Monday 20 August 2018

ARMY OF LOVERS by LM Parfums

With summer beginning to fade into autumn it feels right to start reaching for slightly heavier scents, especially as the nights also start drawing in. Crisp and woody scents always usually lend themselves beautifully to the autumn season, but this year I found myself longing for something with more of a labdanum-charged sexiness as well. I’ve said many times before, “what’s old to one person is new to another,” and that is exactly how I felt when I was introduced to Army Of Lovers from LM Parfums. Originally launched in 2014, Army Of Lovers is a provocatively dangerous scent that simply cannot be ignored.

LM Parfums was founded by Laurent Mazzone in 2010 and combined his love of fashion, music and fragrance. He was born in the foothills of the French Alps and from a young age was fascinated by scent, although he never imagined that it would become his profession many years later. A career as a DJ brought him into contact with the fashion industry and in 1998 he launched his first clothes shop in Grenoble, with a focus on the unusual and creative. Two years later Laurent decided to open a store dedicated to niche fragrances, and the seed was sown to create his own line.

It would take until 2011 for LM Parfums to arrive on the market but, in this time, his first collection was refined and polished until Laurent was satisfied that it offered the emotional and challenging aspects that he was striving for. The addition of Army Of Lovers to the collection in 2014 saw him drawn back to his music roots as he used the Swedish band of the same name as the inspiration. Laurent described it as an “olfactory tribute” but, whether you are familiar with the band or not, the fragrance can definitely be described as sexy, sultry and provocative.

Army Of Lovers doesn’t open with the traditional citrus brightness but instead offers up a richly spiced rose. The rose is weighty and heavy but it’s given sharpness by the addition of coriander. This all sits alongside a violet note, which lends an animalic quality to the floral and definitely gets you ready for what is to follow. The development of Army Of Lovers then starts to take on a distinctly sexual quality at this point with the amber note pushing front and centre. It is a beautifully realised accord and it has a potency that is impossible to resist.

Although they’re not listed, but are probably part of the amber accord, notes of labdanum and civet seem to bloom through the scent to give a sultry resinous quality that puts me in mind of Guerlain’s Oriental Brûlant. This is all added to by an earthy patchouli and creamy sandalwood but, just when you think it can’t go any further, the appearance of the oakmoss just finished me off. It is an undeniably sexy perfume and is perfect for anyone who wants to turn a few heads.

Army Of Lovers is available from the company’s website at www.lmparfums.fr priced at 250€ for 100ml of Extrait de Parfum. [Sample provided by Aspects Beauty]

No comments:

Post a Comment