Armand Basi
Armand Basi
140 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Peppermint snaps across your skin with an almost aggressive freshness, immediately numbing your olfactory receptors with that ice accord, whilst a whisper of leafy green moss emerges underneath. The sensation is startlingly cool, verging on minty toothpaste territory—bright, crisp, and utterly devoid of sweetness.
The peppermint intensity subsides into a softer focus as alpine lichen and that strange "noxiousness" become more prominent, revealing a herbal, slightly soapy character. The woody elements—fir needle and cedarwood—begin anchoring the composition, creating a green-grey atmospheric quality reminiscent of forest undergrowth and damp stone.
The fragrance contracts significantly here, becoming a whisper-close woody amber of cedarwood and eucalyptus with just enough mustiness to prevent flatness. Unfortunately, this phase arrives disappointingly quickly and with minimal projection, the composition becoming increasingly skin-intimate within just a few hours.
In Red Armand Basi is a peculiar creature—a fragrance that wears its contradiction like a badge. Launched in 2009 by perfumer Pierre-Constantin Guéros, it presents itself as a green woody rather than the red floral its name might suggest, pivoting instead toward something closer to a forested alpine landscape interpreted through a minty, almost medicinal lens.
The opening salvo is peppermint and ice, sharp and slightly numbing, which immediately tempers any warmth you might anticipate. This cooling sensation persists throughout the composition, layering atop rock moss and alpine lichen—notes that conjure the damp, earthy smell of high-altitude stone faces after rainfall. There's something faintly brackish here, slightly mineral, almost petrichor-adjacent, though Guéros's inclusion of "noxiousness" as a listed heart note suggests an intentional skewing toward the slightly green, slightly sour.
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4.0/5 (76)