriptors. You could make a case for American fragrances equaling boring with all the aquatic/fresh releases over the years. But the ones I am thinking of in that category are directed toward the younger crowd so I digress...

I'm not sure why this made me laugh so hard. It's kind of sad, really.

 

[Niles]

I'm not sure why this made me laugh so hard. It's kind of sad, really.

 

[maxman]

Interesting question.
maybe if someone lived in France they could tell us what traditional scents are lingering about.

 

[Catalin]

In my mind French perfumery makes use of traditional ingredients in their bases (like amber). I also think they are very well blended, resulting in complex compostions, but they end up smelling somewhat pwodery on drydown. Of course, there are exceptions, but this seems to be true of most traditional succesful French frags.

I tend to agree with the Guerlains smelling French, as well as the Artisans and the MPG's. Frederic Malle's frags are a notable exception, and I love most of the house's frags.

 

[Schad]

In my mind French perfumery makes use of traditional ingredients in their bases (like amber). I also think they are very well blended, resulting in complex compostions, but they end up smelling somewhat pwodery on drydown. Of course, there are exceptions, but this seems to be true of most traditional succesful French frags.

I tend to agree with Guerlains smelling French, as do the Artisans and the MPG's. Frederic Malle's frags are a notable exception, and I love most of that house's frags.

Agree with a lot of this.
MPG Ambre Precieux is very french to me for the very reasons you stated!

 

[Pat.G.Boisvert]

When I think french perfumes that have made it in america I think,...
Yves Saint Laurent or the younger more avant gard perfumes of Jean Paul Gautier...

 

[The Knize]

Caron scents smell French to me.

There are two overall types of Italian scents to me. The largely sort of light, bright, summery AdPs and SMNs. And the often powerful, frequently cutting edge, creative, sometimes in your face Mazzolaris, Lorenzo Villoresi's, Sigilli's. All containing high quality, natural smelling ingredients. DC, I suppose, occupies a middle ground.

Brit scents seem largely traditional, I would say. C&S is something of outlier.

 

[blantyre]

Feuille Verte sounds French. Napoleon was said to douse himself in Maria Farina cologne.