Passion Boisee by Frapin

I guess I have come to expect incendiary fragrances from Frapin. It's true I've only sampled a few, but they don't have many releases to begin with.

I ordered a sample awhile ago after perusing the accords. A sucker for woodies, I'm always interested in one that I haven't tried and especially if it's from a house I hold in regard.

Passion Boisee opens with a slightly alcoholic and indistinct citrus. At the same time, there's a rubber aroma coming into play from the leather note. It's not an off putting latex smell, but I notice it and am glad when, after a few minutes, it morphs into a conventional leather note.

Tangerine? Well, I happen to love the smell of tangerine more than any other citrus. I enjoy the aroma of all citrus, but tangerine has that special something. The listed tangerine in Passion Boisee is ( to me ) a very generic rendition and difficult to even identify as such. There's a citric accord at work here for sure and I'm more comfortable naming it mysterine. With that said, it still smells okay. Just don't expect a palpable and juicy orange derivative.

The fragrance, as a whole, is surprisingly on the mild side. Spices of nutmeg and  clove with rum had me expecting something else entirely. Their volume and contribution is much too passive for my taste. The same can be said for the moss and patchouli.

Passion Boisee has underwhelmed me considerably. Its totality is the opening blast of mildly alcoholic citrus with the latex. The leather transforms quickly, yet is pushed to the side by the oncoming cedar note. Within 10 minutes, the wearer is left with a pleasant cedar fragrance that is uninspiring and sadly lacking originality.

Passion Boisee smells nice, but I can only muster a half hearted neutral rating for this. Half a thumbs up from Aromi.