Top Notes 
Grapefruit
Nepalese sichuan pepper
Pink pepper
Heart Notes 
Angelica
Osmanthus
Peony
Base Notes 
Cedar
Vetiver
Maté
02/17/2025
Musicandarts
219 Reviews
Musicandarts
1
A good but not great citrus floral - expensive for what it offers!
Atelier Materi is a new brand for me, and Poivre Pomelo is the first perfume from them that I am testing. The founder Veronique Le Bihan works collaboratively with various perfumers to create the perfumes for Atelier Materi. From the website and various interviews, it looks like she exerts more creative control over the products than Frederic Malle did for his perfumes. Regardless of all this posturing, it is the quality of the perfume that ultimately matters. This review is based on a sample of Poivre Pomelo that I bought from Jovoy Paris online.
The notes listed by the perfumer are grapefruit, Timut pepper, pink pepper, angelica, osmanthus, peony, cedar, vetiver and maté. The opening is a very fresh grapefruit spiced up by Nepalese Timut pepper and pink pepper. Timut pepper allegedly has strong citrus notes resembling grapefruit. The spicy citrus, though lovely, does not stay on the skin for more than a few minutes. The first heart note that appears is angelica, followed soon after by osmanthus and peony. It is nice blend of herbaceous floral notes, not particularly exciting or unique. I cannot pick out osmanthus and peony as strong identifiable notes, but this perfume becomes more floral as it progresses through the heart notes. The base notes on my skin are mild woody floral and citrus accords without much definition. This is just a miniature representation of the heart notes.
The longevity and intensity of Poivre Pomelo are modest on my skin. Despite the intense peppery citrus in the opening, the main notes last for 4-6 hours on my skin. The dry down persists for a while, but you would need freshening up after eight hours. You can wear it as an office perfume, mostly because it is an inoffensive citrus floral that doesn’t cause waves.
Poivre Pomelo feels like an experimental project, perhaps created by perfumery students. There are interesting notes that come and go. But these don’t congeal into any recognizable personality. So, I hesitate to recommend Poivre Pomelo, especially at $200 for a 100 ml bottle. This entire class of fresh citrus florals are teaming with good but not great perfumes. Pick your poison.
The notes listed by the perfumer are grapefruit, Timut pepper, pink pepper, angelica, osmanthus, peony, cedar, vetiver and maté. The opening is a very fresh grapefruit spiced up by Nepalese Timut pepper and pink pepper. Timut pepper allegedly has strong citrus notes resembling grapefruit. The spicy citrus, though lovely, does not stay on the skin for more than a few minutes. The first heart note that appears is angelica, followed soon after by osmanthus and peony. It is nice blend of herbaceous floral notes, not particularly exciting or unique. I cannot pick out osmanthus and peony as strong identifiable notes, but this perfume becomes more floral as it progresses through the heart notes. The base notes on my skin are mild woody floral and citrus accords without much definition. This is just a miniature representation of the heart notes.
The longevity and intensity of Poivre Pomelo are modest on my skin. Despite the intense peppery citrus in the opening, the main notes last for 4-6 hours on my skin. The dry down persists for a while, but you would need freshening up after eight hours. You can wear it as an office perfume, mostly because it is an inoffensive citrus floral that doesn’t cause waves.
Poivre Pomelo feels like an experimental project, perhaps created by perfumery students. There are interesting notes that come and go. But these don’t congeal into any recognizable personality. So, I hesitate to recommend Poivre Pomelo, especially at $200 for a 100 ml bottle. This entire class of fresh citrus florals are teaming with good but not great perfumes. Pick your poison.
Metaphysical
