Parfumerie Generale has yet to disappoint; I have not smelled much from the line, but those few I’ve tested have become part of my collection. Brulure de Rose was the first—I bought a sample last fall, and finally bought a bottle in June. Bois Blond was next: I won a sample from the lovely Carol over at WAFT (What a fragrance fanatic thinks), and was hooked immediately. I bought a partial bottle on eBay within a month of draining my sample vial.

L’Ombre Fauve was accidental; someone on MUA contacted me about some vintage Shalimar EDC I have, and she offered this—my wish list includes all PG scents. I had read a review over at Perfume Smellin’ Things a while back, which in fact covered both Bois Blond and L’Ombre Fauve; both piqued my interest, but didn’t inspire a lemming.

Well, I shipped off my Shalimar, and about a week later L’OF arrived. Thank god it’s 5mL, because I was hooked at the first spritz. Even Bois Blond required several tests before I was sure, and I’ve been tentatively calling that my *Holy Grail* fragrance.

After having my mind totally blown, I did some more reading, but was surprised I didn’t find any references to Shalimar or Bulgari black. I get a definite tarry note in there with the amber and vanilla. In fact, after the first wild blast, L’Ombre Fauve smells like the Shalimar extrait dry-down. Yeah. Warm fur, amber, smooth dry vanilla, all on a beautiful body: I imagine that Monica Bellucci smells like this in the above photo.

I love Shalimar–I wear the extrait as an around-the-house comfort scent, and a sleep-scent. In fact, I’m wearing vintage parfum at this very moment (1:21 am pacific). It’s fabulous, but… L’Ombre Fauve is definitely giving Guerlain a run for their money. Since I’ve sworn off everything but swaps and splits for the next year (see previous post about quarterly damage), I won’t be buying a full-bottle. But I have noticed that I can send my Luckyscent wish list to friends…

Buy it at Luckyscent for $100.00