Bois Farine L'Artisan Parfumeur for women and men

Bois Farine conjures up the finest powder; it feels the same way to my nose as would sifting flour through my fingers, a satiny granularity. A pulverized peanut dust, raw hazelnut and macadamia, a soft almond caress. It's somewhat marzipan, somewhat heliotrope, a little tapioca, entirely round and supple. The iris is a cool pastel, contrasting with the warmth of its surroundings, only vaguely cosmetic, but mostly baked in and unadorned. I am then reminded of Mead writing pads that I'd love to buy as a kid to scribble in, and the smell of clean, immaculate paper; I relive the excitement of it and anticipation, with ballpoint pen at hand and an unfettered imagination.

It is, however, the "bois" in Bois Farine that is the pivot: the nutty qualities of sandalwood, a pale cedar that feels as if it's milled into meal, oils expressed, dampness revealed, then sprinkled with even more powder. There is nothing conventionally gourmand about Bois Farine as its forward woodiness prevents that. Yet, Ellena imbued the edible with that which is not, suggesting the totality of sensory environment. In the far dry down, my wrists reveal the most beautiful cedarwood. It helps that it seems to love my skin and has a heavenly sillage—a joy to wear.

This is from memory only, I owned a bottle circa 2014, old bottle design..

quality ingredients, masterfully blended and creative concept. this sits somewhere between a wearable perfume and art. I struggled a little bit to wear it and ended up layering it, not sure it worked.

this might work for someone who has a large perfume collection and doesn't mind having another bottle that will be appreciated from time to time, or just for personal enjoyment.

The "baking" association is real! and this dough is not sweetened...this in general has been my issue with some of Jean-Claude Ellena perfumes, the culinary aspects of some of the ingredients, those who are not familiar with these aspects may appreciate these fragrances, but if you are used to smelling these ingredients daily in your "kitchen", this takes something away from the purpose of a fragrance.

I may need to give this one another chance though if it still in production, who knows, my nose has matured and I feel I should just pay it another visit. If I end up buying another bottle it will probably be for personal enjoyment only.

Credit to L'Artisan Parfumeur for putting out a creative one.

This fragrance was inspired by the tree Ruizia cordata, native to Reunion.

Bois Farine feels very similar as a concept to Un Bois Vanille, while smelling nothing like it, essentially a fusion of gourmand and warm, round, smooth woody and amber notes. The opening is a powdery heliotropin and iris compound mix, very fine, almond-like opening that also has a rich cosmetic feel, a bit like the sweet almond cookie like openig of Naxos.
As it settles I get a similar sandalwood, benzoin and vanilla mix of Un Bois Vanille conjuring the scent of a powdery sweet, a mix of fine almond flour, marshmallow/carramel coming from the benzoin presumably and an underlying sandalwood base. Everything coming together forms something between a macaron and marzipan.

Very interesting, not for me personally as I don't like powdery almond scents, but if you do keep an eye out for Bois Farine

I have got the first version. It's beautiful. What happened to this brand? Why did they reformulate all of them? Such a pity.

If You have already smell « amande persan » from Roger & Gallet its very similar . Bois farine its’ just more like real fragrance when Amande persane was eau légère /light water. It’s like soap almond water shower. I really like it.

Please do not trust people how compare frangance to sweet food( cookie, madeleine, cake, peanut) it’s no thing to do w/ peanut.

This is my favourite Artisan's perfume. It has a unique almond smell that drys down to a high grade sandalwood base. It reminds me of macaron.

It's not flashy, just a simple high quality perfume blended properly. It's smooth and delicious. Even dogs love this scent!

Someone below that mentioned the little Mexican peanut cakes (the ones that crumble the second you touch them) — I get that! Just for a moment in the beginning; the leathery, smokey gaiac reminds me of roasted nuts.

This is fascinating to me because the sweet, unctuous quality of the benzoin and the sandalwood in combination with the powdery note …it’s so simple but so unusual? It transforms that run of the mill baby powder scent into something I’ve never known it to smell like before. It has the vibe of a sugary, almond confection. The sandalwood also lends a lactonic note to it all. A glass of warm milk and biscotti.

Unfortunately for me, this unique experience is short lived. It dies down into a very generic sandalwood and powder after only twenty minutes or so — and a headache inducing one at that for me. It’s worth the few dollars to try a sample of this anyway though. That initial bakery blast is a really special, cozy take on the category of gourmand.

This is 100% Mexican mazapan de la rosa peanut candy (not a bad thing :D). Guaiac and Cedar do come out more in the drydown. Creamy and woody.

This is indeed quite nutty. I am sure i have sampled this before, such a familiar smell. Woody, but also spicy somehow, nothing distinct just a big jumble of cabinet spice (Although I have been cooking up a multicultural storm so that may also be on my hand) It does remind me of Lange Noir which I was quite impressed with as it is both make up bag and nutty. This one is even nicer, as it has a masculine, spicy woodsy element. Powdery but in a woodchip kind of way. Definitely more unisex, and quite niche. I think SJP stash is aiming for this scent but fails miserably at that as it's far more cedar and synthetic- but I do mention it here because it has similar elements to it. Woodsy, unisex, woodchip, powdery. Loving this one I can't say the same about Stash.

Edit: Definitely feeling some cinnamon in here.

** 170 samples up for swap UK - check my custom shelf, get in touch!**

Was excited to smell wood when I tried this and being by Jean Claude Elena was a bonus. When I tried it on I smelled our peanut shells. Was strange and different and kept coming to smell the bottle every time. I don’t detect Woody although maybe this scent is a very specific wood. Like an antique wooden box that’s dry and being opened and sniffed. But it’s not a bad thing, it’s unique. I now love it even more as I keep wanting to spray and emit it but not waste the juice 🤦🏼♂️

Bois Farine tells the discovery by Jean-Claude Ellena of the "white scenting wood " a tree growing on L'île de la Réunion, with its red flowers exhaling a smell of flour. A scent that referring to hands kneading dough cake, without being foody or disgusting or trivial. Instead, it's a complex composition, impalpable, almost physical, which gives mouth wathering, while being quite abstract.
The first effect is very winter fruit: almonds powder and toasted hazelnut, with a slightly bitter appearance of Coumarin and tobacco, hay, dry and herbal. Then the "mealy" notes unfolds, powdery, almost mineral, like baby powder. And this is after a few moments that are emerging creamy woods, sandalwood and vetiver, to provide a darker dimension, slightly smoky, and a little whole grain effect, rye bread.
Bois Farine is a marvel of subtlety and creativity who melts into the skin like a soufflé prepared a Sunday in winter.

I find this scent very comforting in a nice solitary/meditative way. I smell the smell of peanuts (not a bad thing) and cedarwood. It stays on very powdery (another not a bad thing) and it just persists throughout the day for me. I don't find an issue on longevity at all for me. I wouldn't say this is signature worthy but it's definitely bottle worthy if you want a solitary/meditative type of scent to enjoy for one's own self.

grind peanuts to cumin.
I cannot detect woody nor sweet. And it lasts just 1 or 2 hours.

I'm looking for a full bottle or decant of this (from the old gold cap bottles if possible but the new will do just fine). If anyone wants to sell or swap please pm me.

Whoever wrote “spicy diapy” deserves a Pulitzer. It’s all I can smell

The initial phase is peanuts, vetiver, soil, & Mexican mazapan candy

It’s mostly a skin scent and even though it starts off sweet it never gets to be too much

has a nice hazy dry down with salty soil, dusty woods, aldehydes, & light laundry musk

Strong like

Clean, creamy and intimate fragrance. It reminds me of Tam Dao but the presence of more spices make it more complex. I still prefer Tam Dao but as always L'artisan's perfumes capture a particular feeling that make me reminisce, while the quality is very high as always.

I was enjoying this until the phrase "spicy diapy" popped into my head and now I cannot unsmell. HELP.

So special ! Like crispy sweet wheat flour. The moment a baker opens a new pack, in his old, slightly dusty, wood mill. The light is dim, the windows are condemned with roughly imbedded wooden planks, powder explodes from the sack, and reveals the reflects of the sun with the peaceful scent of crunchy grains. It’s silent, and secret. Intimate and comfortable... a smell to experience.

-Delicious woody amber scent.
-Reminds me of Korrigan by Lubin, except this one is more linear.
-Another stunning creation from Jean-Claude Elena.
-Contemplating a full bottle. (+)
-This seems to be unavailable where I live. If only I could purchase a bottle.

*Update*
-This unicorn finally appeared nearly six months after having it on my wishlist.
-Purchased a 2016 formulation from FragranceX for a reasonable price.
-For those still looking for it, I recommend signing up to their 'notify me' list. I was on it for 6 whole months until one day it was suddenly restocked. (limited quantities)

One of the best perfume ever created, really well made...
L'artisan Parfumeur is well know for low perfomance in terms of longevity and sillage, maybe is a french or IFRA diktat...
Why am i supposed to spend money for a ghost perfume?
Jean La Porte had a different approach to the brand, but today too soon and gone tomorrow....
L'artisan Parfumeur (PUIG) wake up and please make an Extreme version of Bois Farine.
THANKS

Fresh, dry, powdery, floral, wheat scent. Different but not difficult to wear. Can wear it to office as well. A good one for sure.

Powdery and sweet with a clean edge and a floral aspect of iris.
Powdery notes, guaiac wood, iris, sandalwood, musk - these are the most prominent.
When I wear it, it reminds me of a scent I know well from mainstream, but I'm not sure which one - is it the current Byzance by Rochas, or a memory of Trussardi Inside?
It is a very good scent with great performance on me - I would gladly own a bottle.

Love this! I usually like everything from Jean Claude Elena. So unique and nothing like it in market. And to me that’s the point and best part of searching for a unique fragrance no one has and you can wear and be different. The problem people are having is that they have not trained their nose or are not comfortable with being bold or trying something outside of their comfort zone. Some say they don’t want to smell like peanuts but why not? Everyone loves Peanuts and even the ones allergic to it would want to try them. We all love other scents that normally would be strange and wouldn’t want to have on if it weren’t for us being used to them already in other fragrances.

This would be amazing during winter and cold weather especially during the holidays. This is NOT for everyone upon initial trying, may think of peanut shells and some even would find this “bad” or “disgusting” as one person said, but it’s not it’s just different. People tend to forget that others smell you differently then how you smell a fragrance or think of it on yourself. Remember that people knock down things that are “different” or things that are foreign to them or not a trend yet. And the understanding and appreciation of something comes from you being patient and cultivating it or someone starting the trend and being different and unique. But this is such a niche and unique fragrance that to the trained nose or the unsuspecting, it will envelope them in a nostalgic time of celebration, holiday and love...a night where you want to cozy up with a loved one reminiscing on old movies...or make one want to soothe their sweet tooth craving by recalling sweets they had at childhood or on a holiday and a happier time with family.

This scent is, let’s see how to put it exactly so you can imagine it perfectly...”The scent of arriving to a Christmas party in Spain and being offered dry creamy nougat turrón made of toasted almonds and peanuts coming from an antique beautiful wooden box to share with family and friends by the fire beckoning for some second helpings and quenching your thirst with some holiday booze to compliment!”

One of my firsts when I got into niche fragrance and I still love it even though my taste has change with the more I have tested. I've gotten compliments with this one. As an avid home break baker, it speaks to me. Lasts well for an eau de toilette.

What an oddball, smells just like Chinese peanut/tahini candy (徐福记 brand) or those Mexican De La Rosa Mazapan candies, less the sugar, stored in a wooden box. Bois Farine definitely has a milky/lactonic vibe as well, I think I'm in love. This scent is nostalgia. It transports me to a different time, like I'm living my mother's life when she was my age. She loved those peanut candies.

ETA: This is so extremely milky, like concentrated sesame soy milk. If you've ever had Maeil brand black sesame soy milk, this is exactly it.

I also smell peanut candy! I really don't like peanuts to eat or to smell now that I'm smelling them I really cannot like this or wear it enough to get past the opening.

From reading the reviews, I almost suspect this perfume has two versions: one is a regular sweet gourmand, and I happen to got another version, which has an unexpected salty cumin scent.

MAIN NOTES

Peanut Candy, Cumin, Heliotrope

IN SHORT

It started with old-fashioned peanut candy, then took an surprising turn to cumin. Next, it smoothly slide into creamy heliotrope and regular powdery notes, then finally ended with a mild powdery woody tone.

IN DETAIL

The first thing I smelled is a dead ringer of an Asian sweet snack: old-fashioned peanut candy, which is made of malt sugar, peanuts, and other nuts. I can also sense a smooth fine-flour-like iris underneath.

However, just when I thought it was yet another powdery gourmand, I was "attacked" by something not on note pyramid —— cumin. Spicy and salty, this smell was made extremely realistic, that I can't mistaken it for anything else. If I take a blind guess, some sandalwood essential oils I tried sometimes have a "fishy smell" (腥味), which smells similar to the odor of raw meat and spice. Perhaps that's what happened here?

I was wondering how a dessert scent turns into kebabs, JCE then gave a very logical follow-up——Heliotrope. Heliotrope is supposed to be a floral fragrance with almonds, creamy and powdery facet. However, some heliotrope ingredients also have a hint of "fatty" "fishy" "meaty" noise (why do I always encounter something with fishy smell??? ), which is a perfect match with cumin.

Next second, the heliotrope start to show its "creamy" true self. Now the sweet and salty aroma is intertwined. The peanut candy is replaced by salty cumin and cream, maybe also a hints of sweet powdery lipstick. This seemingly weird combo miraculously works out just fine, becoming something more interesting than a pure sweet regular gourmand.

In the end, cumin(or the sandalwood?) took the upper hand, then slowly returning to the its soft powdery woody root.

Few More Words

JCE is famous, probably THE most famous perfumer, but this is first time I kind of "get" him:

this perfume is concise and logical.

It's like reading an riveting short story: every aspect of each character is made use of, every surprising turn has a perfectly reasonable explanation. Not one word is wasted. Most good writers can write long, winding novels, but only a genius mastermind knows how to handle short stories perfectly.

But of course, another reasonable explanation of the "cumin" odor, is that L'Artisan f*ked up their quality control and used ingredients with bad odor.

This is almost in the cosmetic realm of scents, but there remains something edible about it. I bought this due to the playdoh references, which are there, but it’s more powdery in texture than a true playdoh scent. It’s like the elements of the playdoh before mixing in the moisture- almond flour in a wooden bowl.

Upon first sniff, I immediately thought of halva- the crumbly Middle Eastern dessert made from tahini or crushed nuts. It’s a nutty, dry, almondy candy with a touch of honey. Like a chalky nougat. Texturally, it reminds me of the Mexican candy “De La Rosa Mazapan”- the peanut confections that crumble in your mouth.

I use all these desserts to describe the scent, but it’s not really sweet at all. It has a prominent woodsy element to it, a touch of milkiness, and is very much androgynous. You can smell the artistry and creative direction put behind this scent- it’s not like anything else I’ve tried before.

Almond flour and every other ripening stages of almond imaginable: green, softly sweet, peeled, crushed and made into flour. The baking aspect prevails and it makes the composition very soft and cozy.

Almost a skin scent, it is quite lovely and memorable. I do not have anything like it in my collection, so the bottle will be loved. Reminds me of making marzipan at home and baking something with almond flour, so it is both powdery and moist.

Refreshing to experience almond notes without cyanide undertones. I am debating a backup bottle.

This begins as a wild ride and then settles into a beautiful comforting skin scent. First, a startling, strange blast of crunchy peanut butter. A few minutes in, it swerves into radically different territory; some days it feels industrial (burnt rubber?) other days, cumin. It's dry in this place, warm and modern, but not at all clean nor stark. And then after 20 minutes, it settles into a soft, lovely iris/almond powder. These gentle comforting notes linger the longest, for many hours. Throughout, the scent retains that transparent luminous signature of Ellena. Everything happens so quietly. It's genius, it's brilliant, and worth trying a sample just for this adventure.

One of the best and most unique LAP perfumes. A true artistic achievement, like a sweet air filled with flour and woods. So amazing.

Unique scent by Ellena. The opening is quite sharp which smells like powdery cedarwood. I also do get the peanut butter references. After the opening, it reminds me of powdery flour as the name of the fragrance suggests, with a pinch of added sweetness. Ultimately I respect this composition for its uniqueness, but it does little for me. A serene scent which sits very close to the skin. Can't imagine offending anybody with its presence.

As typical for Ellena's style, it doesn't scream and lasts for just a few hours, but if you're a fan of powdery scents, try to get a sample of this one. I'd like to smell this from time to time for the blend, but it's not something I'd wear regularly.

5,5/10

Rehearsal in the Studio by edgar degas 1878
+++++++++++++++++++

Milky, soft almonds powder, in a wood-paneled, quiet room. That's what this scent is. If you're looking for a scent that is comforting and milky, this would be worth trying. I actually don't go to perfume for a scent like this, but for more powerful, mood-elevating perfumes, or ones with mystery and changing tones. This one doesn't have changes going on, it's just a straightforward milky almond powder in a glass jar in a wooden room. I like it, but would not buy a whole bottle of it. When I read the inspiration for it, it somehow makes this perfume make more sense to me. If your goal as a perfumer was to replicate a tree and its blossom that smell wonderful in nature and add a lift to a hike in the woods, then that makes sense. If you're sitting in an office, I'm not sure this scent makes a lot of sense, since it evokes a walk among a milky-wooden-smelling path in the woods. It will be a cousin to the hazelnut coffee brewing in the office kitchen, or vanilla soy milk for the hazelnut coffee. At any rate, it is certainly pretty and if your taste runs towards vanilla-ish, milky powdery woods, you'll like this one.

what an interesting scent. flour and powder to start, with a hint of nuttiness as well. this really just smells like freshly washed skin with a faintly lingering scent of a soft soap. it's milky and gently sweet. i get some iris after being on the skin awhile as well, which really adds an element i personally enjoy a lot. not my usual kind of scent, but i am finding it so comforting and enjoyable. it’s a perfect bedtime scent 🌙

Blind buy.
Very happy with it. When I was reading reviews, I instantly wanted to try this one, because l find something soothing and edgy on flour/milk/wheat scents.

Right now, I am actually doing an experiment. I am wearing Bois Farine on one wrist and Serge Lutens, Jeaux de Peau on the other. And I am having so much fun! Bois Farine reminded me of Jeaux de Peau right away, because it gave me this bakery feeling and I couldn't think of any other fragrance that would smell like this.

So. It is very interesting how I get almost the same feeling with both fragrances, they remind me of passing by the bakery in the morning. This is one of the most comforting scents for me. But they are also very different. Like two different approaches to baking bread.

The main difference is that Jeaux de Peau is gourmand, Bois Farine isn't. For me, at least. JdP is more complex, it actually has wheat and milk notes, it is richer and edible. Also more yeasty.
Bois Farine is colder, it is dry and powdery. But although it isn't gourmand, it reminds me of bread, dough, flour.. Bakery, basically.
The drydown is different. JdP becomes loud and yeasty and Bois Farine becomes nice and silent, powdery sandalwood. Bois farine is maybe more wearable because you don't feel like you are wearing bakery but the association of it.

They are both masterpieces, in my opinion.

I haven't worn BF for ages, and had forgotten how much I enjoy it - but my bottle almost threw itself out of the fridge (I keep my perfumes in tall larder fridges in the spare bedroom - they're only turned on during very hot weather as my house is horribly poorly insulated) this morning. I chose to interpret its bid for freedom as a request for some attention, so... I'm wearing it today.

On first spraying, I was surprised at how VERY dry Bois Farine is. I really can almost taste it.

That initial dryness is almost acrid, but dissipates after 30 minutes or so and leaves behind a truly beautiful, slightly sweet and powdery - but creamy - sandalwood. I wear quite a few "men's" fragrances and think that Bois Farine leans slightly masculine, although I don't give a stuff. I love it.

I started writing this review about seven hours ago, but can still clearly smell Bois Farine; I know that L'Artisan fragrances can be short-lived, but this one is still clearly discernible to me, despite my dry skin - and the fact that I often become completely noseblind to whatever I'm wearing (which can result in unnecessary re-spraying).

Прекрасен, вкусен и все пак парфюм. Кремообразен, пудрен по много различен начин, радвам се, че беше една от покупките ми без тест

If the expression "creamy powder" makes sense to you then this is creamy powder at its best.

4/5. I'm not in love with it, but it's really pleasant. Sweet but not too sweet. Nice balance and unusual profile.

The initial blast is exactly sweet, peanut-flavoured granola bars. While this is fun for the novelty effect, I prefer it after 20 minutes, when the edible top notes have settled and the soft powdery woods emerge more strongly.

It sits somewhat close to the skin but if I spray it in the evening, I can still smell it at nearly the same volume the following morning, which is very good for L'Artisan fragrances (although they're one of my favourite houses, sillage/longevity are not always the best).

Interesting that another reviewer below described it as 'cold' - I find it very warm and cosy! It's chilly in the UK at the moment and it's a very comforting scent for this kind of weather; I'll be interested to try it again when temps start to rise :)

EDIT: after a couple of hours, the woods also die down and it becomes clear why it's labelled a 'floral woody musk'. Lovely :)

A pleasant surprise. Much like Tea for Two, Bois Farine is a nice alternative for "cozy" than your typical woody / oud fare, although apparently it has many woody notes within it. To me the first impression was of hazelnuts and sweet milk, a bit creamy, a bit sweet but not overtly so. There's no overwhelming honey. The violet powder becomes more present in the drydown. I think this would be a really nice cold weather fragrance for someone who finds too much wood suffocating. It has a warm cheerfulness that I really like and the minimal elegance that so many Ellena scents have.
Edit: my initial review was based on a strip. Having since tried it on the skin, I agree that the initial aroma is very peanut-y. What comes out more on the skin is the cedar note, with the mineral finish of wheat on top. The violet powder blends in and isn't as noticeable. It's very nice, but maybe not as interesting as I initially thought.

Cold dry sweet nutty powder, extremely strange, but sooo addictive...

This scent is hilarious!

It smells of freshly-ground peanuts - peanut flour! it is maybe a little starchy, like grain, but the sweetness in it screams "peanut". Not roasted, nor salted, just green peanut powder.

Not gourmand at all, starts to get a little more perfumey as it goes. I can finally smell the iris after about 20 minutes, it is lovely as always. Non-velvety though. It is not that dry on me.

Seems like it could last for a while, but keep a low profile.

For all its quirkiness, I find it wearable, adorable and truly comforting.

I only tried the tester, but this one is very interesting. The driest "woods" fragrance I've ever tried, and an unusual sandalwood/almond combo. Not exactly what I'm looking for for either daywear or eveningwear, but it smells good and is interesting. I'll be thinking about this one...

Trying a sample but without much enthusiasm as the Artisans don't stay on me, the same as Jo Malone. These houses I ignore completely, they are a waste on me. So I really like this, cedar with almond background. Reminds me of my Mancera Cedrat Boise. Also from a dab sample it got on my fingers and they smell like soap now. Don't smell any flour. And what really does flour smell like? I am an avid baker and never imagined flour being used as a note. Nice to try but will pass it on and forget about it because of zero staying power on me.

This is the kind of fragrance that grows on you, I think. At least it did on me. It's what I like to call "nose-yummy", not gourmand or tasty, but so intriguing to smell just for the sake of smelling it, similar to how some people enjoy the smell of magazines fresh out of cellophane, lacquer, etc. Indeed, I'd say there is something lacquer-like about this one. Sawdust and lacquer and cold iris and flour. A hint of old books/paper. Very dry, and I think the dryness adds to the addictive properties.

I've been interested in testing in Bois Farine since the very beginning of my perfume interest, because it's often compared to my original coup de foudre that got me into it in the first place: Jeux de Peau. On top of that, I've since discovered I like pretty much everything Jean-Claude Ellena has ever done, so my expectations were high to say the least.

And they weren't disappointed! I think Bois Farine is pretty great as well, although I rather suspect I won't reach for my decant very often and might never need a full bottle: it smells surprisingly nice for being as focused as it is on flour, but still, what's the occasion for smelling like even the nicest of bags of flour?
As for the comparisons to Jeux de Peau, I only understand them in so far that they're both obviously bakery-themed. But where Jeux de Peau is an obvious if original gourmand, an apricot pastry displayed on a wooden shelf, Bois Farine smells more like the place where the raw ingredients are stored. It's all about flour in a setting of soft, nutty woods - not much sweetness or even warmth here at all.

But that's not a bad thing at all...in fact, I'd say Bois Farine is strangely compelling despite its originality or even oddness. It's one of those I wouldn't want to miss in my fragrance wardrobe, even if I rarely actually wear it.

What a charming, odd, eccentric, intriguing character this one is... toasty wheat flour, face powder, chalk, talc, and sandalwood that's all micro dust and no resin. It makes my brain do flip-flops - wood/wheat/bois/bread/wood/wheat and repeat, as well as 'love it/too sweet/but it's so iiiinteresting/no, too cloying/oh now it's delicious again', and repeat.

Really a fascinating smell, utterly distinctive and characterful - and almost disconcertingly nice and friendly for something so bonkers. It's a touch too sweet overall to me to be totally at ease with it - at some moments it's a bit too much of the smell of a powder-pink-loving grandma losing her marbles in the most delightful way - but some of the facets are just gorgeous and within a few more moments I'm thinking 'wow this is a serious experimental woody monster, grownup unisex niche scent.'

It's just so confusing, in a nice way. Bit of a wild ride, too - the first burst is really original and brings the wheat right to the fore, which is a surprising bold opening move. Then you start getting the real 'scent-iness' as more recognisable woods begin to creep in. Some particularly disconcerting moments can follow: really sharp chemically marzipan kicks in sometimes, and there are occasional hints of playdoh, and for me a note of something like fennel or anise (whaaaat?) seems to blunder in, and weirdest of all it reminds me in some ways of SJP Stash and Zara Tiveden, which are completely different and which I liked much less than Bois Farine. On longer dry down, the more quirky top and these moments of bizarre confusion burn off almost completely and you're left with just dusty, sweet, gentle sandalwood/amber sort of smell.

Projection is weak, but given the borderline-cloy that might be a good thing, it could get overpowering if it was pushier. Longevity not bad, though, up to about 6h.

Might not go for a FB but a fantastic choice to have a small decant or partial of. Seductive little weirdo that it is.

The smell of flour and makeup or baby powder, with an underlying nutty woody aspect. It smells comforting - not something I necessarily want to smell like personally because it doesn’t fit my personality though. Still, the flour note is great and I wish it were used more often in perfumery. I’ll keep some of this in my “reference library” of scents

First wear today: pleasantly nutty and powdery, quite soft and opaque. I was reminded more of a kind of peanut powder that is used in some Asian biscuits, rather than peanut butter or actual peanuts themselves. I like it but wish it had a little initial punch as it seems quite mild though unobtrusive. I don't detect iris or any flowers but my nose isn't experienced. This pleasant nutty powder stays like this for a couple of hours (not much sillage) and I'm a little disappointed that it doesn't seem to change or have much complexity. I like it quite a lot and it's certainly a comforting smell that's a bit different but if only it was stronger.

Bois Farine shares the same characteristic synthetic accord found in Francis Kurkdjian Le Male and Olivia Giacobetti Passage d'Enfer: tonka bean, vanilla, sandalwood,cedarwood which must be a common perfumers accord. But Jean-Claude Ellena's added the toasted almond and "flour wood" experience which is more present in the beginning creating a sort of opacity to the scent although later Bois Farine will be revealed in full blossom leaving the tonka bean,vanilla and woods on the front line, incense notes can be also identifie. The Flour wood also reminds me to a baby's papilla made by heating the flour in a pan til the flour is toasted and then adding milk to create a flour puree.I love the mint,lavender opening,very cold and icy. People disappointed with Bois Farine comes from the anxiety to smell something strong and confusing.The scent is there but you have to learn how to smell it and how to identify the story Jean-Claude Ellena is telling you.In my experience cold weather triggers like in a domino effect the whole beauty of this perfume. Absolutely a masterpiece.

Bois Farine is an atypical offering from Jean-Claude Ellena, whose fragrances usually tend to have a sparkling transparency. His trademark 'soft focus' approach is still apparent, but here it is wed to a monolithic powdery-woody-floral accord, rather than the flurry or fresh and earthy notes that have typified the latter part of his career. Bois Farine shows very little note separation, although I do pick up hints of iris, peanut or almond butter, sweet powder and soft woods. It's not gourmand, but neither is aromatic or resinous. I also don't find it as dry or dusty as others have described. It's surprisingly hard to pin down - and that, combined with its linearity, makes Bois Farine a rather forgettable experience. It's worth sniffing out this olfactory oddball at least once, but ultimately there are much better offerings from both this house and perfumer.

Just a note: Bois Farine means “flour wood.” In French, the second word in a a two-word epithet has an adjectival function. It’s a reference to the exotic tree. I read that the flowers from the Ruizia Cordata tree literally smell like baking flour.

Not what I was expecting at all... smells like a cloud of peanut powder mixed with sawdust... one of the 'dryest' perfumes I've ever smelled...

I was ignoring my decant for more than a year before really wearing it. I just didn't like it first time I tested it and quickly forgot about it.
Well, today I'm wearing it and it's fantastic! It has this cool yet sweetish muskiness reminding of fresh laundry, yet I don't hate it. And I usually abhor these kind of scents.

It is a soft scent, so I applied at least 6 heavy sprays. 2 hours later I was wondering what is that lovely woodsy-musky clean smell. I checked my sweater and everything around for some other perfume or spilled sample and it was Bois Farine.
It does smell good in hair and clothes as well.

Really weird one and great!

As usual with L'Artisan the initial fragrant impression demands attention and proclaims i'm in for a ride. It's definitely woody but the powdery sensation is what makes Bois Farine interesting and excellent. The aroma is captivating, creative and memorable. Another excellent release from L'Artisan.

What prevents me from fully loving it is that it feels a bit harsh on my skin, and it does not seem to develop much. It turns out the ride is luxurious but not too funny.
****(*)

I blind bought this off the reviews here.
Initially I was looking for an almond scent an eau d'hiver but more power.
Well when I received this it was not that but I must say a pleasant surprise.
I don't get flour or cakes or gourmand.
I get wet sandalwood.
It's a cool dry wood scent.
Initial blast is strange but after 5 minutes it's very pleasant and unique.
It's a signature scent for me.
It's inoffensive.
Try it.
Dry wet as sandalwood.
Mic drop.

I blind bought this off the reviews here.
Initially I was looking for an almond scent an eau d'hiver but more power.
Well when I received this it was not that but I must say a pleasant surprise.
I don't get flour or cakes or gourmand.
I get wet sandalwood.
It's a cool dry wood scent.
Initial blast is strange but after 5 minutes it's very pleasant and unique.
It's a signature scent for me.
It's inoffensive.
Try it.
Dry wet as sandalwood.
Mic drop.

Bois Farine means Wood Flour and this just about sums it up...lovely wood notes and bread notes...I don't get the floral aspect others have mentioned...in fact the bread note in this is so appealing but it's not sweet or spicy...this fast becoming a new favorite for me!

A mellow iris and sandalwood scent accented with cinnamon, cedar, and heliotrope. There is a mild nutty note, like tahini. Powdery and gourmand, quite soft but long lasting, and not aggressively foody. A little like a mix between Sticky Cake and Dries Van Noten.

This smells rather different from the first version I smelled a decade ago. If anything, this new one is spicier and more wearable, but it's a change worth noting all the same (it no longer has that peanut butter smell, to my nose).

Though not included in the notes given, both peanut and almond are definitely articulated. However, unlike almost all users referred to as "peanut butter", what I perceived is the aforementioned nuts in their forms of slightly moist raw powder.

Brilliant is JCE to strike, with surgery-like accuracy and poet's imaginative sensibility, the common ground of peanut, almond and sandalwood, and even more brilliant to further juxtapose the milky, woody, nutty and powdery characters with those of iris. Even more to that, the slightly insinuated white flower lends a subtle aura to all these notes.

The result? A concerto with refreshing originality, clear statement and effortless elegance through simplicity and exquisite craftsmanship that guarantees the wearers to shine like a pearl.

I blind bought a bottle, and after first wearing it for about an hour, my impression was that it reminded me of construction materials, particularly gyprock. Anyone who has worked with drywall will know what I’m referring to. After the initial spray there was also a piercing, chemical smell reminiscent of a black permanent marker. I could understand the breadflour connection, but I still felt less like a baker kneading a rye and more like a drywaller covered in chalky gypsum.

You know what? This really grows on you. After wearing it for several days, I have to agree it does smell very floury with a hint of musky sweetness. The projection is about half a foot, but it lasts hours and smells so cool, dry, and powdery. It’s reminiscent of putting your hand into a bag of baking flour and feeling the cool, silky texture. I can picture myself applying ten sprays to a cozy sweater in the morning, letting it sit, and then throwing it on immediately after a shower. It would feel like covering myself with almond-scented talcum powder.

This is the very definition of a niche fragrance. It’s unique, odd, and highly addictive.

Another beautifully emotive, soft creation from JC Ellena. This opens with a soft gourmand almond woody blend and sits close to the skin providing as many here have said a comforting allure. This would be perfect for days when your nerves are jangling and you need something just for yourself, an intimately soothing smell.
It does smell woody but not a tree I am familiar with and almond and iris combined is just beautiful. If there is flour in here, to me it is bread in its uncooked form, already well kneaded and sitting in a warm cupboard waiting for the yeast to work and make it rise - it has that kind of comforting feel to me when I smell it. But this would definitely be an almond bread, no doubt about it! Soft, sensual, luscious beautiful stuff.

Imagine freshly cut wood planks sprinkled with almond powder. Wood wood wood...powdery dry wood with almonds. Someone mentioned the word "industrial"...yes I can see that too. Smells natural, raw, inviting, mysterious. I don't get any peanut butter or baking association. Not at all. More like a furniture maker's workshop. A very unique scent indeed, but the problem is poor longevity.

Definitely a unique smell - It smells savoury salty to me in a way, like a nutty salty cracker with seeds and slightly toasty. But a little sweet too like a bisquit. Perhaps an oaty bisquit, of the not very sweet kind.

By all, or at least most, accounts this read like a sure thing. The ingredients used read perfect enough, and I read most of the reviews here. When my order arrived (15mm sample spray), I was caught off guard with what I smelled. It was something I'd never smelled before, and I still can't explain what it was or reminded me of. It didn't agree with me at all so I had to return it. So disappointing (hope my review isn't revised or deleted). It's obviously a popular fragrance....just not for me.

quando ancora J.C. Ellena si muoveva su territori non radicalmente minimalisti, realizzava gioielli come questo. inusuale, fresco ma a suo modo gourmand, si tratta di un profumo polveroso (sic!) in cui le prime note ad effetto "carota" e mandorla si adagiano pian piano sull'iris (freddo e astratto) con sottotoni legnosi di sandalo. la descrizione non restituisce la meravigliosa sensazione di freschezza non banale inziale che vira, lentissimamente, su un fondo di benzoino. notevole!

Rich, floral, woody, powdery it truly is. It's lovely. Very unique for me. It's a beautiful, comforting and soft, delicate perfume - very unusual, and beautiful. It lasts quite well, about 8 hours, and is smooth and gentle, feminine, and elegant.

OMG ground up roasted peanut pencil shavings!! Very powdery feeling rather than dry, definitely a floral aspect (iris and a speck of jasmine) to it but nothing voluptuous or juicy- so interesting yet very comforting. It's a perfect balance of feminine and masculine that I really can't say either way. Most perfumes, I personally think, lean either way but this one really doesn't! The only thing sweet in this is the floral powdery aspect- so not sweet much at all. LOVELY!

Flour for sure! I'd call Bois Farine foody rather than gourmand since flour seems more pedestrian than gourmet. This isn't "bread baking in the oven"; no, it's yeasty bread dough in a bowl rising in a warm part of the kitchen.

I've only worn it once before going to bed and there wasn't a trace of it when I woke up so I can't speak to its longevity other than to say it was less than 8 hours. But what a warm, soothing, comforting scent to wear while reading a good book in bed -- a slow, smooth & happy trip to dreamland.

Haven't made up my mind about it but I applaud its uniqueness. Truly, I've never smelled a fragrance like it. All that said, no Floral Woody Musk has ever let me down so I'm guessing I'll really enjoy this when I wear it again during the day when I can experience its development. Hoping bread dough will morph into iris because that sounds like a fun olfactory journey.

What an interesting fragrance. It opens powdery with lots of sandalwood. Within 10 minutes the cool iris is very prominent and then there is more powder. My Grans lipsticks pop into my minds eye. It's definitely the old fashioned lipstick or face powder scent. Finally the sandalwood and the elemi come even more to the fore. The sandalwood is the last note to fadr.
It's definitely a skin scent but it hangs around for hours.

I read a ton of reviews and blind-bought this for a great price. This is a funny fragrance.

First wearing: Super-dry cedar sawdust and chalk that practically jumped up my nose, so strong I nearly sneezed. It softened quickly. Memorable, but not in a way I wanted to repeat.

Second wearing, the next day: Warm cabin, cedar floors, someone baking in the kitchen. Foody notes come and go quickly. Maybe a bare suggestion of flour or nuts? Bath powder and woodiness are pretty constant. Dry. No sawdust. Sniffed my arms nonstop for the next two hours. It got slightly sweet and softer over time. Cozy, a little industrial, makes me want to work with my hands. I'd wear this while working in my art studio.

Third wearing, day three: Leaving for vacation. Wore this as a comfort fragrance for my day of airport fun and flying. When it wore off, I missed it, and then I thought about it all week while I was away. I had samples of four different scents with me, and all were boring compared to this. Vacation was cold and windy. Bois Farine would have been a nice way to temper the weather.

I recently acquired Jour de Fete, and thought they might have some things in common. I saw a lot of references to almond and marzipan in descriptions of Bois Farine. To my nose, Bois Farine is dry wood, powder, and brief glimpses of foodiness. Jour de Fete is marzipan almondy-goodness. Neither are particularly sweet, but Jour de Fete is far more so than Bois Farine. Both are great for what they are, but are different enough that I figured it was worth sharing.

You could be one of the finest bakers to understand this fragrance. I like to spend my insomniatic mornings surrounded by grains, seeds, nuts, cacao nibs, sugar, honey, and spices. I have a special drawer wher I keep my best chocolates and a favorite baking sheet for toasting grains and nuts to bring out their eepest favors.
Bois Farine is those sweetened, toasted grains and nuts. Think ground almonds. Imagine being in this hot patisserie at 3AM, grinding your own almonds to make marzipan. You have secret spices you add to this marzipan to make it especially addictive, and you store the whole spices in a sandalwood box a lover brought to you decades ago: the carvings are filled in with pastry flour. The smell of bread baking and brioche dough rising surrounds you as well. And you are drinking a warm cup of chai, in memory of your travels with that lover when you were young. Slide your fingers through the almond meal you have made, is it fine enough? A few more pulses in the food processor and then you will add superfine sugar and let it pulse until the almonds and sugar come together, almost like a smooth dough. But just before that the spices you are blending in the stone mortar and pestle from Mexico—there's a hint of the purest Mexican vanilla nourishing the stone (both from a different lover; yes, another travel means another lover) and it gets added to feed the addiction and bring those hungering for more to your threshold.

Bois Farine as a scent is fairly linear and is just powder, powder, powder. It smells like chalk and flour but it also somehow conveys the tactile sensation of having baby powder covering your skin.

The thing that makes this fragrance difficult for me to wear is that it is extremely dry. It feels like having a mouthful of flour that has dried out the inside of your mouth and all you want is a glass of water to wash it down. The dry powderiness is just relentless and I would have enjoyed this fragrance much more if there were some sort of balance to it, maybe from orange blossom or amber or something.

I am so torn on this fragrance. On one hand, it is olfactory art that is very well executed and absolutely delivers on its theme. On the other hand, I find it to be semi-unpleasant to wear. For me, it will be a Secretions Magnifique-type scent that is fun as an art piece but is not something I would ever purchase or wear. But I still applaud Jean Claude Ellena for taking an idea and truly running with it.

It starts with a whiff of wet plaster or chalk, as in rain soaked plaster...then it dries a bit into marzipan, not marzipan rolled in sugar but marzipan rolled in flour. Slowly it moves into the iris and for me it finishes in a creamy sandalwood. This fragrance grew on me in a way that I did not expect. I thought it wasn't "strong" enough that it wasn't projecting far enough but then one day I was walking through the room where I hang my scarf and there was this delicious, sexy creamy sandalwood mixing in the air with that elegant iris of Bois Farine and I fell head over heels for it.

Smells like nothing but sweet playdough unfortunately.

Smells terrible on my skin. Reminds me about wet chalk or gypsum. Definitely not pleasant at all.

This smells so much like horchata, especially after a couple hours have passed. It's creamy without being nauseating, and the sweetness is a crisp, clean, understated sugar rather than anything cloying. It's quite unique and absolutely beautiful. Like perfect pastry, all the ingredients are perfectly measured, making the final product exquisite.

I get sweet almond milk and extreme powder. Not chemical smelling baby powder but warm comforting powder that kind of reminds me of cookie dough.

Every time I get a whiff of it , I feel happy and safe.

LOVE LOVE LOVE.
I have loooads of bottles of this. I don't trust L'Artisan, they always delete perfumes randomly.

L'artisan Bois Farine is a comfort scent meant for those damp 40ish degree days where the sky is dreary and it won't stop drizzling. It gives a feeling of pensiveness leaning toward melancholy. The constant dry powdery wood aroma smells like you've just opened a dusty old book without its binding. You sit on a window sill looking out at the damp dead trees as you exhale chilly air onto the fogged glass. It is truly a calming scent and lingers on for hours. It is an interesting oddity of a fragrance and happens to be one of my favorite iris scents. I've read that Bois Farine is inspired by a unique protected species of trees in far away places that are said to have mystical powers only making this fume even more intriguing to sniff.

a lighter, close to the skin scent. Powdery, creamy but almost too light and with poor longevity. Husband says he can't smell anything when I wear it.

I really don't get this point where people can smell mould what I can smell is lots and lots of powder and almond I must say it is an acquired taste and I have to be in the mood to wear this fragrance and I'm surprised that more people don't find this to be a very powerful fragrance and 2 sprays on my skin lasts a good 8 to 9 hours and if I spray it on my clothes it last up to 12 hours. But as far as the smell of mould goes I think these people have obviously never smelt real mould but hey we are all entitled to our own opinion. 7 and a half out of 10 for me. X

What can I say? This opens, honestly, with mould. Then a quick blast of almond. Then vetiver.
I'm not enamoured. I didn't scrub it off though to.give it a fair chance and it did improve a bit. Later it smells like wood and almond milk.
It is not what I had in mind at all. 6 hours later it has become a smooth skin scent. It is bearable definitely but it just isn't anything I would have spent full price on. Like another poster it was 29.99 and mine is going back! Even if it had been 9.99 I don't think I would have cause to keep it.
I wanted a powdery baked goods type scent. I didn't get it.
I have been more wowed by the 3.50 Desperate Housewives I bought a few months ago.

This perfume for me started out with a nutmeg smell then I got the cedar before it settled into a powdery, cosmetic smell tinged with marzipan. It's pretty linear and delicate but very pretty. I got this on offer at tk maxx and at £29.99 I'm very pleased with it but wouldn't want to pay full price.

This scent is very of powder balmy. Little here the iris , but a lot oils of car.
So it lies on me like that . Is not intensive but long lasts and after 2 hours torments me.

The first few moments after spraying "Bois Farine" I was struck by how similar it was to "Coco Blanc" by House of Matriarch, which I had thought to be entirely unique and irreplaceable.

Their openings both share this bizarrely appealing accord of warm, fatty peanut butter mixed with cold, wet clay; Dense, smoky and earthy.
While Coco Blanc's development emphasises vanilla, Bois Farine moves in the direction of almond marzipan and an intensely powdery amber. Soft, cosy and sweet, with the vaguest hint of suede; It stays like this, fairly close to the skin for a few hours before crumbling away into gentle whisps of powder.

I'm really impressed, considering I got the bottle for a steal. I can see this being a frequent choice for the winter months. Perhaps the almond and iris make this a more feminine leaning scent, but it's a complement winner regardless.

Ormonde Woman spilt in an historic building undergoing its final dusty restorations...sawdust, concrete and plastering.

someone somewhere is sharpening a pencil, to mark where the electrics are to go.

sadly i don't get marzipan, nut or bread. not gourmand.

i do get a generous slug of iso e super dancing with heliotropin.
where's the benzoin and jasmine?
oh out pops the iris. and a musky musk thing, or is that the iso e fuzziness? wait...dough! not bread. some bitter almonds.

i don't know what else to say. light, soft and airy.

but i do love it!

an at-home comfort scent.
i say that - and reread this.
?
but then i recall my mum banging around a bit of dough on a daily basis. i spent a lot of time exploring property renovations and playing around trees and woodlands...so perhaps its a childhood thing for me.

edit: much as i love the smell of this, i wouldn't want to go out wearing it in public. a strictly at home comfort scent.

With all this talk of marzipan, Nutella and almond cookies I was expecting something tooth-rottingly gourmand, but to me the whole impression is of strange subtle woody dryness. With no accenting notes that either lift or anchor it, it is essentially a very unusual skin scent, but go easy on the spritzing, this is no weakling!

First spray reminds me of the middle section of Chanel no 19 - fresh pencil shavings. Aaahhh. Love it!
Swiftly followed by .... -flour? maybe, but more like wet plaster, or even cement.
Don't have to wait too long - 30 mins? - Nuts, yes, fresh almonds (not marzipan), something of bitter hazelnuts. A slightly medicinal note.
Then the Iris kicks emerges and HELLO?!! does nobody else get a great big faceful of that iris queen Chanel 28 La Pausa? Never thought I'd ever find that anywhere else!
Having obsessively sniffed that addictive, mysterious note for an hour or so, I find it has conceded to a mild sweetish wood (not that in-your-face exotic heavyweight that seems to close everything niche these days, something altogether more airy and elusive).
Truly original - you have to go to know!

Bois Farine is a very sensual woody non-sweet Sandalwood skin Scent after the deliciously evocative cookie dough/flour opening.Its the love child of Jour de Fête crossed with Tam Dao,whilst managing to be magnificently unique.Its strangely beautiful and addictive and full bottle worthy.Low Silage after the top Notes subside when it becomes a cedar and Sandalwood skin scent.

The powderist of all powder scents.
I get a heavy flour accord in the beginning. Then the flour gets slightly sweet, baby powder like.
Never tried something more powdery.
Great for all fans of luxurious and powdery scents.

Oh my God this scent is heavenly there is no other fragrance on the market that comes close. Well Mr Ellen you have produced yet another master peice. To me it smells like a mixture of dough after its been left to rise and even though it's not in the notes listed I can smell powdered lavender all mixed together in a bag of crushed make up just lovely just wish it was more potent but I still love it and will see how it performs over the fall/winter period then will review again xx

L'Artisan perfumes always do the same thing to me. I read the notes and think I more or less know what to expect but then I spray it on my wrist and pull that face that says, "WTF!?"

I can't blame Bertrand Duchaufour for that because this particular fragrance is the work of Jean Claude Ellena. I love Jean Claude's work and own a lot of his perfumes made for Hermes. This is not a Hermes scent. Oh no it most certainly is not. It is almost as though JC wanted to show that he could do 'different' just as good as Bertrand, but then Bertrand didn't compose most of his masterpieces for L'Artisan until after this. I almost wish we could have gotten to appreciate more from JC working with this house before his move to exclusivity with Hermes.

I get a big fat blast of cedarwood at the start but can already detect something unsmelt in perfumery before (for me at least) and it is travelling at great speed to the front. It's the doughy note. I feel as though the Mr Stay Puft man from Ghostbusters is coming to take me up in a great big stay puft embrace and cuddle the preconceptions right out of me! (I think I've gotten Mr Stay Puft confused with the Pillsbury Dough Boy, this is not a marshmallow scent but rather a fresh dough one).

I guess there is Iris here somewhere but it is rather cleverly used to enhance the feel of powdery doughy something rather than dominate the show as it does in other fragrances. This is not a fragrance for those who are guided by their love of iris.

My partner said, "Wow, that's nice!" When I first sprayed it and he begged me to gift him the bottle. Then later on he wasn't quite so sure, and I think I know why; he is like a cat that needs time to get used to a brand-new visitor. And get used to it he will, because Mr Stay Puft (or the Pillsbury Dough Boy) is here to stay.

Perfume comfortable, dusty with a bit of "magic".... This is inspired by a tree, also known as 'white tree Magic', known to have magical able! It is a nice scent,light and heavy .. is very versatile! I like the sweet/dusty/woody here,there is an unusual combination of notes, but well done! The Iris has a strong presence here, even if it is not excessive. As evolution proceeds, develop woody notes of sandalwood, while other notes accompany the other in a harmony definitely nice and soft! The sillage is soft, but longevity is quite good (5-6 hours). Council to try it ..

Sillage: 5.5/10
Longevity: 6.5/10
Scent: 8/10

Overall: 8/10

Bois Farine is a very special fragrance, but strange and particularly creative, since there is no market fragrance that smells like that.

Ellena is the magician of light, color and subtle and original notes as when you paint the watercolor technique.

It feels like a kind of pastry dough and nuts wrapped in a cocktail of woods where a chord sandalwood atalcado brings a subtle, dry, soft, soothing and comfortable trail as a cashmere sweater.

This semi sweet like a gourmand but becomes one.
The trail is moderate to mild and the average length, making it ideal for use during the day.

This excellent fragrance moved me for a moment to my childhood, reminding certain scents of my childhood in my grandmother's kitchen preparing cakes and biscuits.

Rating: 8.5

Tested sprayed. Very nice. Opens with lots of wood-type notes, and is also slightly "clean." Feels like a comforting skin scent. There's also powder, but not strong baby powder - more like tapioca flour.

i like this a lot , i don't wear it often because i need to feel in the mood for this , is basically dough , fresh dough baguette to be more specific with some peanut butter unsalted thrown in the mix, is interesting and is warm not cloying

Bois Farine is a great joke about powdery perfume... what could be more powdery than sawdust mixed with flour? The iris note slays me. I love this so much.

This is such a soothing, calm and soft fragrance. I often wear it when i go to bed or when i have had a shower and just want to spend the evening cuddeling up in the sofa watching tv. It's also a perfect scent for me to wear at work where i cant wear heavy fumes.
The main notes to me are almond (not even listed) and powder in a creamy, soft blend. I smell woody notes but they are very, very soft. I cant say that i detect any flowery notes. It's a gourmand for sure byt not at all sweet. My 2-year old daughter think i smell like the inside of a DVD disc cover when i wear it. She puts it funny but she do have a point :)
Usually i prefer rather heavy orientals or smokey fragrances but this comforting and unique scent, i cant live without. It will always have it's given place on my perfumeshelf.

Out of the gate, it’s a warm cedar interwoven with spices and a soft, nutty texture. But the pleasing welcome is really just there to introduce the two stars of the show: Iso E and heliotropin (an almond-smelling chemical). The resulting scent conjures the image of a plate of shortbread sitting next to a vase of flowers, but it’s all tad synthesized — in fact, it smells borderline severe to me. Ultimately, it sits somewhere between gourmand and floral that, despite being cozy at first, gets boring real fast. A relatively agreeable but uninspiring foody blend with L’Artisan’s signature piss-poor performance.

I just opened this and sprayed it. Not sure about the bread, I smell wood, older seasoned wood that has just been remilled. Powdery, yes. Not getting any floral. This is totally unique for me. I have never smelled anything similar.

Ok, getting the toasty bread smells now. Powder and flour. ore wood smells, but not the same kind of wood. I think it's sort of cedary and something I don't recognize. I wish I knew about this passion of mine!

A unique perfume, genuinely unusual without being at all strange.

The opening is yeasty and then sweet almond paste, like the dough for some sort of bun baked only on special occasions. It has a very faint cinnamon toast note, or maybe I should say cinnamon toast bread dough. In the dry down it's woody, sandalwood and sweet powder, a tiny bit salty. It's very present: it has surprising sillage and longevity for a scent that is essentially quite delicate.

A comfort scent.

Extraordinarily unique. Though it's billed as a gourmand, it's not sweet, it's like woody flour. It's quite unusual.

Smells to me like sweet uncooked dough. It is interesting, and not unpleasant, but not a perfume I ever need more than a sample of.

Smells just like wheat bread topped with sliced almonds that's a few days old, sitting in a wooden bread box. At times it smells like a peanut butter cookie, that doesn't have any sugar. This is not gourmand at all, despite smelling like these two things. It can give a comforting vibe, sort of how wood shavings or fresh hay is comforting. It's not warm, foody, sweet goodness, or anything like that. It's pretty dry, but at the same time, mellow. Personally not my cup of tea, but I do appreciate the mastery of it.

You know those confidence boosting statement perfumes that can stop others in their tracks for good or bad but will certainly get noticed. Truth be told I love some of them.

And then there is Bois Farine on the other side of the spectrum, delicate, polite and discreet.

The name is quite fitting actually; smells like flour, unsweetened pastry dough, nuts and the most tender woods imaginable. It doesn't really evolve, only becomes even more quiet with time so if you like the initial spray you'll probably like it till the end. Is it wearable? For me yes, yes, YES, but I often appreciate peculiar, quirky scents.

Keep in mind that it is truly a skin scent, won't project much no matter how many the sprays but it lasts, sometimes even until the next morning if applied generously.

I find it marvellous; such a homey, comforting and serene scent. The olfactory equivalent of a well fitting cream cashmere sweater; super soft, comfy and impossible not to enjoy wearing it.

accordo decisamente più complesso dei soliti minimalistici profumi di ellena. è un legnoso, polveroso con sentori di mandorla. in una prima fase sa di quella carota che ricorda chanel no.19 poudree, poi si assesta su un iris morbido. veramente notevole!

Very interesting and unusual fragrance. I love smelling this. But I used it as a room spray.

I never bake and very rarely cook, so my home tends to smell like either nothing, or briefly of the sillage from my own perfume that I selected for that day, or just freshly brewed coffee in the morning. I always sprayed BF everywhere before guests arrive at my home, so that it’d feel cozier for them.

I think some perfumes should be displayed and experienced in galleries, as works of art — not really as wearable fumes. Much like the difference between haute couture and pret-a-porter in fashion. Some creations are meant to manifest as incredible ideas, and feats of technical skill… For me, BF is like that.

I really wish I could pull this off on skin.

Delicious and comforting wood powder with regrettable longevity/silage.

BFis true to its name: wood flour. BF smells as if a combination of woods, almond, and iris has been dried and pulverized into a fine flour. This combo also gives me a peanut butter cookie vibe when sprayed. I can feel the "powdery note" mentioned by Fragrantica but it is quite transparent (it does not interfere with the other notes). It is there to give a powdery feeling (which the iris also has). There is a combination of woods here, but at first I cannot say one stands over the other. The almond and iris eventually tone down and then this delicious sandalwood scent becomes more apparent. It is warm, semi-sweet and balmy. This is the best part for me since I love sandalwood. The sandalwood stays until the end, as the more prominent wood scent.

On the downside BF goes skin very quickly. Within 30 minutes only I can smell it. After the 1 hour mark BF becomes less powdery and gives out a faint sandalwood scent. BF is pretty much history after the 4th hour on me.

In short, I madly love the smell of BF, but absolutely detest its longevity and silage. If you like the scent of a peanut/sandalwood confection mixed with a powdery smell of woods/sandalwood, and are looking for fragrance who won't stick to you for a long time, the BF is for you.

I personally own it. And even though I don't like its longevity, there are many occasions where I find that desirable. For example, I often wear it at night after a shower knowing that, comes morning time, I don't need to wash it off to wear my daytime fragrance.

I have an immediate visceral negative reaction when I put this on. Very weird experience for me - get it off!!
I have a nice sample (from Perfume House) - if anyone wants to trade for another L'Artisan sample.

A marvellous original subtility between sweet warming fragrances and the dryness of precious wood. I love love LOVE it !

Bois Farine , extremely different. It doesn't smell perfumy at all, it's very flat and all I smell is marzipan, ground up almonds , marzipan , some more powdered almonds , marzipan , and nothing else. Good thing I love almonds and marzipan even more so. But this is all it smells of to my nose, It's very linear as well it smells of marzipan first spritz and doesn't change. It's also extremely light airy and understated. No one would smell it on you unless someone hugs you , I have a hard time detecting it on myself and need a good 8 sprays to make I worth while. If you love this , get 100 ml , it's going fast .
Its a very warm comfort scent, its great for the days you want to just feel good and cozy. Like today and all weekend ,its suppose to rain, my bois Farrine will comfort me.
I do wonder how this smells in hot weather. I bet it would maybe bloom a little more?
Its a SKIN scent.

This is a very unique and comforting scent. It smells dry and woody but has a flour-like smell that is very pleasing. It isn't sweet though, it smells like clean white wood. Flour-y wood. Bois Farine means "wood flour" and that is exactly what it smells like. It doesn't smell like food much to me at all. It isn't that kind of flour. But there is a bit of warmness to it from the sandalwood. And there is a slightly nutty quality. The dry down is slightly sweeter and I feel like I smell a tiny bit of tonka although it isn't listed. My nose is pretty much missing anything floral in there. Bois Farine is very light and sheer, you could wear this heavily and it still would not be overwhelming. Great for anywhere in close quarters with others where you want your fragrance to be more discreet and polite.

Purchased today unsniffed, it was on discount -40% and no tester... Could not resist.

At first, woods, second - white dry flour with already added sugar and vanilla;

In 10 minutes I caught a sniff of :

Dusty desert rode, it starts raining, warm raindrops foaling on the dust...

Shame, no silage, no lasting power, as it is quiet unique, different from all I smelled before;

For some reason it is very comforting, the smell of the childhood...

I wore this a few years ago and liked it, especially the drydown, though it didn't seem to last long enough. The opening had a bit too much fennel for my tastes. Trying it again now, I find that there seems to be a use of aroma chemicals that is coming across as just that. After about an hour I had to wash it off, as it was really bothering me, like I was breathing in toxic fumes. So, I think my major "contribution" here is to advise people who are sensitive to some aroma chemicals to sample this before blind buying a bottle. I prefer the fennel treatment in The One Gentleman, by contrast. While I like the idea of Bois Farine, for me it's unbalanced at first and too "synthetic" later on.

The opening of Bois Fariné definitely reminds me of some bread or cakes that I smelt before. I don't think it smells like peanut butter or nutella on me. I just can't put my finger on it! (What on earth is it? It's driving me crazy! Grrrrrr....... =A=)

After about 3 or 4 hours, the benzoin loses its power on the fragrance. The sandalwoods and other woodsy notes become more prominent. The scent also turns slightly sour on me. The powdery aspect is noticeable but not aggressive.

The sillage is soft but the scent stays solid along the wearing. The longevity is around 6 hours on me. Actually, Bois Fariné doesn't evoke much emotion to me. I'm attracted by the scent itself as it smells just so interesting and addictive. It definitely worths at least a try!

If anyone here has had the tasty hot Turkish beverage known as Salep... that's exactly what this smells like on my skin. Very realistic cinnamon (with the slight bitter it includes, but pleasantly so), something warm and reminiscent of milk, and the soft, comforting quality of powdered mountain orchid roots to thicken the drink. Serious cozy drink flashback! Lovely, but not fb worthy to me for the price. (I prefer more 'intriguing' scents vs cozy.)

A gourmand that didn't mean to be a gourmand, as it does not fit the mold of being either fruity or candy smelling. The moment I sniffed a sample of this I aaahed loudly and knew that I had stumbled onto something quite special. Not a single food note to be found in here: Iris, musk, several different kinds of wood. However the combination creates a unique smell that I can only describe as raw flour or possibly ground hazelnuts. It's time to get in the kitchen and bake some fresh bread from scratch! It's a very dry aroma, light and elegant. Everything about it says class, composure and warmth. I imagine this being worn by a wealthy woman who chooses to clean her own house, and do all of her own cooking and gardening because it pleases her. I wish I had a sweater made out of this fragrance that I could wrap around me when the world became stressful. I would be back in my cozy childhood kitchen watching my dad bake homemade bread. What a nice find this was!

This is one of the strangest perfumes I have ever smelled. While I do have a small bottle, and it was a blind buy for me, I have to admit I am enjoying it fully.... I couldn't resist buying it because of the name ....not exactly feminine, it's has a very melancholic vibe to it that I believe makes it more appropriate for a woman than a man. I can definitely smell the raw peanuts in their shell in the beginning.... many people mentioned peanut butter... but that is made from roasted peanuts.... there is a cardboard kind of scent here... it's sweet, woody, powdery.... the scent becomes a little floral later, without losing the woody / sandalwood character.
It is transparent but it persists a fairly long time.
Even though I don't find it beautiful or sexy, it's additive.... somehow makes me think of moments from long ago, childhood.
I want to sniff it again and again. It lacks energy, freshness. It also lacks spice, life. I lacks sensuality too. But it has lots of emotional appeal. And this is why I love it!

*L'Artisan Parfumeur - Bois Farine

Here's a great criation of Sir Ellena!.

The opening evokes some of my memories around a famous peanut candy that we have here in Brazil called "cajuzinho", which is made of milk, sugar and peanuts. But also i can get cookies and somekind of herb biscuits too, ready from the oven...lol. Our olfactive memories are so crazy - i love it! I guess the sandalwood makes that kinda "gourmand" (not a usual goumand itself but a different one). Probably sandalwood, benzoin plus fennel seeds (sweet anise) make this stuff happens like that!

In a few minutes, i can feel dry woods on it, especially guaiac wood - which is sweeter and smokier than other woods.

Then, Iris here makes things go with a bit of charm and luxury, together with sandalwood, less strong right now, but making a powdery and creamy accord.

Its dry is basically white musc and faint woody notes. Simple as Ellena but also good enought!

So delicious! We have good projection (not annoying anyone around us) and also good longevity! Go ahead!

:D

When I first put this on, I definitely recognized the peanut butter aroma that other reviewers had mentioned. I enjoyed it and kind of hoped that it would have stayed longer. It smelled like breakfast at my father's house--peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on fresh bread with a cup of hot white tea.

The beginning stage that I adored so much quickly faded and what remained was a cinnamon/doughy fragrance similar to SL Rousse, but with less oomph. I like Bois Farine, but I wish the peanut butter and tea would have lasted for the entirety of the experience.

I have a sample of this tonight, and my first thought was ugh, the second was "I know that smell". And it came to me. It is the musty smell of damp clothes or rags that have been sitting in a pile somewhere for a few days, forgotten about. That's what this turns into on me, sadly. I was really excited to try this one, but it's actually the first perfume that made me feel ill. I can't pinpoint which note it is, but it's definitely not for me.

What an oddity of a perfume!! It is a very very soft blend of natural animalic (not in the greasy hairy way, just NOT the industrial chemical clean-laundry musk..more like the balls of musk out grannys used to put on the wardrobes between the clothes and sheets) musk and powdery "white" notes of someting like wet dough and wet plaster mixed together.

As it cooks into the skin it turns sweeter, veering more thowards a faint cooked dough or bread scent rather than the mineral plaster or clay touch. It doesen't however loose the mineral feel of the plaster even though it turns way softer and stays in the background. Also the jazmine and the iris start to show up, but very faintly as well, way in the background, making this scent rounder and giving it the delicate sweetness.

The woods also show up as the base, and they can be pretty noticeable, and the benzoin also adds some caramel like sweetness to the flowers.

I can aslo detect some spices but extremely faintly and just from whiff to whiff of scent or it could be one of the several woods this perfume has on its base.

It is a very interesting between sweetness (which often makes quite warm scents) and airy coldness.

It is very very soft and kind of airy. It is very conforting too...very cozy.

I'd say it is another category of femenine as it is not the typical flowery/sweet/fruity scent...it is almost angelic due to it's "whiteness" and softness, like little farine clouds.

My only complaint : extremely poor sillage and longevity. Extremely soft and faint..

I personally adore it

People on Russian perfume forums usually write that it smells like a dough. It has a lot of fans between fragrances by L'Artisan Parfumeur. As for me, I don't think so. I rather feel iris and musk. And I can't say that I like it.

This grew on me. When I first tried Bois Farine I was shocked to find that what I blind-bought was an unwearable weird stuff. I didn’t scrub it though, and was reconciled with it to some degree after day dragged on.
And then a month later I suddenly decided to try it again. What can I say – it was a success! I sprayed my wrist only once remembering past experience, but found that I keep rolling up the sleeve of my parka and my glove to sniff the wrist. It smells like powdered wood to me, luckily I don’t smell any peanut butter that I hate and a lot of reviewers get.

This is an odd scent, I can’t dissect it into notes like I always can. It’s so exotic for a perfume, that you just live it as an experience. Can’t say I detect iris as usually I don’t really like iris scents, and I don’t get jasmine at all, and not musk. I don’t rightfully know what I get except for some unusual wood – not your typical sedar, but I love how Bois Farine makes me feel. It’s comforting and has character, and staying power was super surprising for an L’Artisan – I sprayed once at 9 am, and could still smell it at 6 pm. I didn’t get much sillage, but I don’t strive to get it, I find that when a cloud comes into the room before the person, it’s an invasion into other people’s privacy, as all the people that use public transit can vouch for. So Bois Farine is a well-behaved little scent that lives with its master and lets live.

A truly unique fragrance that I just can't get out of my mind. I did get the peanut butter in the opening, but it wasn't unpleasant, it was comforting. Then the scent shifted to something like buttered rum, and then went all complex woody on me. At some point sweet black tea wafted in and out, and by the dry-down I was getting a gentle but distinct iris. IMO there's nothing "laide" about this; it's odd but beautiful.

Edited to add I had to buy a full bottle of this. It is soothing like having someone stroke your head when you have a fever.

I've been thinking about how I'd write about Bois Farine. It's novel, it's interesting in light of Ellena's other work. It's got a hefty dose of that jolie-laide thing that made whole eras (80s) and genres (fruity chypres) of perfumery interesting. Hell, I like it. It drives a herky-jerky line between starched and savory.

I wore it today to a basic life support re-certification class today. As it turns out, we had to demonstrate more than explain today. About 4 minutes into my first round of chest compressions, at the sweat point, I started to smell as if I'd been hiding peanut butter sandwiches under my arms. It was a 3 hour class. I don't think my classmates enjoyed the nouvelle-gourmande experience so much.

The scent bears a white powderiness similar to that of flour. It's odd in a good way. There is a very gourmand peanut nougat in the opening, but it only lasts a minute or two. The heart of the fragrance smells like a tea latte of smoky black tea with a few dried jasmine flowers, lots of steamed milk, and some powdered sugar. This is a sweet take on iris.

I love to burn palo santo, my absolute favorite wood, and I smell heaps of it in this perfume. Love it. Now I know where the smokiness comes from. I really didn't expect the guaiac note would be so true to the actual wood, but leave it to L'Artisan to craft a fragrance of such remarkable quality. It's my palo santo dream come true. It reminds me of the drydown of Theorema, where the palo santo is so good I didn't think I would ever smell it so good again.

It's not just a woody perfume. It certainly has the white powder that I expected with a name like "Farine." It's a similar powderiness to L'Eau D'Hiver minus the touch of green. Instead of green, Bois Farine is smoky and a tad floral. Both are warm, cozy, and comforting in cold weather.

Bois Farine is a definite winner from L'Artisan. Considering it's not a heavy perfume, sillage and projection are both awfully good with only one spray. One spray drifted up to my nose for several hours. I bought this without testing first--no regrets! This is one of the best woody-iris perfumes out there.

My ultimate snow scent ! I find it warming and comfy, as if I was under an igloo, protected from the sharpness of chill.

Very well balanced perfume. This new creation from L'artisan is a sweet but not cloying perfume. Sandal is very well mixed with flower notes,mand wood hold the whole equilibrium of this light and elegant fragance

Peanut butter! (^^)/

I agree with previous reviewers that did not find this fragrance gourmand. Definitely woody + flour, and to me, absolutely amazing, comforting, gorgeous. The drydown is a beautiful creamy sandalwood that I can't wait for as well. LOVE!!!

A very calming, somehow extremely "familiar" scent... when i first smelled it, i was impressed. Now, 3 tests and some months later i still experience the same surprise of that 1st day!

It is to me the most "personal" scent i've ever tried. I'm sure if one wears it, people will not know if this is a perfume they're getting or a mixture of skin chemistry, smell of clean clothes and wonderful baking evidence...

An amazing perfume conception and execution! ..not its hefty price, however.. take it easy people and come to your senses !! ( when this happens, i'll buy 2 bottles ;)
PS: i just realised that here in Greece many perfumes (including this one), cost twice as much as they cost in other European countries.....

I'm so sad this didn't work for me. I wanted the peanutty, cozy, bread smell everyone elses reviews talk about. I smell like a cedar chest. No, a high end furniture store. I find nothing soft and cozy about this. It shouldn't be listed as unisex as Bois Farine is totally masculine. I guess hubby scored a new scent for himself!

I'm increasingly drawn to Bois Farine. Such a weird beauty, such an impressive lasting power for a soft scent.

For me Bois Farine is mostly woods with sandalwood dominating the accord, dry and pleasant nut aromas, a weird but nice flour impression smoothing things out and a fleeting, whisper-like floral note on top of it all. It gradually develops some gentle resinous/nutty sweetness - and has a dry (as opposite of moist) warm and comforting overall feel, like your old trustworthy cashmere sweater.

But breaking this scent to the parts does not really do justice to it. It's completely unique, I've never smelled anything quite like it.

Wearing Bois Farine is like falling in love with a friend. You know him, you've had such a great time with him - and suddenly you just understand how the things are for you two...

I love this one, usually I'm not a big JCE fan; it's warm, yet dry & not too sweet but still kinda spicy, it's powdery them gets creamy from sandalwood & cedar. At the beginning I feel more hazel nuts than peanuts, very dry almost grilled; I love it, but stragely most on warm & dry weather, not in winter, it's not sucha sweet -cozy fragrance for me! In winter I prefer Hypnotic poison or spiritueuse double vanille, or Kenzo Amour.
I also love Bois farine as a base, to miw with other perfumes, for ex. i first spray once BF then one more of Omnia Bulgari, or Safran Troublant from l'AP, or vanille noire YR, it matches perfectly and it makes them last longer! try it!!

For me, it begins quite sweet and anisic. After perhaps half an hour it gets dry, a little powdery, and a little woody. It's certainly unique; as others have said, it can give the impression of flour, peanuts, yeast etc. Without much applied I got good longevity and projection ("sillage"). It's a bit too simple for me, though I might revisit it once a year or so to see if my tastes change. Otherwise, it's good in every other way, though certainly a sample first fragrance.

The opening brings a pleasant odour: yeast and flour.
How extraordinarily.

Woody Floral Musk?
Maybe musk, mayby wood, yes after some time.
Floral..?
Maybe......, yes after 20 minutes a touch of iris.

I like it, sure, I think it is lovely.
Again, if only it were stronger I would buy a bottle:
BF is too weak for my taste.

When I wear this, I smell like Thai peanut sauce. Not just peanuts, but sweet and sour peanuts. How unpleasant.

Perfect at home, on lazy, cozy weekend mornings...
It's very intimate scent, more in mathernal than erotical sense, great for cuddles with kids (my little son adores Bois Farine and every time I use it he wants me to spray his little hand too). This scent makes me feel like "Big Mamma" without baking a cake, but I dont recommend it for going out. Alas, it fades in the air like a cloud of meal!

It's interesting perfume, it starts from the wet flour, in which already the cup of sugar was added, and some vanilla, it really so...
Then it changes - the base for me is quite almondy, sweet, very sweet.
It's a good experience or experiment but I will not wear it for sure.

I love it, is like if I had take a deep dive in cake dough... without being a sugar bomb as most gourmands are... ideal for Christmas season when a cozy perfume comes to hand!

I love Benzoin, and this is one of my favourite Benzoin perfumes :) In this scent it reminds me of nuts... I can say that I go nutty when i smell it, I love it. So worm, so nice, very strong and long lasting.


I use it all year long, but I use all my perfumes all year long :]

Okay, when I dabbed on Bois Farine and let it dry, I couldn't stop laughing. It seriously smells just like peanuts. Or, almond cookies of some sort. Not sweet like Marzipan, just straight up Planter's peanuts with some woods thrown in the mix. As it dries down I get more iris and woods towards the end but that peanut smell never leaves. It's not the kind of fragrance I'd wear, but Bois Farine is a reminder of how amazing fragrances are when it comes to conjuring up different smells or images. Good longevity and sillage; very unique and enjoyable.

I asked the SA at Bergdorff's for a dry, cool fragrance and he steered me to this. It is not dry, and it is not cool. Its one of those opaque woodsy, warm fragrances. Definitely bready, starchy almost, in its doughiness. I didn't read young and easy-going in this fragrance. I think people who like Fracas would like this fragrance due to the heavy, creaminess of it.

Oh dear. Farine is right. All I got was wet flour, wet flour and more wet flour. It reminded me of whenever my mother would make bread.

But not the nice bit, when it was baking. Oh no, just the bit when she was mixing the dough.

To me it's a gourmand perfume. Also, a comforting smell. Warm, and not too sweet. The perfume keeps its balance and does not become cheesy and cheap. It begins with a peanut buttery tone along with pencil shavings- and it is this woody aroma that stops the sweetness from becoming overpowering. Towards the end I get more of the Iris and a bit of a powdery feeling. I think it's a magical perfume (like the tree it's made from), and everytime I feel a bit weird, I get comfort inside it. I would suggest it to those who dare... and maybe to an "experienced" nose.

There’s lots of anise or fennel at first, along with a strange foody smell sort of like sweet potatoes fried in peanut oil, then quickly something more like bitter stone or mud than flour. I suppose that if I stretched my imagination the least little bit I could imagine a doughy smell, like flour and water paste. I also smell quite a bit of sandalwood at the base.

After a half hour the scent settles down into an odd, almost transparent, sandalwood decked out with fennel, a metallic iris, toasted almonds, honey, and meringue. It’s something like white nougat would smell if it had fennel seeds added to the almonds and was eaten after I had rubbed my hands with sandalwood scented oil. At this point I can’t stop sniffing my wrists to try and figure out exactly what’s going on.

Reading other reviews and lists of notes doesn’t give me any more insight than I got just by sniffing. It’s one of the most unusual perfumes that I’ve smelled for a long time. I was a little put off by the fried-food opening, which some reviewers have described as “peanuts”, but that lasted less than 10 minutes, probably more like 5. Once the fennel-nougat-sandalwood phase starts, it’s an enjoyable ride for a couple of hours, after which it pretty much dries down to a heliotropin scent, sometimes described as “Play-Doh”.

If you like offbeat perfumes, Bois Farine is a must-try but, as with all offbeat perfumes, sample before buying.

Bois Farine opens with a ground hazelnut aroma and you can instantly recognise the scent of wet flour, such as when you add water to finely ground white flour at at beginning of a recipe.

There is some blonde wood in here too, a table upon which to rest your eventual baked materpiece.

Soft and feminine, Bois Farine is also soothing and fluffy. This would be a great comfort fragrance for summer!

In the same street as Profumum-Acqua e Zucchero without the sugared berries and with amped up sugarcoated almonds. As opposed to Zucchero, Farine reminds me of perfume, not cottoncandy. I can detect the iris but just barely.
It is just a fith as sweet as Zucchero but still almost to sweet for me (though I have come to love them both)
More masculin than Zucchero towards the drydown due to a mix of almond/cedar/sugar which an hour into the drydown almost gives of a soft musky impression. Yep that's it, almond musk, if ever there was such a thing.
Some days it reads as pure almond essence on me, and I love it on those days too ;)

I'm getting sandalwood and lipstick. I'm surprised there is no violet note listed, because that usually creates the "lipstick effect" for me.

I don't understand why this scent isn't working for me. I love benzoin, iris, and woody notes, but I am getting only sandalwood and lipstick from this fragrance.

At the beginning I got "nutellla" all over the place like elgab89 already mentioned, I found it really lovely, but then after a minute or even less it turns and smells like flour and on my skin there is nothing else and I just can't find it lovely, because on me...it is just flour. On my bf on the other hand is flour + nuts + powdery flowers, but even on him flour make too much appearance. Definitely can't imagine myself or my bf wearing this.

I have forgotten about this fragrance for a while. Today looking through my box with samples I though... well, why not. The day is nice and sunny, a touch of Bois Farine might brighten it up even more!

I am happy I reached for it, it was so worth reminding how magnificent of a perfume creation this is. Jean-Claude Ellena, you are a real master!

Bois farine at first brings this association to flour, if a fragrance had a texture, it would certainly be that of ground cereal. What follows is the most exquisite powdery and musky iris. Although there is a lot of various woody notes here, the whole fragrance does not strike me as articularly woody, the woods are so subtle and delicate, and blend in so nicely with the flowers that it is difficult to consider them apart. It does feel magical and warm, but at the same time familiar.

Definitely not my favorite L'Artisan (that would be Jour de Fete or Ambre Extreme) A floral musk, very powdery, sometimes verging on baby powder, which is something I really don't care for. There are woody resin notes that I really do like, but it's just a little too powdery for me. Sillage is never good, a problem with some of the L'Artisan scents. I'll pass.

If you like this, but dislike the pricetag, you must try "Max Mara" by Max Mara, which is a über-sweetened version of "Bois Farine". Both perfumes are "Floral Woody Musk's". But the sugared "Max Mara" has a nicer price-tag to it. You simply must try this! You will get a lot of perfume for the money if you buy "Max Mara" (which is also one my signature-fragrances - love love love !!!).

A lot of nuts,very gourmand perfume

The Opening reminds of a white chocolate with almonds. very refined
and stately like a elegant white gown
going to a cotillion during the 1900's in the deep south this perfume is ideal for southren belles it's subtile ladylike and sweet like the legendary georgia trees this might be the perfume that blanche du bois wore.
it's a little to tame for Scarlet o' Hara And way to tame for blanche devereaux. this has a southren elegance to it.

Wow! What an original and comforting scent here!

Smell like flour with a touch clean bed with some dry old wood in it. Amazing! Again, L'Artisan downside is their longevity and sillage. One of the most original scent of all time!

edit: AMAZING!

4.5/5

Imagine a pile of white flour in the middle of a sawmill that processes dark wood trees into planks to be used to build stable and secure houses in the country that are havens from metropolitan madness. L'Artisan Parfumeur BOIS FARINE smells literally just like that.

I am not one to be seduced by names--I often take issue with them--so I do not believe that my experience of BOIS FARINE is being caused by my belief that this edt should smell, as advertised, like "woods of flour" or "flour forest" or "woody flour". And yet it does!

This is a comfort scent, to be sure. A warm woody unisex linear that imparts a sense of protection. The flour note (not listed, but somehow emergently created from other components...) manages to subliminally evoke the image of a big baking kitchen in which white flour abounds. Flour implies baking implies mother implies safety.

Yes, BOIS FARINE really is a warm, woody, flour-y comfort scent that would appeal to men and women alike. No need to chain your doors!

This is one of the most comforting fragrances I've ever smelled. Flour mixed with nut, starts sweet but that sweetness gradually disappears. In the end, it becomes dry and perhaps more masculine than feminine. I love the initial sweet, gourmand phase, but I adore the calm and clean scent in the drydown. I like wearing it before bed or in the morning, when I expect a stressful day in work. My kids always know when I'm wearing it and claim it reminds them of biscuits, a scent they obviously love. In fact, this, along with Hypnotic Poison, are the two perfumes they never fail to compliment on me. Lasting power is mediocre however, 4 to 6 hours max and it stays close to skin after the first hour. Despite that fact, I love this scent so much, I plan to always have a bottle in my wardrobe.

This is a strange perfume, as it reminds me of coulour and dye. I really enjoy the smell, but I wouldn't know where to wear it. It smells pleasently yet bizarrely as if I was painting a picture of oil on canvas.

**

Really impressive Bois Farine is. Somewhat tree-like, but some flour included. I didn't get Nutella, but I'll say it was pretty nutty. With flour. Something sweet here too- true, that it's very memorable and unique, also pleasant and somewhat easy. Magical forest? Yeah, but there isn't present any earthy note. I think now, what if they would include a soil note like in LL Amarena Whim? I guess Bois Farine would be a dark, enchanting magical forest.
Later scent develops in a little bit burnt nut smell and it's very gorgeous too.
Lasting power is good.

Nothing offensive about this, however I became bored of it very quickly preferring other more distinctive fragrances. It reminds me of fresh baked biscuits blended with pencil cases. Quite nice, cosy scent, but it doesnt smell 'perfumey' enough for me to wear it. I gave it away. Also the lasting power is weak, as with many of the L'Artisan.

I can easily imagine Bois Farine to be my everyday scent. It gives me a cozy, comforting feeling.

Opens up on a nutty note of freshly grounded hazelnut which I wish could last longer. The well blended duo of sandalwood and cedar takes center stage after the brightness of the top note vanishes: the smoky saldalwood tempers the sweetness of the cedar. Iris blossoms out in the finale.

I didn't find it gourmand at all. It suits both man and women. Sadly, the staying power is very weak.

My first L' Artisan Parfumeur scent.
It starts sweet on me- i agree with the peanut butter note,but sweeter,but then it turns into a woody heaven, like baking in wooden stoves outside, like my grandmother used to do when I was little, burning wood, cold air and the smell of baking bread.
I would not consider this fragrance gourmand exactly, more like woody with powder notes.
The staying power is also good,although I heard other about L'Artisan scents.

Bois Farine is as many have already written an unique fragrance. On me it start with a mouthwatering peanutbutter note, I like peanuts and have nothing against smelling like them. But ooooh, they don´t last. Not at all, they are only there for such a short time it is actually amazing I noticed them! After the lovely peanutbutter there come something very soft, pretty and gourmand kind of fragrance. But as I have noticed with some other L'Artisan the fragrance is much to weak on me! I can tell it smells really good, but I get mostly frustrated because I want it to smell more, stronger and longer!

It is so weak I can´t really judge what I smell, only knowing that whatever it is, it smells so good, smoth and lovely.

Why oh why are Bois Farine so shy on me? I only have a 1 ml sample, but even if I have a whole bottle I guess it would be empty very fast.

I should have loved it, if only I could have smelled it a tiny bit better.

Adorable! I just have a sample of it, but i hope i will have a big one too.
Best powdery fragrance i have ever smelled! Warm, creamy, it's like you wear a soft scarf on your neck. :)

An amazing and unique comfort scent - flour, sweet white flowers, sandalwood, and...flour??!?

Not necessarily gourmand - for who would eat raw flour? This isn't even the floury smell of fresh baked bread - no, no yeast here at all. Nothing toasted - this is fresh milled raw flour. Sugar? look somewhere else. This is a bakery, not a candy shop.

Ah, but certainly a comfort scent - the fresh start of a recipe, the beginning of a quiet afternoon busily baking. The fragrance of being productive and creative. When other scents give you the final product of cookies or cakes, this gives you the prelude, the launch, the mis en plas.

So rare for L'artisan to put out a fragrance that is so casual and comforting - this is a delightful piece. So sad that the cost takes it out out of reach, else it would be a staple of my scent wardrobe.

I got a 5 ml vial from a swap partner and with the first spritz I fell in love with Bois Farine. It’s unique and comfortable, warm and soft. This fragrance charmed me totally. My family find also very fine. (Usually they say nothing when I try a new fragrance or sometimes when I ask „how do you like my scent?” they say: „it’s Ok”.)
I don't get the peanut butter, Nutella or hazelnut top note as others; it smells on my skin like the scent of the fresh grain and fresh milled meal. It’s not powdery on me, not sweet, not fresh – it’s a perfect fragrance for me. It’s too expensive for me, but would be the owner of a whole bottle.

Woody, powdery and gourmand, unusual, like woody flour. It is definitely for colder weather.

I test it this week and still remember it, very memorable scent indeed.