01/31/2024
Intersport
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Détour XVI: 1985 x 2005 (Night at the Crossroads III)
Camille Goutal, as the daughter and sometime representative of the house founded by her mother Annick Goutal, certainly thought twice about releasing an immortelle fragrance: Sables (1985) is the historical reference par excellence in the immortelle field and a benchmark that is hard to ignore, and one of the few exceptions to the much-cited Goutal watercolor palette.
When the Goutal brand was taken over by the Amoré Pacific Group years ago, the mandatory repackaging redesign took place as so often, everything was supposed to appear lighter, tidier and more reduced, in keeping with the spirit of the times (Sables in particular had a hard time in those years - which fortunately was easy to recognize thanks to re-design). In an interview from September 2023 (http://tinyurl.com/mrx5dj6p), the Managing Director responsible for Goutal, Kay Lee, also addresses these circumstances: "Since Amoré Pacific acquired the brand in 2011, Goutal has undergone several managerial changes, each of which had a different vision for the brand." ... "...The brand needs to be what it was when it was founded in 1981..." and even suggests a revival of the fantastic Vétiver (1985), but let's wait and see what exactly Ms. Lee's ideas are and whether this re-engineering will succeed. Sables, at least, has been pleasingly re-improved in recent years since it moved back into a cylindrical bottle.
Sables and the Goutal brand, Sables and Annick Goutal, their daughter, Camille Goutal, and the perfumer Isabelle Doyen are all names that buzz around here in a closely interwoven orbit, although Annick Goutal was apparently supported in the early days (including with Sables and the aforementioned Vétiver) primarily by the perfumer Henri Sonoma and only later by Doyen. Whether it is apparently a break with the House of Goutal and the ownership structure, or whether Voyages Imaginaires is just an organic spin-off of the two ladies is an open question, but Camille Goutal and Isabelle Doyen are the official co-authors of L'Eau des Immortels.
So much for the preface ... and right up front: there are plenty of similarities between L'Eau des Immortels and Sables. The name L'Eau des Immortels underlines this literal relationship: for years Sables was, for lack of alternatives, simply the 'Immortelle water', i.e. the 'Eau des Immortels' and here this relationship is challenged or claimed, look, I, Annick's daughter am defending her heritage and, in keeping with family tradition, making an Immortelle fragrance with an announcement and, on top of that, pragmatically calling it L'Eau des Immortels.
It is also all there, the lush Immortelle note, completely underlining the character of a high-quality Immortelle Absolute, which smells different and far more deeply layered than the plant itself, but which has also clearly significantly conditioned the widespread opinion of how an Immortelle note should smell in perfumes. Only very few immortelle fragrances match the profile of the plant. The ambery, spicy aspects, the light fenugreek and maple syrup associations, the vegetable-like, Mediterranean and subcontinental notes, the hint of tobacco and hay, all facets that several Immortelle fragrances by other authors have worked out in detail in individual fragrances (see my other Détour texts or the corresponding collection) are present here in sum, in balanced proportions. If Sables were no longer available, L'Eau des Immortels could indeed be a worthy successor.
Fortunately, Camille Goutal was aware of this loaded or rather special proximity and Isabelle Doyen is too sophisticated a perfumer to design just a shiny Sables off-spring, the successful trick with L'Eau des Immortels is an emphasis and extension of the patchouli note already present in Sables. This is intensified here, the patchouli also unfolds its camphor-like aspects more clearly and is supported by a dark cocoa note. This combination of patchouli and dark, chocolate-like notes was, of course, wonderfully realized by Christopher Sheldrake in Bornéo 1834 (2005), whose roots lie in Vétiver Oriental (2002) and whose popularity peaked with Coromandel Eau de Toilette (2007), before the same was spoiled again as Eau de Parfum (2016). Yes, a cross between Sables and Bornéo 1834, perhaps in a 70:30 ratio, that's how I would describe L'Eau des Immortels. The whole thing harmonizes, indeed works amazingly well. Every time I tell myself how close the whole thing is to Sables, this patchouli / cocoa note comes in like a reliable corrective and puts L'Eau des Immortels back in its place. At the same time, the ever-present immortelle prevents us from thinking too much of Bornéo 1834. This back and forth goes on for hours, for an 'all natural' perfume, L'Eau des Immortels holds up very well, even if it is close to Sables, or rather due to the use of Immortelle Absolute. The whole thing never becomes sweet or even gourmand: Goutal and Doyen are unabashedly focusing on Immortelle in all its bulky grandeur, characteristics and charm. Fortunately, the increasing trend of using an immortelle note merely as a slightly ambery filler, as is the case with so many new fragrances, is something the ladies are far removed from. The cocoa note is also slightly bitter, which in turn supports the bitter facets of Immortelle Absolute. The ease with which the two shaping facets of the fragrance compliment each other is impressive, here someone knows his Immortelle, so to speak, Camille Goutal due to family ties, and Isabelle Doyen as an experienced perfumer in exchange with both Goutals. Many hours later, the remnants of L'Eau des Immortels remind me of another, unfortunately discontinued all natural Immortelle fragrance, Karine Vinchon-Spehner's Maquis Exquis & Immortelle (?).
Apart from the fact that the combination of immortelle/patchouli/cocoa simply works here, it also makes the perfume more accessible than Sables is for a wider audience - Ramsauerin's comment here in the statements is a good one, but I would still give preference to Sables, especially in the more recent versions. L'Eau des Immortels will probably not achieve its cult status - too many very good fragrances that are more or less entirely dedicated to Immortelle have been released in the meantime, such as the beautiful Immortelle Corse (2019), which plays out a similar duality of two complementary accords, or the quasi-coded and far more ambiguous Immortelle-heavy fragrances by Serge Lutens (2017, 2018, 2021); sables was also in Goutal's range for a long time as a relatively 'normal' perfume and not, as here, as a rather high-priced segment in very specialized distribution. All in all, a very digestible, well thought-out and carefully executed new addition to the Immortelle field, whose proximity to the aforementioned Sables is easy to understand due to the personalities involved.
When the Goutal brand was taken over by the Amoré Pacific Group years ago, the mandatory repackaging redesign took place as so often, everything was supposed to appear lighter, tidier and more reduced, in keeping with the spirit of the times (Sables in particular had a hard time in those years - which fortunately was easy to recognize thanks to re-design). In an interview from September 2023 (http://tinyurl.com/mrx5dj6p), the Managing Director responsible for Goutal, Kay Lee, also addresses these circumstances: "Since Amoré Pacific acquired the brand in 2011, Goutal has undergone several managerial changes, each of which had a different vision for the brand." ... "...The brand needs to be what it was when it was founded in 1981..." and even suggests a revival of the fantastic Vétiver (1985), but let's wait and see what exactly Ms. Lee's ideas are and whether this re-engineering will succeed. Sables, at least, has been pleasingly re-improved in recent years since it moved back into a cylindrical bottle.
Sables and the Goutal brand, Sables and Annick Goutal, their daughter, Camille Goutal, and the perfumer Isabelle Doyen are all names that buzz around here in a closely interwoven orbit, although Annick Goutal was apparently supported in the early days (including with Sables and the aforementioned Vétiver) primarily by the perfumer Henri Sonoma and only later by Doyen. Whether it is apparently a break with the House of Goutal and the ownership structure, or whether Voyages Imaginaires is just an organic spin-off of the two ladies is an open question, but Camille Goutal and Isabelle Doyen are the official co-authors of L'Eau des Immortels.
So much for the preface ... and right up front: there are plenty of similarities between L'Eau des Immortels and Sables. The name L'Eau des Immortels underlines this literal relationship: for years Sables was, for lack of alternatives, simply the 'Immortelle water', i.e. the 'Eau des Immortels' and here this relationship is challenged or claimed, look, I, Annick's daughter am defending her heritage and, in keeping with family tradition, making an Immortelle fragrance with an announcement and, on top of that, pragmatically calling it L'Eau des Immortels.
It is also all there, the lush Immortelle note, completely underlining the character of a high-quality Immortelle Absolute, which smells different and far more deeply layered than the plant itself, but which has also clearly significantly conditioned the widespread opinion of how an Immortelle note should smell in perfumes. Only very few immortelle fragrances match the profile of the plant. The ambery, spicy aspects, the light fenugreek and maple syrup associations, the vegetable-like, Mediterranean and subcontinental notes, the hint of tobacco and hay, all facets that several Immortelle fragrances by other authors have worked out in detail in individual fragrances (see my other Détour texts or the corresponding collection) are present here in sum, in balanced proportions. If Sables were no longer available, L'Eau des Immortels could indeed be a worthy successor.
Fortunately, Camille Goutal was aware of this loaded or rather special proximity and Isabelle Doyen is too sophisticated a perfumer to design just a shiny Sables off-spring, the successful trick with L'Eau des Immortels is an emphasis and extension of the patchouli note already present in Sables. This is intensified here, the patchouli also unfolds its camphor-like aspects more clearly and is supported by a dark cocoa note. This combination of patchouli and dark, chocolate-like notes was, of course, wonderfully realized by Christopher Sheldrake in Bornéo 1834 (2005), whose roots lie in Vétiver Oriental (2002) and whose popularity peaked with Coromandel Eau de Toilette (2007), before the same was spoiled again as Eau de Parfum (2016). Yes, a cross between Sables and Bornéo 1834, perhaps in a 70:30 ratio, that's how I would describe L'Eau des Immortels. The whole thing harmonizes, indeed works amazingly well. Every time I tell myself how close the whole thing is to Sables, this patchouli / cocoa note comes in like a reliable corrective and puts L'Eau des Immortels back in its place. At the same time, the ever-present immortelle prevents us from thinking too much of Bornéo 1834. This back and forth goes on for hours, for an 'all natural' perfume, L'Eau des Immortels holds up very well, even if it is close to Sables, or rather due to the use of Immortelle Absolute. The whole thing never becomes sweet or even gourmand: Goutal and Doyen are unabashedly focusing on Immortelle in all its bulky grandeur, characteristics and charm. Fortunately, the increasing trend of using an immortelle note merely as a slightly ambery filler, as is the case with so many new fragrances, is something the ladies are far removed from. The cocoa note is also slightly bitter, which in turn supports the bitter facets of Immortelle Absolute. The ease with which the two shaping facets of the fragrance compliment each other is impressive, here someone knows his Immortelle, so to speak, Camille Goutal due to family ties, and Isabelle Doyen as an experienced perfumer in exchange with both Goutals. Many hours later, the remnants of L'Eau des Immortels remind me of another, unfortunately discontinued all natural Immortelle fragrance, Karine Vinchon-Spehner's Maquis Exquis & Immortelle (?).
Apart from the fact that the combination of immortelle/patchouli/cocoa simply works here, it also makes the perfume more accessible than Sables is for a wider audience - Ramsauerin's comment here in the statements is a good one, but I would still give preference to Sables, especially in the more recent versions. L'Eau des Immortels will probably not achieve its cult status - too many very good fragrances that are more or less entirely dedicated to Immortelle have been released in the meantime, such as the beautiful Immortelle Corse (2019), which plays out a similar duality of two complementary accords, or the quasi-coded and far more ambiguous Immortelle-heavy fragrances by Serge Lutens (2017, 2018, 2021); sables was also in Goutal's range for a long time as a relatively 'normal' perfume and not, as here, as a rather high-priced segment in very specialized distribution. All in all, a very digestible, well thought-out and carefully executed new addition to the Immortelle field, whose proximity to the aforementioned Sables is easy to understand due to the personalities involved.
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