Top Notes 
Bergamot
Heart Notes 
Cumin
Ginger
Base Notes 
Cedar
Cistus
03/22/2013
Drseid
821 Reviews
Drseid
2
A Crazy Roller-coaster Ride Of A Scent That Is Quite The Puzzle To Crack...
Le Sourire du Diable opens with a very complex and conflicted spicy mixture that features cumin and maybe even a black peppery accord. The spice driven fragrance settles down a bit in the early heart as the cumin and peppery mixture join natural ginger and what appears to be waxy iris with just a slight hint of underlying Oud that is barely detectable. During the late dry-down, the cumin is still present but now well in the background as a complex amber-laced accord emulating slightly sweet camphorous myrrh and sparkling vetiver takes the fore (though neither are listed as official notes). Projection is excellent and longevity exceptional at well over 12 hours on skin.
Le Sourire du Diable is a roller-coaster ride for sure. Its rather haphazard spicy open just seems to have all the early notes fighting one other and things don't look too promising. As the scent enters the heart phase the cumin and peppery opening accord (maybe unlisted angelica?) meld with balancing ginger as a very (also unlisted) waxy iris-like supporting note joins them. At this point I am thinking the overall effect smells very much like a cross between Cartier's cumin and waxy iris driven Declaration and its ginger driven Declaration Cologne flanker. The hybrid result is actually not too bad as the ginger takes a bit of the sting off the cumin here unlike in the original Declaration where its just too much. During the late dry-down things evolve yet again with this time the fragrance going in a completely different direction as I get an accord resembling the dry-down of the horrible Eau Sauvage Parfum but unlike that abomination, this is a much more pleasant implementation that does not gnaw at you over time. All in all Le Sourire du Diable starts off a mess and evolves into something almost pleasant though not completely successful, earning a relatively tenuous "good" 3 stars out of 5 rating. Declaration fans will most likely enjoy this more than I but the cumin still was too much for me.
Le Sourire du Diable is a roller-coaster ride for sure. Its rather haphazard spicy open just seems to have all the early notes fighting one other and things don't look too promising. As the scent enters the heart phase the cumin and peppery opening accord (maybe unlisted angelica?) meld with balancing ginger as a very (also unlisted) waxy iris-like supporting note joins them. At this point I am thinking the overall effect smells very much like a cross between Cartier's cumin and waxy iris driven Declaration and its ginger driven Declaration Cologne flanker. The hybrid result is actually not too bad as the ginger takes a bit of the sting off the cumin here unlike in the original Declaration where its just too much. During the late dry-down things evolve yet again with this time the fragrance going in a completely different direction as I get an accord resembling the dry-down of the horrible Eau Sauvage Parfum but unlike that abomination, this is a much more pleasant implementation that does not gnaw at you over time. All in all Le Sourire du Diable starts off a mess and evolves into something almost pleasant though not completely successful, earning a relatively tenuous "good" 3 stars out of 5 rating. Declaration fans will most likely enjoy this more than I but the cumin still was too much for me.
