Bois Laqué is a 30% extrait de parfum from the Grasse house Marie Jeanne, ambery and liqueur-like, with a fleeting gleam of varnish. It is built the way lacquer is, in layers of varnish, patina, shine, and the relief that time leaves behind. Elemi and Madagascar black pepper open it, bright and resinous, before Grasse centifolia rose brings precision to a heart of patchouli, rum and a thread of saffron. Styrax, labdanum and Peru balsam make up a dense, warm base, and a leather accord carries it a long way. Marie Jeanne imagines it in a dim salon of dark wood paneling and deep velvet, where a little light catches the varnish. It does equally well on a coat collar in November.
WHY IT’S SPECIAL
Marie Jeanne’s founder grew up in the family behind Robertet, one of the great suppliers of natural raw materials in Grasse, so the house tends to name where its materials come from: rose from France, patchouli from Indonesia, styrax from Turkey, labdanum from Spain. At 30%, Bois Laqué is dense and long-lasting, with a sillage the house itself calls powerful. It comes in a green lacquered wooden case that was designed to have a life after the bottle is empty, which is the kind of packaging decision we tend to fall for.
NOTES
Top: Bois Laqué accord, black pepper (Madagascar), elemi, rum
Heart: centifolia rose (France), patchouli (Indonesia), saffron
Base: styrax (Turkey), labdanum (Spain), leather accord
DETAILS
Extrait de parfum, 30% concentration
100 ml / 3.4 fl oz
Olfactive family: woody, ambery, boozy
Sillage: powerful, with generous diffusion
Presented in a green lacquered wooden case
Made in Grasse, France
INGREDIENTS
Alcohol Denat., Parfum (Fragrance), Tetramethyl Acetyloctahydronaphthalenes, Pogostemon Cablin Oil, Rose Flower Oil/Extract, Isoeugenyl Acetate, Pinene, Juniperus Virginiana Oil, Limonene, Beta-Caryophyllene, Myroxylon Pereirae Oil/Extract, Benzyl Benzoate, Benzyl Cinnamate, Eugenol, Citronellol, Cinnamyl Alcohol, Terpineol, Rose Ketones, Tocopherol, Geraniol, Isoeugenol, Benzyl Alcohol, Linalool, Terpinolene, Alpha-Terpinene, Farnesol, Citral, Vanillin, Geranyl Acetate, Benzaldehyde, Camphor, Carvone, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate.
THE BRAND
Georges Maubert was born in Grasse and founded Marie Jeanne there in 2014. He belongs to the fifth generation of the family behind Robertet, which has worked in perfumery since 1850 as farmers, chemists, perfumers and sourcers. He composes with perfumers such as Sidonie Lancesseur, Alexis Dadier, Karine Vinchon, Serge de Oliveira and Michel Almairac. His approach is to simplify the formula until the raw material is what you smell, and the house traces those materials from planting to harvest. The green glass bottles are made in France, a nod to old laboratory flasks that protected their contents from light, and the boxes are wood, with no plastic.
