By Tom
Miller et Bertaux is a Paris-based house that I'd never tried before since I don't know who carries it in my area. Cruising around Santa Monica recently, I went into Palmetto, one of my favorite shops. (LA Sniffa attendees will remember going to the sadly closed West Hollywood store). Palmetto has been at the corner of Montana and 11th for as long as I can remember, and have everything that you could want or need as far as bath, face and body products. They also carry a selection of scents, which is of course what I was interested in.
On the sale rack was Spiritus/Land, a tester I think that was 5/8 full and marked at $20. If it had even been decent smelling I might have bought it. But it wasn't decent.
It was fantastic.
It's an incense scent, but an odd one. It opens with a burst of pepper, pink and black and ginger. Then there's the juxtaposition of a very clean accord with incense that also still carries the pepper that's fascinating: the yin and yang of clean, green sunny soapiness and dark, dusty shadow incense is something that made me go "squee!" The fact that the drydown goes more towards the darkside cements the idea that I scored, big-time.
Miller et Bertaux has the most atrocious, useless website I've ever seen. Fragrantica sells this at $150 for 100ML. Apparently "certain" Barneys carry the line, but not the one in my 'hood. I'm glad that I got my bottle cheap, and glad that Miller et Bertaux is apparently so flush that they don't actually need to have any business. Palmetto, while a place you need to visit when you're in LA apparently doesn't carry it anymore.
Which means this post is torture. Sorry. If you know places that carry them, please chime in in the comments.
luckyscent used to carry all their stuff... but not anymore
ReplyDeletei've seen it on ebay...
This sounds really great! Naturally had to check out that Web site, and yes it is awful! Not at all helpful. And wow, you did score big!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that this is really no use *at all* to many readers, but M&B stockists are all over London and especially Rome. My Barney's in SF carries them too.
ReplyDelete"Essenza" in Seattle carries Miller et Bertaux.
ReplyDeleteThey do not have a functioning website, but you can call them. They have a lot of MeB frags and there are nice people there.
Really a torture! The combination of incense and soap is fantastic. I have only smelled it in the now discontinued Jil Sander Man from the late 70's if I remember well. I think it has been reworked in their recent Scent 79 my Mark Buxton but I might be wrong.
ReplyDeleteAny other scents with this combo?
I was lucky enough to try this years ago, it's fantastic! You really scored with this one, Tom, you lucky (edited)! ;-)
ReplyDelete-Marla
Wow! What a fantastic buy! I don't know what happened to Miller et Bertaux's distribution, but I see that Luscious Cargo still has it on their website. Spiritus/Land (#2) and Green Green Green (#3) were my favorites from this line.
ReplyDeleteAedes de Venustas carries M&B
ReplyDeleteI'm glad anon mentioned Aedes still carries the line. I had a bit of panic there. M&B's Green, green, green and green is one of my favorites, and I'm getting to the point where I will have to reorder it. Spiritus is my other favorite of this line, though I haven't tried them all.
ReplyDeleteNew perfume with cheaper price =)
ReplyDelete>> One Drop Perfume
Nice review, Tom. It's $140 on the New London Pharmacy website: http://www.newlondonpharmacy.com/products?brand=349
ReplyDelete