To the point of good ingredients, Bon Monsieur produces a trance-like state with its use of lavender absolute and oakmoss. Its immediate feeling is familiarity, with a confidence that derives from this sensation. Everything here is clear and evident, in an equilibrium where the scent’s herbal notes blur into its spicy ones. Bon Monsieur is a richly nuanced lavender fougere, with a pronounced camphoraceous overtone that blankets a floral and green medley of bergamot, rose geranium, carnation, and lily of the valley - all on a woody, mossy, musky base. The complete work is gutsy albeit refined, sumptuous and confident. It is true to its simple, unfussy name – and effortlessly proves its eternal style.
Fougere L’Aube continues this theme and works it with an aquatic inflection, very much of the sort popularised by Cool Water (Davidoff, 1988) and Green Irish Tweed (Creed, 1985). It is unashamedly spicy, which adds momentum to this fragrance, its watery qualities redolent of dewdrops and torrents alike. This is a collage of aromatic materials, natural with a central accord of lavender-rose-sandalwood, and then exaggerated with modern aromachemicals for an almost melodramatic sense of sizzling freshness. It is grounded and pure, and Fougere L’Aube shines beautifully.
Tabac Vert operates on a similar spiciness without the wateriness, instead drawing its strength from spicy florals and the driest wood and tobacco notes. It is at once restrained yet ornamental, its skeleton a chypre made up of cedarwood and vetiver. It insists upon an enduring and uncompromisable freshness through and through, which is sharp and unapologetically herbal. This is thanks to carnation - a floral note which is unmistakably warm yet delicate, with prominent pepper and clove nuances. This naturally pairs with tobacco materials, with all of its green, floral, crinkly-dry and vegetal complexities, resting on an ambery and coumarinic base.
Targhee Forest is the morning sun warming tall pine trees, as their resinous, sweet, and musk-like fragrance fills the air. Compositionally, it is a botanical concentrate – a heavenly assemblage of wild mountain and forest ingredients mixed with air and aether. It is the scent of berries, foliage, pine needles, shrubs, moss, and woods, worked into a familiar chypric structure of patchouli, amber, and musk. Cross sees this natural wonder through the lens of traditional French perfumery, like walking this forest in classic evening wear.
Mousse Illuminee presents another forest more aligned with fantasy, as it draws a hypnotic image of green conifers, grey lichen, and dark engulfing shadows. The scent is cloaked in a veil of silvery light and black shadow. This becomes a play much like the experience of dusk deep in the forest, where light filters through a canopy of aromatic pine trees and wild grasses and flowers. It is dry, spicy, and resinous and enchantingly radiant with a shimmering sillage, its haunting feeling furthered with the pure and cool touch of frankincense.
Parallel with this is L'Homme M.LaCroix, a bona fide leather fragrance impressively made from all natural materials. It offers an addictively dry sensation, sapped with cedar, orris, and vetiver, working against the phenolic impact of birch tar. L’Homme is a cohesive whole of citrus notes bridged with the surprising power and versatility of orange blossom. The combined effect is ashy and dusty, faithfully rending a vintage idea of leather.
