Séville à l'Aube L'Artisan Parfumeur 2012

Seville a l'Aube opens with a very green petit grain before the starring orange blossom emerges slowly to dominate the rest of the scent's development during the early middle phase, supported initially by a slightly indolic jasmine and lavender floral undertone. The orange blossom continues to gain strength further late while the indolic jasmine begins to recede, now gradually replaced with relatively subtle lemon-like frankincense emerging from the base to join the continued lavender support in the dry-down. Projection and longevity are both excellent.

I have always had a problem with orange blossom scents and sadly Seville a l'Aube is no exception. I enjoyed the initial green petit grain open, but the enjoyment was abruptly halted when the slightly medicinal orange blossom first appeared... and then grew and grew. Making matters worse is the underlying indolic jasmine floral undertone that permeates the orange blossom early. I love jasmine in its more sanitized form, but indolic notes like the jasmine used here (even if it is rather subtle) are just not my thing. Add in the use of lavender which is yet another of my least favorite notes and you have the trifecta of notes I dislike the most all here. At the end of the day I really wanted to like Seville a l'Aube as I am a big fan of its nose, Bertrand Duchaufour, but with the ingredients used it was all but a forgone conclusion I would dislike it, and dislike it I do. The scent is obviously well-made, and if you are an orange blossom fan that likes scents like APOM pour Homme you may want to seek it out for a sniff and see if you enjoy it more than I, but while it has superb performance I can't recommend Seville a l'Aube, awarding it a below average 2 to 2.5 stars out of 5.