I received Liquid Brun as an unexpected sample with a purchase at a souk and fell in love at first sniff. Until then, I was unfamiliar with both this fragrance and its inspiration, "Althaïr | Parfums de Marly."
I find Liquid Brun special because it smells like something nutty, vanilla-like, baked with nougat and chocolate. Sweet and creamy, gourmand, a bit like a nougat croissant or freshly baked vanilla crescents. Honestly, I want to eat it. However, it never becomes overwhelming, as there is something wonderfully light involved: floral and creamy, almost feminine, which makes it transparent. I can only assume that it’s the orange blossom combined with cardamom. There’s also something very seductive about it, as it has a smoky allure that makes it more masculine. I like it so much that I even wore it recently at an art opening, in the evening at 30 degrees, and it fit perfectly. For me, it’s not an overwhelming gourmand. I believe one should wear perfumes when they feel like it, not just because it’s warm or cold outside.
Althaïr is smokier, has hints of smoked wood, and thus comes across as a bit harder, more angular. It even has a very slight rubber note for me. At the same time, it lacks that floral lightness, making Althaïr overall less wearable and somewhat uncomfortable for me.
Aside from that, Althaïr and Liquid Brun are truly strikingly similar!
I find the bottle perfectly matching in color, but the shape reminds me more of an urn.
In other parts of the world, heavy oud scents are worn even in high temperatures. Liquid Brun has a certain lightness and ethereality for me. That makes it wearable on summer evenings too. I don’t want to wear such a seductive perfume only in winter. And it worked! I even got compliments that I smell delicious :)
What makes it suitable for summer?