La Douleur Exquise

"It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all? Who among us has not experienced the pain of loss mixed with the memory of love, transforming into the paradox of sweet torment?

Les Abstraits La Douleur Exquise (The Exquisite Pain) explores this theme in perfume, placing at its heart a singular rose, the icon of love. Representing love lost, the rose melts like red beeswax into beautifully doleful, bodily, and meditative tributaries of cumin, incense, myrrh, and patchouli.

At once spicy, earthy, dry and fleshy, La Douleur Exquise never abandons the iconic flower of romance and love. Instead, it keeps a fresh, plump rose petal in front of your nose to remind you, like a sunrise after darkest night, that all is not lost. It can always be time to begin — and perhaps learn to love — again." - a note from the brand.

Perfumes from Les Abstraits utilize ingredients from the Key Grand Cru natural ingredients palette from L'Atelier Français de Matières, including the following: The Patchouli comes from a specific terroir in Aceh, North Sumatra, and is distilled in modern, stainless steel equipment. The patchoulol content is 38%, resulting in an olfactive profile that is much cleaner and deeper, without any traces of a dirty or burnt undertones that one may smell in lower grade oils. The rose accord is composed of several rose oils and extracts of Bulgarian and Turkish origin. Sourced directly from the producers, they have mastered both the agricultural and extraction techniques necessary to  guarantee the best ingredient quality. The dark side of La Douleur Exquise comes from an amber accord composed of cistus oil and labdanum extracts—both sourced from Spanish Andalucia. Together with natural castoreum and oppoponax resinoid, it provides the perfume’s gorgeously subtle animalic and smoky facets.

Les Abstraits is a perfume line created by Eugen (U Smells Good). He created a YouTube channel for discussion of the fine art of perfume in 2015 and decided to extend his vision into fragrance. "High quality, complex, inspired…Les Abstraits is a reflection on life, love and self discovery through the art of perfume," says the brand.