I’ve been fortunate to try several of Laurie’s newer scents. Bois Épicés and Bois Épicés Légère are two of my favorites. Of course, I knew they would be, as I like her fragrances very much and these have notes that I generally like on me.

What I particularly like, outside of Laurie’s service, is that none of her fragrances smell artificial or have that plastic scent that is off-putting to me. All that I’ve tried are as she describes them.

It’s very simple: if you like her description and the notes are what you can wear, you will love the fragrance.

Bois Épicés

Soft, warm spices over a musk/wood base. Primary notes are musk, sandalwood, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, and mandarin with supporting notes that include cedar, cypress, and hint of coffee.

The over all feeling to me of Bois Épicés is warmth. I even get a tiny bit of sweet patchouli notes when I wear it, though it is not listed as one of the notes. It is definitely woodsy in a good way.

Though I agree that it has a warm feel, it is a fragrance that could be worn in summer, as I am wearing it today. (It’s about 94 degrees here today.) I find the woods refreshing and cooling, as a forest would be, which is no surprise given my feelings about trees. I like green fragrances, but this is not green woods, this is a hint of autumn, without any smoke, because it is warmed by the spices.

This is a walk in the woods, sunlight filtering through the changing leaves, while wearing spices. I have yet to go wrong, on me, with spices.

Bois Épicés Légère

A new version of Bois Épicés that has slightly softer, more refined woods and a bit more mandarin. The original opens with strong sandalwood that gradually softens, but this version opens with softer woods that gradually intensify in the later drydown as the top notes diminish. The Légère version is overall a little softer but crisper with a bit less warm spice, which makes it work as a summer woodsy skin scent. Notes are musk, sandalwood, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, and mandarin with hints of cedar, cypress, and coffee.

Bois Épicés Légère is equally strong (I mean this in a good way — why wear a fragrance if you can’t smell it?) but it is less warm. The mandarin comes through brighter. I couldn’t tell you which one I like better. I like them both. It’s possible I might use one as a daytime scent, then layer it with the other for evening. And then the next day reverse the order.

Now that they’ve been on for a few hours, one on each wrist, the BEL is sweeter than the BE. BEL still has hints of mandarin, which is interesting, considering that mandarin is usually fleeting.

If you like woods in a fragrance, you can’t go wrong with either of these. If you’ve read my blog, at least the perfume portions, you know I like orange fragrances (but not so much orange blossom). These two combine the best of both worlds, to me.

I have to be careful with musks. Sometimes, on me (and to me on other people), musks can be scrubbers. I often wonder why someone wouldn’t notice that on themselves. But Laurie’s musks are not dominant, and the type(s) of musk she uses add to the fragrance, they do not detract.

Her fragrances are so well blended that the notes combine to be something more than they are on their own, so while you can pick out the notes if you know they are there, they aren’t so distinct that they feel staccato. And both of these fragrances have movement to them, something that I like. If a fragrance stays the same from top to bottom, it isn’t as interesting to me. When a fragrance moves, it holds my attention and keeps me aware of it. Each portion of the drydown of these works to give me new energy in a languid sort of way.

Her pricing is lovely: oil sample $2.75 edp sample $2.75 1/6 oz oil $18.00 1/2 oz edp $25.00 1 oz edp $39.00. Email her at info@sonomascentstudio.com. Visit her website for more fragrances. I will write about others tomorrow.

What kind of scents do you prefer and what are you wearing today? Have you worn any of SSS?

Karin

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Perfume review, Perfumes, Sonoma Scent Studio, Woods