Le Père Fouettard

[AmandaArcana]

Once upon a time, there lived a stone-hearted, evil butcher and his grasping, covetous wife. Their shop was located near a parochial boarding school in a small village in eastern France. One day, three little boys passed the butcher's shop. Their clothes were neat and starched, and the wicked couple fancied that they could see gold stitching on the little boys' shirtcuffs. The butcher's eyes gleamed with avarice, and he hatched an evil plan to rob the children. His wife enticed the little boys into the shop and fed them poisoned sweets. Her husband then slit their throats, chopped their little bodies into pieces, and put the pieces into barrels. Good Saint Nicholas discovered the monstrous crime, and, through God's grace, resurrected the little boys. He confronted the vile butcher and forced him to atone for his crime. The butcher became Le Père Fouettard, Saint Nicholas' partner on his Christmas travels. Dressed in a soot-covered black suit that mirrors Father Christmas' suit of red and white, he travels with Saint Nick and dispenses coal and floggings to naughty children.

Whip leather, coal dust, gaufrette, and black licorice.

This is really different...in a good way. It has this odd sweet but not sweet scent. I really get the licorice full on with leather afternotes. Then you do get a hint of coal-kinda strange. This smells really good on me, I can really rock the leather and licorice for some reason . I'd recommend it for those that have that body chemistry where only food or non-floral scents smell good (like me).

[hkhm]

bottle: leather and licorice. i get that same coal scent i get from la befana as well.

 

wet: who would have thought that leather and black licorice smelled so good together? this is delightful.

 

dry: this is more licorice than leather when dry, but i'm still getting a nice waft of leather when i sniff close to the skin. a new favourite.

[rayvn1]

Yesssssssss! This is warm, golden and sweet when on wet. I'd never heard of gaufrettes, but if they taste as good as they smell I may have to look up a recipe! Once it dries it's this amazing blend of leather and golden syrup. Mouthwatering! And no licorice on me, or only a very small amount which great because I was a little leery about that note.

[olive]

In the wake of my shock that there was no Krampus released this year I went with Le Pere Fouettard. Unfortunately the licorice (anise is a fav note of mine) is very subdued and the blend itself is really quite sweet and borders into the foody realm. Perhaps I'll give it another test later on but right now it seems far more sweet/happy/innocent smelling than the description makes it out to be. I'd also advise those holding off on this due to the licorice to not let that be a big factor.. the licorice in here is barely there at all, much to my woe.

 

On the bright side, the label art is some of the best I've seen.

[Lethran]

In bottle: Yummy. This smells like the sweet butter cookies with licorice my Great Aunts used to make when I was little with leather. Damnit, I think I’m in love already. Wet: OMG OMG! Seriously, those yummy cookies and my first leather jacket when I was sixteen, oh the nostalgia. I can’t look at this objectively, it’s talking directly to my hind brain. These scents blend beautifully together. Dry: Fades to mostly leather with a hint of licorice cookie.

[SurrealReality]

In the Bottle/Decant: licorice, sugar cookies (gaufrette), leather

 

Wet on Skin: the same, except for the addition of coal (and quite a lot of it)

 

Dry: considerably less coal than there was when it was wet (thankfully), licorice, sugar cookies, and a little leather. A short while later aaaaand..... CRAP! The coal is getting stronger. Yup! It's just like sniffing a chimney. Wow! It's really strong now. It's pretty much drowning out everything else

 

In the decant, this is much more agreeable than I thought it would be. It's actually pretty foody (which is what I was hoping for). But once on my skin, the coal takes over completely

 

My Rating in the Bottle/Decant: 4.5 out of 5

My Rating on My Skin: 2 out of 5

 

Perhaps I could use it in an oil burner?

[LaurenO]

This is really gorgeous. I ordered it not really knowing if it would work on me because I haven't tried anything else with these notes (though I was pretty sure the gaufrette would work, my skin loves sweetness). I was so attracted to it though, for some odd reason, and I just couldn't resist. When I first put it on, I was worried that it was going to be rather stale, and like a generic aftershave, but that only lasted for a few seconds. It changes on the drydown into something that smells delicious, and I still can't really put my finger on what it smells like. I think it might be liquorice toffee, with more of an emphasis on the toffee than the liquorice. The leather and coal are in the background, stopping the scent from becoming too sweet. A winner! I'm interested to see how this one ages too.

[angelicruin]

Purchased a decant of this to decide if worthy of a bottle.

 

In the imp: spicy sweet sugar

 

Wet on skin: vanilla licorice

 

OMG I love this and MUST get a bottle of it.

 

Dries to a powdery (but not soapy) spicy licorice with a bit of leather.

 

Total yummyness

Edited November 21, 2008 by angelicruin

[galahad]

In The Bottle

Buttery and orange

 

On Application

Really buttery orange, reminiscent of Huesos De Santo, to start with and then a bit of leather (De Sade leather not Brom Bones leather) comes through.

 

Dry Down

I'm not a huge fan of the leather in De Sade. I prefer the deep saddle leather of Brom Bones and Western Diamondback. I can't stand buttery notes. Surprisingly the two together are quite nice. It takes a while for any licorice to come through but it strats to show about 10 minutes into the drydown. I was getting worried. I think I will need to get another bottle of this.

 

Rating (0-5)

4.5

[Brianne]

I was destined to love this scent - black licorice is one of my all time favorite notes, and I also adore leather. This is a very unusual scent and will certainly not be for everyone. Definitely leather and licorice with a slight cookie sweetness underneath.

[steffanina]

Le Pere Fouettard-

 

In Bottle: Bitter leather--not the rawhide suede-y kind--and candy.

 

Wet: The leather is bitter and overwhelms the candy sweetness.

 

Dry: I wish this were one of the rawhide-type leathers that I love so much in BPAL (a la Dead Man's Hand)--instead it's the other kind, which is almost sickeningly fragrant for me, sadly. (I can't bear De Sade, either.)

 

Overall: Wrong kind of leather for me.

[sookster]

straight sniff from imp is buttery, black licorice...mmmm....divine

 

once applied, dusty and leathery licorice....whoa...amazing!!! another big

bottle purchase is required.....the lab's licorice scents never cease to amaze!!!

[Josh]

Wet: Exactly as described, bold leather and sweet pastry with mild licorice hanging back.

 

Dry: This has become sweeter and sweeter. I keep forgetting the notes in this and as my wrist passes my face all I think of is "why are you wearing something so sugary?!"

 

Then I remind myself: gaufrette. It seems to be the dominant note no matter the stage. This would probably be great for someone who likes foody stuff, but this bottle isn't working for me.

[Blood onmy hands]

I hate the taste of black licorice, but I think it smells so sexy as a fragrance. In the bottle, Le Père Fouettard is a slightly smoky, black leather and a sweet black licorice. It reminded me briefly of Spanked, perhaps because it has the whip leather paired with a sexy sweetness. It's like the licorice has an extra, vanilla-esque sweetness to it too.

 

On my skin, the sweet black licorice comes out in full force. The leather just clings to it lightly, barely even there, adding that smoky black leather hint to the overall blend. And that's how it stays on me, like black licorice sweetened with extra vanilla sugar and some smoky black leather.

 

I love this. I'll definitely upgrade my decant to a full bottle or two before the Yule blends leave town.

[Iceblink]

I was nervous about the leather here; I don't think I should have been. This is mostly strong, sweet licorice and I want to lick my arm! The leather is there in the background to keep this from being too candylike. This has great throw! I really like it.

[Heavenlyrabbit]

Ooooooo, Licorice.

 

Followed by something sort of Dirty, which lasts for a second before Leather comes along.

 

So I was getting ready to pout cause Leather doesn't play nice with me any more when all the sudden...

 

PIZZELLES.

 

Then back to Licorice, then back to a combination of Licorice/Leather/Pizzelles.

 

Love this, reminds me of my Beau from years ago whose parents were from outside Rome, Italy. One of the things I missed most about him was going to Christmas at his Mom's and all the cookies including the Pizzelles.

 

I will be layering this with Sugar Cookie and Butter Rum Cookie later on. This deserves a bottle and guaranteed people will be wondering "What IS that wonderful smell".

 

Maybe even layering this with like, Snake Charmer....

Edited December 2, 2008 by Heavenlyrabbit

[Dark Sparkle]

Given the fact that I love licorice and the scent of it, naturally I had to try this. Looks like all the yules I have tried this year are perfect, sigh, not good news for my wallet... Leather, licorice, sugar cookies and smokey coal - this is so gooooood, I am addicted

[lefthandmade]

Oh wow this one is different. At first it reminded me a little of PUMPKIN II (08) because I got buttery/cakey/leathery stuff but it only took a few moments for the cake to disappear and now I have licorice leather and smoke on my wrist. Very strange, and it keeps changing between more leather and more smoke. Chimney smoke, not incense smoke. It's not at all bad.

 

Aaand there it transformed into play doh.

 

Man what a strange experience. Obviously not a bottle but if I want a really fast ride through this landscape I have a decant to help me. I washed it off with a baby wipe but when I smell my arm now I get pure leather that apparently refuses to leave. I like leather so I don't mind. It's just very unusual.

[pinkgyrl]

Leather and licorice, baby! This is really sexy on me - my roommate smelled it who is used to me shoving my wrists under his nose and is usually unimpressed:

 

"I really like that."

 

::leans in for another sniff of his own accord::

 

"I really like that."

 

Hehe - good for wooing the boys! I need a bottle.

[kakiphony]

In the imp: The first whiff is all buttery batter -- so much so that it is a bit off-putting to me, who has mixed results with butter and cream notes. A second whiff reveals the licorice and leather, nicely balanced. Strangely, each time I smell this in the imp the butter/dough note recedes.

 

Wet on skin: My right wrist is heavily leather, with an almost burnt note to it. A bit of licorice rises up against that burned/dry note. The left wrist is a much milder scent, and is a soft, almost powdery combination of sweet cookies and soft, buttery, worn-in leather.

 

Early dry down (15 minutes): This is fading very quickly on me. The right wrist is now a lovely, soft, sweet combination of licorice (more liked dried anise than licorice candy) and sueded leather. The left wrist has a much stronger licorice note and the few whiffs of leather I get from it are the burnt variety. Oddly, the right wrist is mellowing and fading while the left wrist is growing a bit stronger and seems to be amping individual notes in each whiff.

 

Final Dry down: This finally evened out on both wrists to a soft, powdery leather and anise mix.

 

Verdict: Interesting and unusual. I like it, but don't think I need a whole bottle. A second decant would be sufficient I think.

[kjirstiben]

Le Père Fouettard goes on smelling like buttery, anise cookies. Interestingly, the night before I'd tried this I'd eaten one of these flaky, anise-flavored cookies! Not exactly what I was looking for, however--while I like the smell of baked goods, I'm not too interested in smelling like baked goods.

 

So to my relief, the butter note burns off quickly and leaves behind a pure licorice scent. However, this is REAL licorice, not one of those plasticky things we eat in the U.S. It's not sweet at all, almost bitter in tone. There's a touch of the coal scent coming along with it. Very deep black scent. Quite delightful--though not in a to-be-expected, sweet Christmassy way.

 

Around the three hour mark, the scent goes a little sour on me, but it rebounds shortly, coming back with an atmospheric, subtle anise-sweetness/woody/minerally. A very atmospheric scent.

 

And in the final stages, this goes back to its original anise cookies scent... but not buttery, and this time very, very faint. Fun to see it make a full circle like this! I really love this scent.

[Hayet]

Wet: really foul, actually- the coal dust/leather combination smells rather like tar on me, and doesn't mesh with the anise at all! Leather and I do NOT get along.

 

Dry: once the leather fades, this is a really gorgeous vanilla licorice (perhaps a little sassafrass in there, too?) scent that lasts for hours and hours. But the initial leather notes really turn me off, I'm afraid.

[zankoku_zen]

Oh god, this is licorice and leather. It's like a giant licorice whip. The kind that makes you want to lick it!

 

For me, the leather is too much. But I find this to be the sweetest leather I've ever tried.

[Maidenhell]

This reminded me of my Scratch - N - Sniff sticker book from 1984.

In the 80's they were waaaaay collectable.We used to swap stickers and had books to store them in. Most of the stickers were food scented and Pizza was the most popular.

 

To me this smells of Pizza and Vanilla Ice Cream Cone scratch n sniffs.

Exactly.. it didn't change from the bottle to the dry down. not for me. : (

[geng]

This is amazing!!!!! I'm in love... When I open the bottle it smells like evil eggnog to me. It must be the gaufrette but it's just stunning. I can definitely smell the leather and the coal. It blends seamlessly together. It's just perfect!!! As time goes by I get wifs of the licorice and the leather is more apparent but in no way overwhelming. I might have to get another bottle before the Yules come down in Jan. I kinda feel like a dirty old man but in really really good way and that I should be flogging naughty children