Hello Happy Huffers,
Just yesterday my mate Michael was at a perfume sale in Sydney and I got the call, “they have some L’Artisan on sale mate. Not a lot left and some is sprayed is there anything you want?” What a question! So there are a couple of L’Artisans that often go in the shopping basket but get ousted for other beauties at checkout time. Does anyone else do that? Fill your basket and then go back through deleting till it’s how much you want to spend? This L’Artisan has been on my want list for a long time, I love how it smells but even the name is lovely and sinuous like a line in a poem,
Voleur de Roses by L`Artisan Parfumeur 1993
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured notes in one line:
Patchouli, rose, plum
Perfume is a funny thing, everyone gets a different piece of the fragrance pie and what can smell naughty and indecent to one can ofdten smell pastel and washed out to another. Recently I put on the Facebook board FFF that I was wearing Voleur de Roses, “Currently wafting the gentle wash of Voleur de Roses by L`Artisan Parfumeur. It’s so tasteful and nice, I feel like a very good boy.” This sums up my experience with the fragrance perfectly. I get the softest, prettiest aqua tint style wash of fragrance. It is a lovely plummy rose as if you were standing inside the house with roses scent being blown in by the breeze, yes that soft. There is so much air between the notes and it sits so close to my body after an hour that it can surprise me when it huffs up my shirt later in the day because I forget I’m wearing it.
When I first spritz Voleur de Roses it smells like it might be going down the SJP Lovely road but it quickly diverts to this soft fruity rose with a super clean patchouli and a very laundry musky cuddliness. I wonder if we use something different in our laundry that other countries don’t because what I’m getting is clean, the idea of clean and airy space. Pretty linear after the initial rush it does stay around for about 4-5 hours but not in a big way.
Photo Stolen Tracie Hall Flickr
Thinking about who or where I could imagine Voleur de Roses being worn? Totally unisex and it smells amazing on my BFF Kath, though both my Aunties turned their noses well up at it on them while liking it very much on me, and soft enough but unusual enough to help you stand out quietly (funny but Now Smell This has the same idea but better expressed) and it could be a terrific date night fragrance, I’ll let you know on that score. Definitely sheer enough to be office friendly, even in the most frag phobic work spaces but it will give the message that you are quietly, and wonderfully, different from the many department store fragrance wearers.
Further reading: Bois de Jasmine and Now Smell This
Parfum1 has $145/100ml
Beauty Encounter has $145/100ml
Surrender To Chance starts at $4/ml
How does Voleur de Roses smell on you?
See you tomorrow,
Portia x
AustralianPerfumeJunkies 
I do exactly that, deleting, all the time. Usually the target amount is zero.
I haven’t smelled Voleur in quite a while, but when I smelled Parfumerie Generale’s Brulure de Roses, I remember thinking, familiar name, more exciting scent. I’m not much into gourmand, but that one seemed like it could work. That said, I’ve never worn it.
I haven’t tried the PG one LeatherMountain but you have piqued my interest,
Portia xx
Oh I love Voleur de Roses! But to me it is all about being a bad boy! Funny isn’t it how we all perceive a fragrance in different ways. Anyway I have a sample and want to turn that into a full bottle. I wish there was a place that put L’Artisan on sale here! Where is that old perfume bottle of mine with the Genie in it?
Ha ha ha! I think Michael and I are trotting back down to the sale this weekend to russell up some more bargains, want me to look?
Portia x
No! I had to sell the horses to buy that Shalimar! On a strict budget for two months!!!
Ha ha ha! Coolio. You have holidays coming too.
Portia x
This was a scrubber on me. No roses, just moldy cellar. I’m amazed at how different it wears on other people. I couldn’t get it off fast enough.
OH NOOO Poodle,
WOW!! You got the Phantom Of The Opera Roses!
Portia xx
hehehehe that would be my luck too!
Hello Miss P,
Love this one and have to say the same as whoever said on FFF, this is not well behaved but a dark rose, gorgeous!
M x
Heya Madeleine,
You need to come over so we can both wear it and smell the differences.
Portia xx
This is one of the few roses I can wear without it turning to sour, dirty rose water on me. I keep draining samples and decants, so I can’t figure out why I don’t have a full bottle of this in my collection. Love this one almost as much as FM Portrait of A Lady.
Hey there Tatiana,
Portrait of a Lady is WAY bigger on me, a real statement frag. VdR whispers. what about you?
Portia x
VdR doesn’t exactly whisper on me, but it also doesn’t have the incredible longevity I have with PoAL. Yes, PoAL is very big! On me they are both rather dark roses the VdR not quite as dark and dirty as the PoAL. They’re both just a tad too much to wear in summer for me. Can’t wait for cool weather to return so I can wear them again. Sigh, it’s going to be at least another 3 months.
Really? 3 months? We are already in the throes of spring down here, It will be swimming time already in less than 6 weeks.
Portia xx
This is THE patch-rose on my skin.
I don’t know if my aunties would turn their noses up to this one or not. I haven’t let them sniff it 😉
Ha, I had one staying for a week til this morning and also our Home Stay boy’s Mum. They are excellent fun and we got to see a bunch of the other Courtesy Aunts while they were here. I received the bottle in their presence so it became a bit of a sniff party.
Portia xx
Love VdR! Wearing it today in fact. It is much quieter than PoaL for sure on me. Longevity is very good but low sillage, which I like – soft patch rose.
Hey there Tara,
I’m glad someone else has similar experience with CdR. Sometimes I thin k I’m the only one on earth with the skin chemistry to change fragrances.
Yes, soft, soft patch rose. A susurrus of fragrance that you may have imagined. Very selfish.
Portia xx