FRAGRANCE DU BOIS
LOVERS

2023

PERFUMER
Shadi Samra

passionfruit
ginger
plum
bergamot

rose
saffron
jasmine

vetiver
cedarwood
sandalwood
patchouli
cashmeran

‘Crafted for Lovers, this aromatic aphrodisiac reflects the unadulterated bliss of romantic interludes and shared pleasure. passionfruit penetrates the pause, colluding with juicy plum and fiery ginger before acclimatising into an intimate clinch of jasmine and saffron. Classic rose caresses the skin, leaving the faintest fragrant trace of its fragile petals behind. Temperatures soar as cashmeran woods and milky sandalwood envelop in their embrace. Reassuringly sensual, gratifyingly decadent – a softly seductive and potent warm woody fragrance that settles on the skin like the golden glow of new unions.’ – Fragrance du Bois

Based on the notes, Lovers was one of the most promising Fragrance du Bois in recent years for me. While not what I pictured in an ideal world, it is nice and easily better than some of the brands’ most recent offerings to me.

My thoughts going into Lovers is that it would be a rose fragrance and the rose is very prominent indeed. For a moment I thought it would be a massive, vibrant rose, which… I guess it is. The rose itself feels substantial, dark red or dark pink. However, it’s not the only prominent facet. Introducing: Saffron. This is as much a saffron fragrance as anything else. Scratch that, this is mostly a saffron fragrance.

I feel like the overwhelming presence of rose and saffron is hiding the jasmine from my nose. I’ve worn Lovers 3x back to back in a 28 hour time frame and I can’t say that jasmine once stood out to me.

Now the rose has a fruity tinge, but not overly so. It’s a ‘fruity jammy rose’, but I don’t get the comparison someone made to Xerjoff Erba Pura for example at all. It doesn’t come across as tropical to me either as I’ve read from other people. Not much of a passionfruit per se, but maybe something like pear or apple for just a few minutes. Lovers is somewhat subtle in that regards. It has a stronger edge from the plum in particular. Not really a scent of ginger to me either, but more than anything, there’s a strong tartness added to the florals.

The tart rose and saffron combination gives this a bit of a Middle Eastern flair, but it’s all styled in a very clean manner (not overly spicy, no indols, no harsh woods). In general, Lovers smells familiar, but I couldn’t think of a specific fragrance that it reminds me of exactly. The first thing that comes to mind is definitely that it’s like a more soapy, even more saffron-heavy Matiere Premiere Radical Rose, just because of the vibrancy. The combination with the tartness also reminds me a tiny tiny bit of Atelier Des Ors Pink Me Up, but Lovers is quite different and also significantly more mature. Perhaps, what this smells most identical to from what I’ve tested is a combination of the rose and saffron attars from The Perfumist.

Sidenote: The saffron in Lovers gets compared to Fragrance du Bois Cavort, which I’ve smelled briefly, but not enough to comment on. All I’ll say is that Cavort felt a lot less luxurious upon first sniff to me.

As usual with saffron, I get that suede leather vibe as it dries. The other thing that I notice is that the soapiness sticks around well into the drydown, which I think in part comes from its vetiver; that combination with rose is particular and barely smells of vetiver, but I’ve seen it in many rose fragrances, most clearly in Ex Nihilo Sublime Rose Essence. It does get smooth and more woody as it dries down, but I can’t say I get a ‘milkiness’ from sandalwood here.

What I like is that the patchouli doesn’t overtake the rose as much. Too often when rose and patchouli share a stage, the earthiness takes away from the brightness and freshness of the rose, but this is fruity rose-saffron and patchouli is just one of the supporting notes.

Lovers is a joy to wear. It’s warm, yet fresh. A bit sweet, fruity. I’d say more sexy and slick, than soft and romantic. It doesn’t have as much of a designer-lean as Fragrance Du Bois contemporary Solstis and I prefer it over Sirene & Tropiques that followed it. Lovers feels better executed than any of them in my opinion.

Ultimately this smells like a Middle Eastern saffron with rose attar to me, modernized in a spray form (maybe not surprising since perfumer Shadi Samra also did all the now long-discontinued Fragrance du Bois attars). My initial feeling is that Lovers is one of the better Fragrance du Bois releases overall and very likely their best since a slew of noteworthy releases in 2020.