Contre Moi is one of the seven eaux de parfum that marked Louis Vuitton’s return to perfumery in 2016. Jacques Cavallier Belletrud, the house’s master perfumer, pays tribute to vanilla here: Madagascar vanilla and Tahitensis vanilla, lightened with orange blossom, rose and magnolia and lifted by a touch of bitter cocoa. The house sees in it the fusion of two travelers.
Kafkaesque finds Contre Moi pleasant but commonplace: a sweet, discreet floral vanilla close to mass-market gourmands, without the quality its price promises.
Olfastory’s review
Kafkaesque, September 2016
On September 20, 2016, Kafkaesque devoted a review to three fragrances from the collection, including Contre Moi. The house’s description had made the blogger eager to try it; the fragrance opens on a vanilla edged with rose petals, the orange blossom held back.
After twenty minutes a clean, sugary white musk arrives, and the fragrance already seems familiar many times over. Kafkaesque likens it to Dominique Ropion’s candied floral vanillas, Flowerbomb and La Vie est Belle, with a little Prada Candy.
The fragrance stays very soft and discreet, strong up close during the first hour only. It changes little: after two hours the vanilla turns to cotton candy under a layer of clean musk, which Kafkaesque calls horrible.
The drydown, after the third hour, seems better balanced, with a creamy touch reminiscent of magnolia. Contre Moi becomes a skin scent after three hours and fades after a little more than six hours.
For Kafkaesque, it lacks the quality of a luxury fragrance and recycles familiar formulas sold more cheaply elsewhere. Replying to a reader, the blog nonetheless predicts it will rank among the line’s best sellers, so strong is the appeal of vanilla.