Fruit de Bois Jean-Charles Brosseau 2005

Fruit de Bois is one of the lesser-known fragrances that raises some questions. But let's start with the facts:

The scent begins pleasantly warm and elegant with woody-spicy nuances and minimal fruit, which is hardly identifiable. It is definitely not forest fruits, but rather a sweet grapefruit. There are also very subtle floral impressions. Hardly anything is distinctly recognizable on the ingredient list. Overall, it definitely smells mature and masculine, shifting between contrasts of slightly sweet and a bit bitter, classic in modern interpretation, as well as warm yet somewhat fresh - not easy to describe, but certainly better than the ratings here in terms of the top note.

However, this extremely promising opening lasts only a few minutes. After that, Fruit de Bois is only very close to the skin or hardly perceptible at all. There is actually nothing cheap, unpleasant, or synthetic about it - just very reserved. Otherwise, this wood fruit has its absolute justification and would certainly deserve more attention here.