Le Feu d'Issey

This is such an incredible scent. As per many other reviews, it was challenging, complex, powerful and sultry. This was one of the first female perfumes I bought and I loved wearing this. It’s another one of those scents that takes me back to London nightlife; darkened bars and clubs loved the way this pulsed and projected. One of the most animalic scents I’ve worn. Managed to cling onto body lotion long after the perfume had been used up, which was a strange oily concoction, but suitably powerful. Such a contrast to other IM male offerings which I’d worn through the 90s.

Summer 1998 I started dating with this beautiful woman. I was 23, she 34. Dating became something more, and for her birthday, final November, I gifted her with this fragrance... Oh my! While I'm writing I can smell it, it was so sensual, so sexy, so warm. As it often happens, after many years our relationship finished and we took different paths. But still nice memories, so grateful for living those moments.

this perfume is rather difficult to review. it was a complicated and difficult perfume. whereas I had a simple, almost primitive taste, that it had to be Superheady, Supernarcotic, Superwhorey flowerperfumes with societally compromising sillages (i.e. 'the 1980s Hooker Perfumes'), this one, in its unexpected duality with L'Eau D'Issey (which I loathed but luckily had a Sister in Law who loved it and for her I bought the actual Perfume, which had much more depth), I found such striking (advertorial) genius (which L'Eau D'Issey of course already was with 'Odyssey'), I HAD TO TRY IT. and in its unconformity, its unruliness, I found it a fabulous perfume. but did I ? now looking at the Notes I have a same Amazement (which I simply NEVER have, about nothing) as with Bvlgari Black also from 1998. because I remember the perfume had an inner Fire. some scathing qualities. and er ... with Milk ?! perhaps indeed the Coriander ('Leaf'), the Mahogany, the Anise, the Milk just for the hell of it, the Caramel (a Note which I despise), and the Guaiac and Cedar Woods lend this perfume some austerity. at least I could smell the FIRE. it has to be a magisterial, wonderful perfume just for the right clientèle. and there are Loyal Adepts !

Yup it's that special. More to to follow once I develop the language to express it... -- My impetus to buy this is my obsession with sichuan pepper as a note. Very complex opening given the diverse note profile - but I am of the party that smells an intricate well woven work of art rather than the kitchen sink. Smoldering spicy milky embers, a rosy center and then a lovely caramel dry down. Truly singular

An absolute masterpiece! Unique, warm, sharp. Very herbal and close to skin. The closest dupe is Etra Etro but it's like 4/10.

This one is the time machine for me. I can remember a fond day where I first discovered and bought this. 9th of May 1998, on a day trip to France from the UK. Cloudy, overcast day, JPG Le male adverts seemed to be in your peripheral eye wherever you went. After a day's adventure and on the ferry back to Dover I had a spare few french francs, I was a young lad and had never bought a perfume before, purchasing Le male seemed like a fitting tribute to end the day. Then I stumbled upon the spicy zinger of a rocket of le feu. Extremely heady warm and unique, love at first spray. And immediate uplift. It became a tradition that I would make le feu my regular duty free purchase. Was absolutely gutted when they took this out of production. When I need an uplift I still have half a bottle left which I use. It's like eating a chilli and then drinking milk to cool you down.

Le Feu d'Issey is so outside the realm of the ordinary that it somehow tickles the cerebral, sublime, and absurd all at once. It's beauty is in its very peculiarity—a confluence of what may otherwise be disparate elements that enchant the right nose and offends the wrong nose. I most definitely have the right nose, and this titillates much the same way as jazz with odd time signatures or cryptic film noir, never leveling into a completely legible prose of a scent. One reviewer even lambasted that it is "discordantly busy." I, on the contrary, find this alleged tumult to be pure poetry. It isn't even identifiably 90s, or any decade, for that matter really. Beginning with sharp orange-zest and coriander-inflected rose, plus a vague herbal finish. This is followed by an oddly dry and medicinal element, unlike anything else I've encountered—leaving me transfixed. What then transpires is what I can only describe butterscotch-flavored sandalwood and cedar seasoned with pepper and toasted coconut. A distant, tart, overripe floral bouquet levitates above the creamy, salted-egg cereal-milk woodiness as the overall piquancy subsides. What remains is a comforting as a steam bath, a soft and musky guaiac brew, slightly sweet, slightly savory. Echoes of its strange effervescence are still evident as a skin scent, while the last trace left behind is like unlit vanilla incense. Something so experimental was just destined to fail commercially, but I would argue that this leftfield genius from Cavallier may have well served as a blueprint for what become niche of the 21st century. In the works of perfumers ranging from Duchaufour to Rasquinet I discern those moments of deliberate dissonance leading to resolve, intentional combining of disparate elements to yield the shock of the new. It presaged an age of perfume that was no longer the traditional opaque and classically ordered but rather the exploratory and editorial. Unfortunately, Feu has become Unobtainium, and it was nothing short of a miracle that I found my bottle for sale at a rare price. It is a true blessing to have this as part of the library.

I remember receiving this as a gift for my 15th birthday and it smelled so weird. Unlike any perfume i had ever smelled at the time (late 90s). I struggled to wear it. Not sure if i did finally wear it all until it was all gone or if i threw it out. I’m pretty sure i wore it as I’m not one to throw things out like that. But i remember it smelling sweet in a milky kind of was and kind of spicy. Just an unusual scent. A little bit cloying.

I've only recently got to smell this perfume thanks to my mom still having this perfume in her collection! I'm very grateful for this opportunity to smell it. My mom has written a review on this fragrance before, so I thought I'd write my own. On me, it smells alot like milk, coriander and rose (like a lot of the reviews say, but it's true!). It's not a fragrance to wear at work, but it smells nice! It's not my favorite though, considering I'm more into vanilla fragrances. Although, I can say that for this specific perfume, this has the perfect amount of vanilla in it to not ruin the scent of the other notes. The bottle looks a bit different in person. It has a feature where you place it down and a cylinder around it shoots up and protects the spray-part of the bottle! It's a cool little detail that I thought I'd mention. This perfume gets an 8/10 for me!! Not my absolute favorite, but it smells nice!

Writing this only to let Le Feu fans know, that Fleur de Sable by Les Liquides Imaginaires has the same dna with good longevity. So happy I found it.

I am windering If i might have gone crazy, so please help me out everyone? My Le Feu mini I just received reminds me of Cerruti 1881 Eau D'ete the blue bottle. Came around 2004, 2005. I still have it and i can compare. Either someone swapped thr fragrance in the Le Feu mini with the blue Cerruti or my mind and nose are having a connection error?! The pepper, bith smell like pepper. With Le feu starting off very weird, like it is supposed to, and then turns peppery rosy, and the other one starting citrussy.

I spent more than I should have to acquire a small sample of this fragrance (and I am so glad that I did). It is such a strange mix of spicy and fruity, peppery and creamy and woody. It is not a scent to wear to the office, but it is a magnificent beauty. As I wear this, it seems that I sense one and then another of the notes, getting a whiff of sharp pepper, then slightly overripe fruits or an odd mix of woods and lactonic sweetness. It is such a shame that this is so rare now.

Wrote a review of this about a year ago, but it was of the body lotion and not the actual fragrance, and that left doubts in my mind - so I wanted to revisit now that I got my hands on the actual fragrance. Sealed and new in box and all that. Cold milk and overripe peaches, wilting, sticky, dewy garden roses. A bit sour. Confrontational even for today's standards, and reminds me a bit of how drunk people smell, honestly. Or a diabetic's breath. It's a little much if you're seeking this for milky pepper and not sweet rose jam and ripe fruit. After 15 minutes it becomes more agreeable, the bergamot comes into play more, the syrupy caramel and vanilla and dry woods and jasmine makes it a lot more harmonious. It's almost a gourmand. This is basically how I felt about the lotion, but the fragrance definitely has more of the fermenting fruit opening to it. It's not unpleasant, but I'm not a fan, especially on an empty stomach. The light version smells, ironically, like lotion. Pleasant, cheap rose sandalwood lotion. Like something you'd get from Bath and Body Works. I wish this challenging, unusual fragrance was a good fit, as I like many a quirky, complex scent, but unfortunately, it's just not really "me". I'm not a rose lover, and this is for the real rose lovers. So I'm going to have to sell it. But I'm glad I got to experience it as intended, or as close as I could get for it being 20+ years old.

Loved it with all my heart! I still have the bottle and can enjoy its scent. Too bad it's discontinued.

This was my first ”grown up” scent. It’s a kinda strange story how I got it, but it was love at first sniff and was my “go to” fragrance for more than 5yrs. My dad could be a difficult person, any and all scented products had to be okayed by him before being used at home. I can’t remember what year, but I had started high school so early-mid 00s. He had accompanied me and my mom to the mall and went along with us into the cosmetics store. Me and my mom went and looked at whatever it was we needed and my dad wandered off, only to reappear when we stood at the cash register. Smiling from ear to ear he held that iconic minimalist, square, white box and said “Here! This is the perfume for you darling!”. I was really surprised to say the least and had no idea what it smelled like, but I knew my dad had good taste and who says no to a gift like that? It was truly the surprise that kept on giving. First off, I mean come on that bottle?! The ingenious design and rich ruby red color. The most precious bouncy ball ever made one could argue. The gentle but rich fresh smell finishing with that sudden pinch of pepper which in my opinion gave it a presence I’ve seldom smelled since. I can’t imagine the fragrance without that pepper note, the picture wouldn’t be complete. The pepper wasn’t harsh or overpowering, it was almost just a snappy reminder of the truly amazing bouquet of scents that made up Le Feu. For me, this was truly a fragrance for any occasion and suited any season. I wore this to school, I wore this out to nightclubs, to work, dates - you name it.. It was more a question of how much of it you wore and if you layered it with anything else. This scent is so hard to describe. It feels like a well kept secret. Easily described as “if you know, you know”. I would never have had the pleasure of wearing and loving Le Feu if it hadn’t been for my kooky dad and I’m so grateful for it. All of this reminiscing makes me want to rifle through the boxes in the back of my closet and pray that I still have the bottle.

As a fan of Sichuan cuisine, I immediately recognized the Sichuan pepper note in the dry-down. It's a bold and distinctive choice to feature it as a dominant element, adding a very unique character to the fragrance.

Questo odore era innovativo nel 98 quando è stato lanciato. Poi è stato copiato e riproposto in altri mille modi. Come profumo era agrumato inizialmente,poi si scaldava con una nota piccante di peperoncino,sfumata di muschio fresco e alrei odori lattiginosi. Molto simpatico e versatile,spensierato, non impegnativo e giovanile.

Le feu the majestic. Already received a compliment, as usual. It is so imaginative and pretty, it does not let me be bored with it. It is good for autumn as it warms up the atmosphere around me. Milky, aromatic, woody. I cannot believe the brand cut off something so iconic. People needed to grow into it, surely no one wrote it off after tests. One of the best scents in the history of mankind. Many niche scents are trying to imitate it.

L feu dissey is super rare. I've had this bottle since 2002 when I was at uni. Can't believe I used to just spritz this before going out to Smokey rock clubs back in the day when you could smoke in clubs.! Thankfully I've still got loads left in the bottle and was always careful not to use to much. It sits in a cupboard on a display cabinet in the dark away from light with my other premium perfumes. I'm a total perfume addict. Got my cheapos for daily useages like Ted baker and mid range , perfumes still in cellophane, multiples of mynfav Tommy girl and the the super expensive bottles. #perfumeaddict. I need to move house to house as the bottles🤭

Me again!! Received my dupe by éclat and unfortunately, I'm extremely disappointed 😞. Its weak like water and is gone on my skin within 15 minutes. I'm not sure if I have received a bad batch,? As others have posted how great their formulation is... GUTTED... Ohhh well 🤷🏻♀️ the search for the le feu continues.... If anyone knows of any other dupes. Please message me.

@neptune88 - I am another happy customer who just got her Eclat No 052! It’s very, very good, and so affordable! Thank you for your recommendation!!!

More than anything, it's fun. And I value fun a great deal.

Man_d..... brilliant, I shall buy it! Thankyou. 🫠

@Neptune88 if I could I would buy you a drink for sharing that - Le Feu is my lost love! @Missym75 I got the Eclat dupe and it's really, really good!

Neptun88 thankyou!!!!😘

Éclat now do a dupe (no 52)

It opens with the fresh scent of Cilantro (coriander seed), the tingle of Aldehydes (Coriander (Leaf)), and the coolness of Sichuan pepper, and the body turns to Rose and Anise. The underlying Sandalwood smells chemical. Overall, it comes with the Guaiac wood. It's a cacophony of different scents, but it's also balanced. I don't know what's so great about it, it is, and it was really an experiment.

[950] Le Feu d'Issey is one of the few perfumes that can truly be described as unique. A much-lauded, now difficult-to-find avant-garde scent from a pioneering fashion house, it is unlike anything I have smelled before. I have long wanted to smell LFI thanks to Luca Turin's glowing review, and found an unopened sample on eBay recently. LFI can best be summed-up as a loud, kitchen-sink-y woody floriental, but this simplistic description does it a disservice. It is a huge, baroque artwork that somehow achieves cohesion, and curiously is also in keeping with Jacques Cavallier's bold style. I didn't like it immediately - it is a polarising, challenging scent, of its era yet utterly futuristic. In fact, I don't think I'd wear LFI, but it is undeniably excellent. There is a lot going on here. LFI opens with dark woody notes complemented by peppery spice. The coriander is very prominent - a polarising note, but one I quite like. It also works really well here. Some syrupy white florals bolstered by lactonic coconut follow, paving the way to the milky rose at the heart of this scent. I completely understand Luca Turin's Vitamin B tablet comment - at one point during the opening, the resemblance is uncanny. It becomes very lactonic as it develops, but not in a distasteful way. The other notes temper the milky whiteness, and it serves to add a creamy smoothness to the intense woody notes. There is a gourmand edge here thanks to the milk note and sweetness that follows. The caramel seamlessly segues to the sweet amber base. The rich, resinous amber base comes to the fore as it dries down. It remains sweet and lactonic here, and feels strangely buttery. It is balanced beautifully by the rich woody notes that persist throughout. It fades to a dry, resinous woody-amber skin scent. Sillage is strong and longevity is long-lasting. It is a feminine-leaning autumn/winter scent. I can't get over the cohesion of this composition despite its complexity. The plethora of seemingly discordant notes is rendered somehow smooth and seamless. It doesn't matter that this is a difficult scent to wear - LFI is olfactory art. The yin to the sheer, minimal yang of L'Eau d'Issey. To quote one of my favourite old TV shows, it is both wonderful and strange. 5/5.

فرار از آتش با گل رز ، منظور از آتش نام عطر هست . این یک عطر با حال و هوای مذهبی با توجه به نقاشی های زیر نیست. Escape from the fire (hell) with roses. This is not a religious fragrance. ________________________________________ SALVADOR DALI : THE DIVINE COMEDY ...... I . THE BLACK DEVIL (INFERNO: CANTO 21) II . THE DREAM (PURGATORY: CANTO 9) III . EARTHLY PARADISE (PURGATORY: CANTO 32) III . DANTE'S ECSTASY (PARADISE: CANTO 15) III . THE CREATION OF ANGELS (PARADISE: CANTO 29)

A unique existence located at the junction of the three major fields of gourmet, oriental and wooden. It is the crystallization of exquisite perfumery skills and excellent concepts. And it is also one of the very few extraordinary works that are difficult to trace the family relationship and inheritance system. In my olfactory memory, if I want to find a relatively close relationship, the only "similar" for comparison are Etro Shaal Nur and Caron Parfum Sacre. Caron Parfum Sacre is not very similar, and By Kilian Sacred Wood is just a fragment or a moment of Le Feu d’Issey. Therefore, it must be admitted that Le Feu d’Issey has no precedent. Le Feu d'Issey contains various types of elements, and the perfumer perfectly blends and balances them, making Le Feu d'Issey a harmonious whole, extremely sophisticated, without obvious hierarchical tonal boundaries. This is a mass of fire, an eternal fire that embraces all things in the world and has life. It's not scorching hot. Unusually calm and comfortable. When the flower-shaped flame blooms, the coriander is slightly pungent, and the fragrance of fennel and spices needs to be used as a gap to enter, reaching the core, and the hot feeling hits. The sweet and warm white guaiac wood is moistened by lactose-free milk, and the faint floral fragrance is hidden under the fatty film. Slowly, the sandalwood swells like bread, as if baked by the sun, and then becomes more fluffy and soft. After the musk-vanilla undertones are exposed, without becoming sticky, Le Feu d’Issey gradually turns from dry to silky and light. It's a pity that the top Le Feu d'Issey was sold for two years and then discontinued, and it was unknown. After Le Feu d'Issey disappeared, there was a derivative Le Feu D'Issey Light, and Iseey Miyake failed to replicate the success of L'eau d'Issey after all. High and low, because Le Feu d'Issey is too advanced, it is difficult for the public to understand. A flash in the pan makes me extremely sad.