Les Indemodables

Les Indemodables is an example of how little the concept matters if the perfume itself can tell its own fascinating story without any cheat sheets.

I first saw them at an exhibition in Milan in 2019. The advertising brochure said something about a perfume wardrobe and parallels with the fashion world, which, to put it mildly, is not new and evokes melancholy. But I tried all six (at that time) fragrances, and lost the desire to go anywhere else. The Les Indemodables stand was located at the very end of the exhibition, not far from the treasures of the Versailles Osmotheque, and the fragrances sounded like a continuation of the Osmotheque project - restored classic masterpieces from materials that are no longer used much. A magnificent green and citrus chypre, a toxic witchy fougère, dirty musk sounded very unusual in Italy, which was then fascinated by the Middle East. But the owners of the brand, Valerie Pulveray and Remy Pulveray (he is also the owner of L`Atelier francais des matieres – a laboratory for the production of natural raw materials) made it clear that they came to the exhibition to look for distributors, not the press, so I did not even have samples left to remember.

The second meeting with Les Indemodables took place in the fall of 2022, already in a calm home atmosphere with a bag of weighty samples sent by the Czech store Rafinad, and this turned out to be the best way to get acquainted with the fragrances. Days and months of reflection helped to understand and love their slightly specific French intonation - courtesy without familiarity, a unique rhythm and decisive coquetry. I recommend that you start with a set of samples, and then decide whether you need large bottles (the correct answer is yes!)

Even if it all started as an idea for a wardrobe, now it is a story of fragrant raw materials. What distinguishes the “material” collection of Les Indemodables from the endless number of others is that we do not just learn about the materials, we learn something new about the materials and their combinations. We see how osmanthus turns into suede, and vanilla into drunken plum in chocolate, we taste amber and myrrh as they were before and in the roles they played before, we play with illusions, watching how iris and patchouli create the feeling of natural musk, and melted snow, sage and mimosa paint a gray iris watercolor. To help lovers of mind games, L`Atelier francais des matieres released Le Coffret “GRANDS CRUS” - a box with ingredients in wax bases - two key ingredients for each Les Indemodables fragrance. With their help, you can get a rough idea of ​​the raw material's sound and its magical metamorphoses in finished compositions. The set is expensive, but good for training the sense of smell and forming new neural connections even for sophisticated perfume lovers.

What's in these samples and the bottles you end up buying?

Escale en Indonesia is the perfect citrusy eau de cologne, pure, unadulterated happiness in a bottle. Fresh and permeable, more air than liquid, it makes you enjoy the new day and breathe deeper. The first citrus explosion lasts a little over half an hour, then the aroma melts on the skin with the tartness of white tea and the bodily warmth of natural amber. Absolutely vintage in its score, it sounds natural and modern, as if cologne as a genre was reinvented by today's downshifters, Luddites and fugitives from civilization somewhere in a bungalow near waterfalls in Bali. I gave myself a bottle for the New Year and I watch how its contents are rapidly decreasing.

Escale en Indonesia Les Indemodables, 2020

Tincture of gray ambergris 5%, Calabrian bergamot, Sicilian lemon, bitter orange, Australian sandalwood, Egyptian jasmine.

So far, the most difficult path from sample to bottle I have gone through is with Rose de Jamal. The fact that I have enough roses in my collection played a role here, and the fact that the best time for this fragrance is not our Moscow autumn with low skies and central heating, but spring. Rose de Jamal needs wind and sun, it needs an open neck and freshness of perception, and then it turns into a wound-healing ointment for the heart. It has traditional rose oil and pink Turkish delight with strawberry juice, there is light green geranium and minty chill. Rose with geranium melts in transparent sandalwood oil, but remains just as creamy and light. There is nothing grounding in it. Not a rose from a bush or in a bouquet, not a herbarium or a rose garden. Rose de Jamal is more like a traditional attar, or cream, or a truly magical potion to rub into the skin and fly. Beauty!

Rose de Jamal Les Indemodables, 2019,

Antoine Lie

Moroccan rose absolute 5.5%, cedar oil 2.8%, pink pepper Co2 from Madagascar 1.7%, lavender.

Oriental Velours also opened up not in the first year of acquaintance. From a fragrance with the word "oriental" in the name, you expect something spicy or amber, but the story of Les Indemodables is much more complicated. Apply to the skin, warm it up, and you will discover the smell of an autumn park, where green is already half and half red, and a mattress of fallen leaves springs under your feet. Bare branches draw a black line across the opal-gray sky. Red-headed aspen mushrooms stick out between old stumps, smelling of the underground kingdom and salt when freshly cut. In the Les Indémodables "GRANDS CRUS" fragrant palette, Oriental Velours are represented by myrrh and vetiver. Myrrh in a wax base smells very quietly. All the beauty of the magic resin with its viscous camphor tones, candied orange peel in honey, star anise and dried porcini mushrooms that have just been thrown into boiling water is much brighter in the aroma itself. From Haitian vetiver in Oriental Velours there is dark greenery and large black salt mixed with ash. In total, it is very beautiful and pleasantly strange.

Oriental Velours Les Indémodables, 2016

Florence Fouillet Dubois

Indian jasmine Grand Cru 5%, Madagascar vanilla Grand Cru 2.5%, Somali myrrh 15%, Haitian vetiver Grand Cru 10%, alpine spruce oil

Ambre Supreme Les Indemodables is pure sex. It smells like vintage Rue de La Paix Guerlain perfume has evaporated from kissed skin, leaving a light scent of jasmine and small garden carnations. Ambre Supreme has the freshness of morning cologne, the bitterness of herbs, a drop of scalding fresh honey and a ghostly sleepy corporeality under a heavy blanket. Keep in mind that this is not a spicy accord with vanilla absolute, called "amber", here is the hooliganism of perfumer Antoine Lie - a tincture of natural gray ambergris, a well-known aroma fixative since ancient times. In perfume, it smells transparent, animalic, slightly salty and seems to repeat the sound of flowers, like a reflection in a puddle repeats the blue of the sky. 

Ambre Supreme Les Indemodables, 2021

Antoine Li

Sage, aldehydes pink pepper, cardamom, patchouli, neroli, jasmine, ambergris, immortelle.

When I was told at the Rafinad store that Vanille Havane Les Indemodables is a bomb, I didn’t believe it, and I was wrong. This isn’t the vanilla everyone is used to, and I’m indifferent. This is a good single malt whiskey, aged in a Pedro Ximenez barrel. Strong alcohol, the aroma of which includes dried persimmon, greenish apricots with pits, thyme and plum in chocolate. There is zero sweetness. Ideal gourmand, sounding reckless and cheerful.

Vanille Havane Les Indemodables, 2020

Antoine Li

Vanilla from the Comoros Islands Grand Cru: 9.1%, cocoa extract Grand Cru: 3.1%, distillate of Egyptian jasmine Grand Cru: 0.2%

Cuir de Chine is the smoke break of the Faun. Ripe apricots with fluffy skin, drunken night jasmine, sly forest spirits with tobacco pouches and yellow-eyed goats. The mosaic of Cuir de Chine is composed of osmanthus, which disintegrates into delicate fruity, slightly soapy and leathery aspects, and sage with its astringent herbal and animalic spirit. Of the many osmanthus-themed fragrances released recently, Cuir de Chine is one of the most harmonious.

Cuir de Chine Les Indemodables, 2016

Florence Fouillet Dubois

Chinese osmanthus Grand Cru 10%, Egyptian jasmine absolute Grand Cru 1%, tobacco absolute 0.2%, alpine sage.

I already have all these beauties in bottles, I'm still thinking about the rest, and the next one is Iris Perle. This is undoubtedly a perfume for a light-faced angel who feeds exclusively on nectar and pollen. The intimate and gentle aroma of gray iris, the honeyed, tart, leathery spirit of mimosa absolute and the fruity sweetness of lush Indian jasmine

Iris Perle Les Indemodables, 2017

Antoine Li

Orris absolute grand cru 0.3%, mimosa absolute 0.25%, jasmine absolute 0.7%, ylang-ylang oil 0.7%, alpine sage.

Musc des Sables is a pure illusion, in which the tart, vibrant aroma of musk is created by slightly fermented patchouli, the sweetness of orris, labdanum and fatty, salty ambergris. The earthy and balsamic aroma fills all the imagination and all the available air space. It changes little over time and holds you by the throat as tightly as Musc Tonkin Parfum D’Empire. I like both, but I have enough of them in samples.

Musc des Sables Les Indemodables, 2019

Antoine Li

Green mandarin 4.9%, patchouli essence 1.1%, ambergris tincture 0.7%, orris absolute 0.7%

Chypre Azural is the very scent that stopped me in Milan in 2019 at the Les Indemodables stand. I could not imagine then that in our time it is possible to reproduce the structure of chypre with the same precision, with an emphasis on lively and juicy citrus, to extend this green beam from the light peaks into the mossy, swampy, miasma-filled darkness. Chypre Azural is like a skeleton in an anatomy class, you can study the structure of the chypre body, its vertebrae, elastic ligaments, metacarpal and metatarsal bones. You definitely need it if there is a lack of chypre in the body (I am ok).

Chypre Azural Les Indemodables, 2016

Florence Fouillet Dubois

Sicilian orange 10%, Indonesian patchouli Grand Cru 5%, amber 2%, centifolia rose Grand Cru 1%, alpine tarragon.

Fougere Emeroude is one of the strangest fougeres I have ever tried. The classic fougere structure with rotten hay, a lavender field in the morning mist, moss and a non-existent fern flower leading a tired traveler away from the path into the impenetrable thicket, is woven with poisonous tuberose. Powerful, with fruity, green and putrid shades. Tuberose is an insidious kikimora. A specific aroma and very much an acquired taste. I am not one.

Fougere Emeroude Les Indemodables, 2016

Florence Fouillet Dubois

Indian tuberose 15%, lavender Grand Cru 3%, mimosa Grand Cru 1%, tonka beans 3%, alpine sage.

I didn't have time to wear Escale en Haiti properly - the sample ran out. According to my memories, it's a light, slightly salty vetiver cologne without any distinct features. So far, nothing special has caught my attention, but maybe it just seemed dull against the background of its brighter brothers.

Escale en Haiti Les Indemodables, 2020

GRAND CRU VETIVER OIL 22%, pink pepper CO2, juniper, tonka beans, myrrh.

Where to buy? If you are in Europe, you can look at the addresses on the official website. I know for sure that they have it in Paris at Sens Unique.

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