See Prices

More

We may earn a commission when you buy from links on our site, including the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.

Eau du Fier Goutal 2000

7.6 / 10 27 Ratings

A popular perfume by Goutal for men, released in 2000. The scent is leathery-smoky. The longevity is above-average. The production was apparently discontinued.
Pronunciation Compare

More

We may earn a commission when you buy from links on our site, including the eBay Partner Network and Amazon.

Main accords

Leathery

Smoky

Spicy

Resinous

Woody

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Bitter orange

Osmanthus

Heart Notes

Black tea

Clove

Base Notes

Birch tar

Salty notes

Perfumer

Annick Goutal

Ratings

Scent

7.627 Ratings

Longevity

8.322 Ratings

Sillage

6.721 Ratings

Bottle

6.927 Ratings

Submitted by Profumo, last update on 04/23/2021.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Series 1: Leaves - Tea

XIII: La Treizième Heure

Reviews

9 in-depth fragrance descriptions

11/19/2012

8Scent 10Longevity 10Sillage

PBullFriend
310 Reviews

PBullFriend

Helpful Review 5

salty beautiful hangover

Annick Goutal's Eau du Fier is one of the more sharply polarizing perfumes I know. In fact, my own feelings about it have swung from one pole to the other. When I first received a sample of it some years ago, it had spilled a bit in the package. For weeks afterward, I kept sniffing my living room (where I had opened it) to make sure nothing was smoldering. Very intense stuff. I hated it.

But over time it worked its salty birchtar charms on me, and I grew to love it. Unfortunately, it was discontinued 5 or more years ago and is now nearly impossible to find. I was never able to talk myself into splurging on it because I'm afraid to wear it in public, not wanting to make anyone else call the fire department!

There are some other lovely scents out there that capture saltiness (my favorites being Miller Harris Fleur de Sel and The Different Company's Sel de Vetiver). But this captures a level of saltiness I never thought a perfume could. If I were writing a video to go with this, it would be an "adult" version of Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night": a swank party in the Hollywood Hills, lots of people in leather, a campfire, too much whiskey, some rough sex, and waking up in the morning to drink a gigantic glass of water with a large and slightly rueful smile.

Note: This is the first time I've worn it for 12 hours without showering. At 12 hours, it's a lovely, refined osmanthus.

And, on second thought, I just found an inexpensive used bottle on eBay - it didn't seem right to let this pass into "just a memory" yet.

12/25/2012

5Scent 7.5Longevity 5Sillage

Coutureguru
237 Reviews

Coutureguru

Helpful Review 5

Petrolheads Rejoice!!!

Not having had any exposure to the Annick Goutal range of fragrances I was pleased to find this one included in an envelope of mystery samples :). I had absolutely no idea what to expect so I went into this test totally blind ... and was utterly flabbergasted!

Now when I say 'flabbergasted' I don't necessarily mean it in a positive way, but neither is this fragrance a negative for me. It's just completely surprising and catches one totally off guard. Eau du Fier (or Proud Water) is über masculine ... very much in the same way that the really hot guy who services your car is masculine ... all grease stained and muscle armed ... with piercing blue eyes gazing quirkily at you while explaining the problems with your manifold! But I digress ...
An almost overwhelming note of petrol dominates this Goutal offering. Now for some, this can be a complete winner. Indeed, I am one of those who sticks my head out of the window at the gas station to catch a whiff or three of petrol fumes ... but as something to perfume my body with? That would be about as silly as The Rock wearing a Tutu to the Oscars :) ... there is not enough testosterone flowing around in me to pull this one off! I'd love to smell this on the aforementioned blue-eyed mechanic tho' ... especially all spruced up and waiting on my doorstep to take me to dinner. There is also a delicious saltiness to the dry down ... clean sweat on clean skin? *Shudder*!!
The sillage here is not massive (so one would have to get in close *nudge, nudge - wink, wink*) and the longevity quite decent at about 5 hours on my perfume munching skin.

As can be gauged by my above reaction, suffice it to say that on the right guy Eau du Fier would be incredibly sexy .... INCREDIBLY!!

09/24/2013

9Scent 7.5Longevity 7.5Sillage

DemonHead
18 Reviews

DemonHead

Helpful Review 4

Eau du Fier sets Goutal's perfume portfolio alight!

In-house Annick Goutal nose Isabelle Doyen has a resumé of perfumed creations that reads like a shopping list of the rich and rare. Having studied as Goutal's apprentice prior to her passing, Doyen inherited her master's keen intuitiveness and passion, which translate into a portfolio of fine fragrances that are resolutely French in their approach.

In 2000, Goutal launched the polarising masculine Eau du Fier to a mixed reception. A scent that focuses chiefly on the marriage of organic birch tar and black tea, Eau du Fier is quite possibly the blackest, sootiest perfume one might ever encounter. Coming right off the back of a decade of sanitised androgyny in perfume, Eau du Fier proved the absolute antithesis of perfume models that were popular at the time. By 2005, it had been already been retired.

In the years since the early 2000's, appreciation for niche, rare and artisanal perfumery has grown exponentially, thanks in part, to flourishing fragrance communities both online and offline. How peculiar that the scent which was globally rebuked in 2003, is now generally regarded by perfume aficionados in 2012 as a triumph, and arguably Doyen's magnum opus.

Olfactory notes aside, this fragrance launches from the flacon like a flame-thrower - an impenetrable wall of fire and embers, fed by combustable accelerants. On skin, Eau du Fier is equally as uncompromising... I am automatically transported to mechanic's workshop... I smell of a man who has worked under a car for a whole day; hands blackened with grease lying on a floor littered with oily rags. Open jerrycans in one corner reek of evaporating gasoline, whilst in the other, a fire is burning in a barrel that has been lit with small combustable firestarters. This daydream plays out for 6-8 hours, until a final lingering huff of smoke eventually vaporises from my skin.

Black tea and tarry birch are the key components upon which this perfume is built, but one has to turn away from the vivid film playing out in their mind's eye to become cognisant of the individual accords. Doyen's masterful hand has interwoven subtle floral nuances of osmanthus and herbaceous/citrusy facets into this scent, which can only be picked when one knows where to look. Every note is treated like a fine brushstroke, forming a small but integral part of the whole.

Eau du Fier will unquestionably evoke a response in the wearer. Some will fan the air around them and cough and wheeze, and others will sit, silent, and wait for the visions to begin.

If only more perfumes could be as accomplished and profound.

12/19/2012

4Scent 10Longevity 2.5Sillage

Drseid
828 Reviews

Drseid

2

Burnt Rubber Equals Major Scrubber...

Opens with only a second's worth of a just barely perceptible fresh mint before turning into a smokey burnt rubber accord with a mild tea undertone. The rubbery birch bark is by far the dominant note and it overpowers everything else on my skin. Projection is minimal, but longevity is excellent.

I wish I could say this one appealed to me, but the birch bark is just too much. Eau du Fier just does not have enough going on to keep my interest long. It, like Cuir from Mona di Orio makes the error of just being *too* smokey, instead of using the smoke to complement other notes. I don't hate Eau du Fier, but I definitely don't enjoy wearing it and can't recommend it. This one is not good, earning 2 stars out of 5.

12/19/2010

10Scent 10Longevity 7.5Sillage

DuftJunkie
31 Reviews

Translated · Show original

DuftJunkie

Very helpful Review 27

Astonished Saleswomen Everywhere

Profumo, first of all, congratulations on writing such a detailed comment about this MASTERPIECE of a perfume. My experiences with this scent were very similar to yours. However, I had no opportunity to try the fragrance. I had read about it in a trade magazine (which I believe no longer exists). Hmm, I thought. Smoky, leathery, slightly woody (that’s how the scent was described); I must have it as a fan of Lapsang Souchong. So, off to my regular perfumery in Cologne (Goldkopf) and I ordered it "blind." When the fragrance arrived a few days later, specially ordered from France, I was informed. When I went to pick up the item, the saleswoman had a strange reaction: Mr. Ö., we ordered the perfume just for you from France. You will understand that we cannot accept returns in this case. She had a smirking face and glanced at the tester that was included. Then she continued: we really can’t sell such a scent.
I agreed and was about to pay when she asked if I wanted to try the tester. She probably wanted to see the horror in my eyes with a hint of schadenfreude. I thought to myself: that’s enough. I didn’t grant her the schadenfreude and shot back: "No need. I know what the scent is like. It should remind one of a campfire with smoldering charcoal, where you feel the coolness of the night and the warmth of the coals at the same time. And you sip a good Chinese Souchong." She was astonished at how differently people perceive scents.

Now, onto the fragrance. Once home, my wife was just so thrilled with the scent that she had an urgent desire to run out onto the balcony for some fresh air. No wonder; she had sprayed the scent for testing just like she does with her fresh fruity or aquatic everyday scents like Laura or Cool Water Woman, so very generously. My first experiences were quite different. I applied the scent discreetly on my forearm; on the hairy side, not on the wrist. I don’t need pulsating spots if I keep sticking my nose there to follow the scent development. I was astonished at how consistent and gradual the development was. The scent reveals its true nature right from the start: unusual, extreme, with a woody-smoky focus and leathery accents. One must say about the scent progression that a top note is almost completely missing, only minimally present. But that is neither necessary nor sensible; after all, what should one use to set the mood for a campfire with charcoal: citrus fruits (yuck), or even fresh fruits (ugh). No, but herbs like lavender, sage, or clary sage would work. But only a little of that. Especially lavender and clary sage have a wonderful property in perfume compositions:
they can give scents body and a shell even in small doses, without standing out themselves. In this fragrance, they probably added a nuance of bergamot to guarantee a tiny, airy freshness at the start. And then about Ho leaves (or Linaloe, rosewood), to ensure a bridge later between the woody overall picture and the base of the tar-like leathery something (probably a base based on juniper and birch) with a hint of amber.
But this fragrance has much more to offer, as indicated above in the fragrance note composition by bitter orange, osmanthus, and clove.
Namely, this spicy delicate-floral facet without appearing fruity.
Certainly achieved through a second combination strand of bitter orange (including leaves, neroli, and absolute), which also creates a connection to the other strand via bergamot. Furthermore, in this strand osmanthus serves as a floral-delicate transition to the actually perceivable, almost drinkable black tea (yummy). Clove (spice as well as carnation absolute) at the end then creates the second bridge (alongside lavender, clary sage, etc.) to the amber note. This time, however, via the spicy-floral route.
Amber appears in the fragrance description above, just like bergamot, lavender, and co, but I am convinced that it is this linalool-linalyl acetate combo that, in a very subtle interplay with amber, gives the whole fragrance a kind of transparent dress. A transparent, yet inexplicably alluring, all-encompassing shell.
And thus, the fragrance receives a well-rounded overall picture from me and the highest possible score, even though I find Annick Goutal fragrances, like most Serge Lutens fragrances, simply not great. For me, they only represent partially lavishly built bases. Exceptions might be Sables (Goutal) and Louve or Douce Amere (Lutens).

My personal experiences with Eau Du Fier, as far as other people are concerned, were also consistently positive, apart from the first ones described above. Anecdote:
When I attended a Turkish celebration, I wore Eau Du Fier because I wanted to maintain the typical distance of discretion for myself.
Perhaps this perfume struck the Turkish scent nerve just like it did for me.
I could hardly resist the "attention."
Otherwise, I could say about this scent that it is better suited for cooler seasons and for use from late afternoon onwards.
Ideal for salespeople who shy away from customer contact, but not for career-minded employees (at least not in the workplace). Very nice for going out in the evening, provided the companion can tolerate this note, which unfortunately is not the case with my wife :-(.
But ultimately, this fragrance might be the best choice when sitting with dear friends around a campfire, the cool wind blowing around your ears, and you sip a nice cup of hot black tea. It doesn’t even have to be Lapsang Souchong. Eau Du Fier already provides the smoky tea feeling.

More reviews