Mauvais Garçon
Brécourt (2011)

Vanilla gourmand that has been done many times before. In the reins of Michael Jordan Legend and Rochas Man.

a totally boring woody amber

In the same league as scents a la Lolita Lempicka au Masculine, Gaultier Le Male, Rochas Man, Armand Basi for Men, the old (and far better appointed) Lancetti IL, Acqua di Biella Ca' Luna etc.. etc.. this decent cinnamonic intoxicating Brecourt's scent is a well orchestrated sugary accord of talky notes, piquant cinnamon, fresh earthy/herbal notes, balsams and smooth ambroxan. There is by soon a woody (kind of pencil shavings, vaguely a la Montana Graphite) cedarwood's presence joining fresh lavender and talky-dusty cinnamon up in the top intoxicating tornado. You can get by soon under nose cool lavender, humid earthiness, stormy cinnamon joined by something kind of balmy and seasoned (a sort of tobacco's molecular vibe a la Remy Latour's Cigar). Tonka bean (connected to powdery woods) elicits a softly talky powder supported by bold patchouli and lingering grassiness. Mauvais Garcon is captivating, dynamic and masculine. The synthetic perception is quite under the alert threshold, the aroma is pungent, simil-organic and virile. Anyway, unlike several similar scents of the same genre finally morphing in to a bombastic vanillic muskiness, this fragrance is basically woody/amberish and piquant (vaguely a la Baldessarini Ambre' but in a less sweet and more properly woody way) as mastered by this stout connection of tonka, probably pink pepper, synthetic amber, barely adumbrated vanilla and cinnamon. One of the best in its genre but not exactly my cup of tea.

Mauvais Garcon is a huge let down for me. Right from the start it reminds me so much of Rochas Man. I can't stop thinking how dated and cheap MG smells although not as bad as Rochas Man. To be fair to Bouge, MG is far from horrible as the ingredients are of high quality and the sweet, herbaceous, floral, resinous, woody ... sweet, and seamless composition would not disappoint lovers of this kind of perfumes. The longevity and silage are great. Unfortunately, this is not niche, groundbreaking or even a bit interesting as an olfactory creation. MG is boringly linear and I can only like it on my skin after 4-6 hours when it just gets softer and the overall sweetness fades away. But by that time I have grown very tired of MG.

Mauvais Garçon (nothing “mauvais” in here really) is a warm-spicy scent with a “barbershop” floral heart (lavender and other floral notes I personally don't detect clearly), a head accord of bergamot, something minty-green, something balsamic, spices (the pyramid is trustworthy – I get tonka, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg), cedar and sandalwood on the base. The evolution is close to zero, it all goes lighter and softer. Honestly it smells much mainstream to me, in the negative sense: it reminds me of several cheaper scents, and I don't get anything in here which shall be a “niche” feature (no particular high quality/creativity, and so on). Among others it reminds me of a couple of Cacharel's, from Pour Homme to Nemo – just more floral, more herbal, incomparably less fascinating and less rich. Just a spicy-woody resinous floral scent without praise or blame... which I wouldn't consider “bad” at all, rather just “nicely” mediocre.

5,5-6/10

This is an excellent masculine smokey vanilla scent with some woody notes around the edges. The top opens with a bit of foodie yummisness, but in moments the vanilla starts to come through and continues for the lifetime of the scent. By the base, it has a full vanilla scent grounded by the woody notes which is a real joy to smell. It lasts 6+ hours on me. Sillage seems pretty good; I can't smell it across a room, but I don't need to bury my nose into my skin either, it hovers pretty nicely away.

This is definitely on my list of frags to own for casual or evening use.

Edited to stress that this is a smokey vanilla and can be coy sometimes. Sometimes the smokiness dominates, sometimes the vanilla is more up front on my skin.