Il Était Un Bois is the forest walk of L’Artisan Parfumeur, signed by Caroline Dumur in 2024 and placed in La Collection. Three materials carry the story: vetiver, buckwheat and cedar. The house promises an unexpected harmony between the faces of wood, and buckwheat brings what it calls a gourmand touch.
Clément Paradis, in Auparfum, hears a tale held with delicacy, between toasted buckwheat and the balmy sweetness of almond.
Olfastory’s review
Clément Paradis, Auparfum (2026)
The critic welcomes a title that does not reach for bombast, and walks into the wood: cedar, a distant sandalwood, and the vetiver that shows from the first seconds. In the thickets, he hears a cottage where something festive is being prepared.
He finds bursts of pepper there, the dry accord of toasted sesame or buckwheat carried by pyrazines, and balmy notes of tonka bean and almond, gourmand without being sticky. The powdery whole reminds him of Bois Farine, visited by a few traits of Timbuktu, and he sees in it a story that goes on being written with delicacy.