Les Infortunes de la Vertu

[emerald_ibis]

A pain-tinged, pleasure-soaked blend of leather, oakmoss, orange blossom, amber, and rose with a breath of virginal French florals and a hint of austere monastic penitential incense.

In bottle: Floral hell, bleah. Smells like some sort of old Avon perfume bottle that I found in my grandmother's closet. However...

On me, wet: Floral hell goes away almost instantly. My skin tends to amp up incense notes, and that is not a bad thing at all. It becomes all warm leather and dusty, slightly smoky incense.

Initial drydown: The leather has started to fade somewhat, which is disappointing. The incense is still lovely. A few of the florals are starting to peek out again, but not in an overwhelming, OHMYGOD WASH-IT-OFF kind of way (I'm not much of a floral fan). Where is my leather? Where is my beautiful leather?

Later drydown: The leather and the incense are playing peek-a-boo, for lack of better description. The floral notes have remained consistent, but happily, not in an overwhelming way. It is very warm and clean.

(edited to add Lab description) Edited November 17, 2007 by Shollin

[Emma2403]

In the bottle: heavy floral with loads of orange blossom

 

On my skin: some leather but mostly flowers I can't really identify. Unfortunately, the orange blossom doesn't really show.

 

After a couple of hours: it's still there, quite powerful. Leather and something sweet. It's not all that masculine on me.

 

Verdict: okay but not outstanding.

[Monster]

This is another one I unfortunately can't put on my skin :/

 

Out of the vial it's making me sick. It's a very sharp citrus....with white flowers o_O It has a cleaning fluid quality to it.

 

I'm guessing this would probably smell nice on a guy (even though it has florals, it's very masculine smelling).

 

Off to swaps.

[myoubi]

Weird. Everyone else seems to be getting flowers. I get.... leather.

 

WET/DRYING: leather. leather and oakmoss, softened by something but I couldn't tell you what -- it's not harsh, and it's ever-so-slightly dusky and smoky, and there's something that does make it femenine which I guess must be the floral peeking through. But the note that hits my nose is prettymuch pure leather.

 

DRY-ER: odd, it's souring a little bit now. This stuff has throw -- my schnozz is mediocre at best but I can smell it from a few feet away on my wrists.

 

this is fine, there's nothing wrong with it, but I won't use up my imp and there's no sense in my buying a bottle. off it goes.

[supremegoddessofall]

Strange combination. This is mostly leather in amber, although I do get a touch of the citrus and herbal behind it. Touch of incense, but not really getting the florals here. Despite the citrus, I actually like this on me.

[almeda]

First Sniff: Harsh, faintly orangey chemicals.

On: Even fainter than in the vial; some kind of nose-aching 'floral' volatile.

Dry: Barely-there generic florals, with some kind of dark bottom note.

Long-Term: It's giving me a headache, so I'm washing it off. Disappointing -- I really wanted to like this one!

[AmyAngel]

Les Infortunes de la Vertu: In the imp, very strong and medicinal. On, wet, smells very strong and like some sort of cleaner, yuck. It seems to be mellowing as it dries, and becoming less sharp. Now I can mostly smell leather, and maybe a bit of amber. I'm not really getting much by way of floral here, but maybe a bit of herbal. It's actually pretty faint, and seems to be mostly leather. Once in a while I think I can get a hint of incense, but not often, it's usually leather and something “green” smelling to me. Still leather, amber, and something else that's making me think green. I like this much better after the first 20 minutes or so. An hour later, I've got slightly soapy clean leather on my wrist. There's a sort of floral sweetness that wasn't there before. It's subtle, but it's there. After another half hour I still have the slightly sweet clean leather smell. Not bad! I really thought I'd hate this one at the beginning, but since it seems to have settled down I actually kind of like it. Actually the longer I wear it the MORE I like it, and the sweeter it seems to get. After 2 hours there's a slight hint of floral. I think this is the first I've tried that has really “morphed” and continued to morph as I've worn it. I'm getting a reasonable amount of throw from it too, now. I totally would not think of this as “me” but it's really something I could wear! I'll be keeping this imp for sure!

[filigree_shadow]

This smells like a cunning masculine blend to me. The leather is soft and comfy, and although the amber is going a little bit powdery on me, it still smells good. The orange blossom comes out when it's dry, and I could do without that, but I still like this blend just fine. I think it'll smell better on my hubby than it does on me, though.

[Nia]

On imp: Hmmmmm! it wakes up my nose. Is pungent the right word? it smells a bit citrussy.

 

On me: Man's cologne; I can never detect leather as a note, but it makes things smell of man to me. Oddly enough, I feel bitterness in my mouth when I sniff this. The weirdest thing is that it makes me sad.

[500ml]

I'd never thought I'd say this, but this is leather heaven for me. Absolutely stunning, this is such a sexy scent and would work fantastic on a guy. Having said that, I think it smells great on me, too I find it makes me feel quite nostalgic, it smells ancient and dusty. I don't really get any of the flowers except perhaps for a slight underlying note at some point. I did get amber and at the very start it smelled very close to the Olive Branch by Lush.

 

Wow! This goes straight on my 'need big bottle list' for sure.

 

ETA: Reminds me a lot of the old leather jacket my boyfriend used to wear, actually!

Edited June 16, 2007 by porcelain

[bulletslc]

Mmmmmm, very leather but with a light floral/green/ambery edge! This makes me think De Sade meets Casanova+a hint of amber!

 

Oh my! I'm going to have to try this on the bf when he comes to visit next week!

The leather eventually gets toned down by the orange blossom/amber combo, but since those are two of my favorite scents I'm good with that. Though the leather continues to be the dominant scent.

 

Don't know if I'd wear this one myself. Its very, very masculine to my nose, but the bf is definitly getting guinea-pigged with THIS one...

[moon_lemming]

Hey, you might THINK that fancy French name stands for something sexy or that it's maybe the title of a novella with a really depressing moral. But I AM HERE TO TELL YOU. That name? Means BABY POWDER.

 

I am getting absolutely nothing else from this blend. I blame it on the amber and the florals. But it doesn't really matter who's to blame -- it's not sticking its powdery paw on my skin again.

[LadyCrow]

In the imp: Sharp florals and resins.

 

Wet: Leather wraps around all of this -- leather and the citrusy whiff of orange blossoms. Unfortunately, the rather generic-on-me florals keep surging forward.

 

Drydown: Now, leather and amber really work together, once most of the floral evaporates. But then the amber recedes again and the florals come back rather faintly for one last combined fling with the leather before it all goes traditional-perfumey.

 

Verdict: Not for my skin chemistry, sadly. I may have to stick to pure De Sade for my leather fix.

[CrazyPretzel]

In the imp: leather and a lovely herby smell that reminds me of Allison Gross.

 

Wet on me: leather still, and the herbal scent is becoming more resiny. For some reason this seems very hot to my nose, like sniffing a candle flame.

 

Drydown: My first impression was that while this was a good scent, I'd have to give it to my boyfriend as it was too manly for me to wear. That impression has changed now. It is predominantly a leather scent, but it's blended beautifully with spicy flowers and resins. It just keeps getting better!

 

This seems like such an unusual combination of notes but they all play together so wonderfully. It's immensely sexy and I think it would be quite lovely on either a man or a woman. If I could change one thing about it I'd make the leather a teensy bit less strong -- but that may yet fade as I wear it, and really it's an exquisite blend as is. Very happy!

 

ETA: Oh noes -- this has turned pretty stale towards the later stages of the drydown. No more flowers or resins, I'm just left with a flat leather note that isn't very nice. Argh.

Edited August 23, 2007 by Baitu

[Christine Daae]

Well, the notes are certainly interesting...

 

In the imp, this is all slightly-musty orange blossom to me. I keep getting that effect today.

 

Ah, on my skin, that slightly-musty smell becomes the leather. Sweet, orangey leather.

 

As it dries, the amber warms it up a little bit, becoming less sharply sweet. I don't get much rose at all, but I think I can detect the incensey bits underneath the leather. Despite the badass-itude of the leather (leather always smells badass to me, which is probably precisely why I can't wear it), this actually does smell really "holy" to me - but then, incense almost always translates to "holy" in my brain, somehow.

 

This is actually quite nice, though I'm left wondering what "virginal French blooms" are. If I were ever to wear a leather blend, this would be it.

[zankoku_zen]

In the imp: Florals and incense

 

On Skin: Slightly musty orange blossom and incense

 

On Drydown: Musty orangey leather

 

Verdict: I'm hit or miss with leather scents. Both Whip and Severin are great, but De Sade was horrible. This one for me is just weird. Orange and leather? I feel like I dripped orange juice on my leather pants and they have also been lightly scented with incense. Interesting combination, but not for me.

[Medici]

In the imp: French floral perfume. (Frou frou.)

 

Wet: Leather and incense and more leather. It’s much more masculine than I anticipated.

 

Drydown: Leather. This is going straight to the boys.

[euterpe414]

I am finding that lately I have been very drawn to leather scents- a few months ago I would have thought that would never happen, lol. I blame it on the Dogs Playing Poker series, but anyway... Les Infortunes is a fantastic leather scent. Very classy, a bit perfumy, definitely in the style of His Station and Four Aces (although it doesn't really smell similar note wise, just the feel of it). I get a lot of orange blossom and leather, with not a whole lot of incense. There are some lighter floral notes lurking, but they don't come out too often. When it is dry for a long time I can smell a bit of the oakmoss, too, which really grounds the scent. I am definitely keeping my imp of this and perhaps getting a bottle in the future.

[ophidiae]

IN THE BOTTLE: I'm ... not sure, actually, but it's definitely intriguing.

 

WET: Orange blossom at war with incense. It reminds me of autumn mornings as a child, when the air would be full of the smell of burning orange peels from the Tropicana plant down the road.

 

DRY: Incense with the faintest whiff of amber.

 

IN CONCLUSION: As others have mentioned, it is a very masculine scent and would be divine on a man. I like it.

[Gwydion]

Smells a lot like when you first open a fresh package of plastic wrapped toilette paper, probably Cottonelle, with a tiny hint of leather and the faint odor of dried flowers. Meh.

[maribouquet]

imp: orange blossom and leather

wet: LEATHER!

dry: light, white floral with incense and leather

 

Rather unremarkable on me, with leather misbehaving and being sour! I could see this being lovely on others though, even guys though it is significantly floral.

[jarvenpa]

I no longer recall who tenderly sent me an imp of Les Infortunes, but this morning I came across it again and carelessly drenched my wrists, in my usual heedless bravado "let's see what this one is all about" and without checking the lab description.

 

As usual, I am floored by my insane nose. (leather?? where???).

 

But this is truly beautiful, starting with an herbal rush (I would have said there was a touch of lavender in the blend, and I'm probably wrong) and developing into a classic and classy perfume that seems to my nose to be something a lovely, oh, 1940's film star would have carried off with much aplomb.

 

On my skin it is sweet/sharp with sultry overtones. Lasts a long, long while. When I reapplied after reading the description and sniffed I could smell, yes, the neroli (or orange blossom) which is a favorite note of mine, and maybe the leather (though I would never have said leather was a note when I first sniffed this).

 

It is a haunting sort of blend, and makes me want to check out the other oakmoss blends, because I am suspecting oakmoss likes my skin a lot.

 

To my nose very floral (and not masculine, but I seem to like the blends that everyone else finds manly; go figure.)

[mazikeen]

Oooh, interesting.

 

At first, it's earthy and spicey-- must be the leather & incense. (Not sure what oakmoss would smell like.) Wait wait... floral? Is that you, all dressed up in leather? Wow-- I didn't know you had it in you!

 

It's just the tiniest whiff of florals to round out the leather and soften it a little. That leather is still the predominant scent. Thank goodness nothing orangey has shown up yet. I can't stop smelling my wrist!

 

After a few minutes, it's turning a bit smokey. Must be that incense again. Smoke is now dominant, with leather still solidly in the background. This scent could be nicely masculine, too.

 

 

In sum: leather and smoke. Very nice! Whether or not this is bottle material remains to be seen-- it depends on how fast I go through this imp.

[Delirium1009]

In bottle/imp: Strong strong strong oakmoss with a slight hint of leather and a subtle warmth in the background.

 

Immediately on skin: This is very unisex and sharp. There’s a bit of complexity to this, which is nice. It’s dominated by oakmoss but there’s a hint of leather and some light warm amber in the background. A breath of incense smoke wafts over the blend, but it’s light and there’s almost an evergreen, fresh feel to this.

 

After a little while: This smells very fresh and masculine. The oakmoss still dominates this blend, but the leather has amped up a bit as well. The whole blend has this smoky top note to it, but I’d say this is more crisp than smoky or earthy.

 

Overall Impressions: This is a more unisex to masculine blend and the oakmoss and leather are definitely the strongest notes. It’s a fresh smelling scent, but it has a nice subtle smokiness to it. If you are a fan of oakmoss and are looking for something a bit smoky and unisex, I would recommend this for sure.

[hkhm]

imp: leather and... well, leather.

 

wet: leather and moss and a smoky incense smell.

 

dry: this reminds me of de sade but with moss added; hot, smoky leather with a green mossy scent.