Caron L'Anarchiste: Perfume Review

There are various versions of notes for Caron L'Anarchiste; most insist that it contains orange blossom and mandarin, Luca Turin calls it apple-lavender. Midtown Perfume states that the scent contains pear and basil, and that, to me, seems the closest to what I sense in L'Anarchiste. The way the fragrance begins, with that minty freshness of an unripe pear paired with the hints of de riguer floral-herbal cleanliness of lavender, one can't help but feel that the dainty juice won't fill the very big shoes of the name. "Iced" fruits do not anarchy create. As the composition progresses, however, and the herbal greenness of basil and rosemary and the earthy verdancy of vetiver become apparent, the blend becomes significantly more interesting. It matures, acquires an edge and a raw sort of depth. There is a certain, strangely attaractive cold abrasiveness in the woody accord of cypress and cedar; the dry, stark woods pose an appealing contrast to the sparkly fruitiness of pear. It is when the fruits are placed on that resinous background that it becomes possible to place them in a sort of...dare I even say it... "nihilistic" context. The fathers might have never dared to wear anything not obviously masculine, but the sons are unafraid to spray themselves with pears and apples. And no, hard as you try, it is impossible to stretch the playfully unruly message of the perfume so fas as to say that it evokes Bakunin. An anarchist it is not. It is an adorable rebellous middle child at most. But that is a whole lot adorable. Available at all sorts of online retailers, fairly inexpensively.