Peau d'Ailleurs Starck for women and men

My partner said today that I smell like a terrarium. I'm wearing Peau d'Ailleurs. He's quite spot on.

Won't go on at length (brace yourselves... Almost certain to), but I have waited an age to review this, because...

Well. It's very unusual. Putting it on is a real event - totally linear, just one 12-hour event. There's a highly durable, big-projecting metallic-organic-mineralic straight line through this scent that is difficult to characterise. Metallic-organic-mineralic sounds contradictory, right? BS over-written perfume speak?

Those would be fair comments, except...this is simply a very strange, unnatural beast. And it's a real perfumista's perfume - as pretentious and artificial as the very worst fraghead prose (I'm looking at you, c******* and a*******). But it's authored by Menardo, FFS, and she was clearly given carte blanche. There's no way a 3 hour marketing meeting could come up with this. This has "Authorship" written all over it.

Even a reviewer I admire as much as Womanmoomin below me struggles to say anything definitive about this perfume.

I'll end by saying that if you're the sort of person who genuinely reads genuine perfume reviews, this perfume is created specifically with your sensibilities in mind. You might not like it, but you'll admire it - and it's dirt cheap.

I love it, which makes me feel very superior and smug indeed...

A real one-off.

TL;DR: Probably smells like freshly washed laundry being hung out to dry after a light shower in a Greek mountain village on a cool, breezy day in summer or autumn, when the figs are ripe.

***
Given the many unflattering descriptions of the experience of wearing it, I'm surprised how pleasant and unchallenging I find this fragrance. The earthy aspect is there, but to me it's only really prominent in the first moment or two, while the fragrance settles. After that, the earth is still there but only as a component in a balanced, restrained, gently ambient, skin-hugging mix that does not immediately remind me of mouldy potatoes or any of those other strange things that many a perplexed wearer has perceived and disliked in it.

I'm not sure I perceive much ozone or freshly washed laundry in the rest of what I smell here, although I can see how others might read it that way. It does have a certain cool freshness and possibly even an airiness pointing in that direction. What I do smell, especially early on, is a kind of subtly fruity but also somehow thick, maybe creamy/fatty/oily scent. It reminds me of something that I've smelt in other fragrances but that doesn't seem to boil down to any note or accord that I often see listed. In the past it has reminded me of the rind of a melon or an indeterminate tropical fruit, but here it reminds me of a very gentle peach or nectarine scent (to the extent that, given the earthiness that also marks the opening, one mental image that I see is that of a juicy, perhaps overripe peach or nectarine lightly rolled in damp dirt). I'm no perfumer but I can only suppose that chemically something I'm smelling here is not a million miles away from so-called peach aldehyde (lactone C-14). The effect also reminds me of a couple of fig fragrances built around that same lactonic-fruit idea.

There's a little powdery sparkle or brightness and, alongside the fruity, almost bubblegum sweetness, perhaps a little saltiness (perhaps from geosmin?), but I imagine that much of this is down to the interplay between my skin chemistry and the (white) musk. I can't say I really understand musk. Jovan Musk? Yeah, I can see that, although this of course goes in a different direction. Either way, this stuff obviously loves skin. It wants to get to know the wearer's skin and collaborate with it, if not actually to become it.

This clearly would be an interesting choice for damp days in the spring and autumn, and because of the lactonic fruitiness that I smell in it, I imagine it would work nicely on cooler summer days too.

Even at the price point, this one really shouldn't be blind bought in my opinion, as I believe that many will not like Peau d'Ailleurs. This is a scent that smells every bit of it's only 3 notes, and for me, this is a hard charging Jovan Musk type scent where the "Earthy note" is represented by a green moss that plays a supporting role to the dominant musk.

For me, this release feels more feminine musky than masculine, but I get the masculine here too, which is the green moss note with slight woody accord.

I do like this, and I think that Starck's Peau d'Ailleurs can be learned to truly enjoy over time. Just don't expect "love at first sniff", especially for the guys out there. Interesting, but not a "must own".

6/10

It was my signature scent for about three years from 2018 to 2021 (about 4 to 5 bottles). I live in sub tropical country.
This is unique and last since I sprayed after shower in the morning till 8 pm when I got home from work.
Earthy, metallic and musky.
Got many compliments from co-workers and of course, my lovely wife.
Will buy it again in the future, now I'm exploring some new frag...

This is a truly weird one in the best way. The first sniffs are confusing. What is this…supposed to be? It’s some concept extraterrestrial freshness, a virtual meadow created by someone who’s never smelled one, or maybe just a deft combination of materials that no one else has tried because it wouldn’t make sense but it just happens to work. I find Annick Menardo’s name gets signed on a lot of perfumes I enjoy, and this one another singular piece of art with which to reckon.

Latex condoms, petrichor and salty green... a sensational composition that dances in the ELSO Tom of Finland universe. A wonderfully textured scent that evokes an idea of a chance sexual encounter in a changing room during a deluge, by the sea. With above average persistence this is a star amongst S+arck's collection.

A scrubber. Disliked it more than anything I’ve tried in a long time.
I have a little story in my head for this scent… picture a farm boy circa 1945. He’s a hard worker and one day he has spent a full day in the fields and slopping the hogs. He accidentally runs into the girl he has a terrible crush on before he’s had a chance to bathe. She breathes in and he smells like this. Game over—he will never get the girl.

I am on the prowl for the best earth scent. I want the soil, the petrichor, and when I stumbled upon this fragrance by Starck Paris I thought I had found it. Ordered a bottle and to me this isn't even remotely close to being earthy, at all. It's rather sweet. Reminds me a bit of some kind of soda. But what it absolutely reminds me of more than that, is 2 by Comme des Garcons. It's like a twin scent. And while I am a bit disappointed this turned out to be to unearthy I am still happy because 2 is one of my favourites. :)

"Even if every reviewer is crazy and this stinks, you'll get a Philip Starck bottle!" I thought to myself and blind bought PdA based on the names signing it and because I found it heavily discounted.
It does not stink! To me this smells like a minimalist rendition of Mitti Attar (sandalwood infused with the smell of wet earth). A woody laundry musk here plays the sandalwood part and I think carrot seed oil is the earthy note. For such a simple perfume It can play some funny tricks on the nose, so at times when I've forgotten I'm wearing PdA, I get random whiffs of something minty, musky and mineral that awakens my senses. Projects very subtle but persists very well. Wears like a second skin, so this is something you'd wear to please primarily yourself and perhaps someone very close to you -office but also bedroom appropriate ;-)
In all, a very pleasant minimalist composition, feels like it contains three ingredients tops (I'm not saying it does but feels like it).
The let down for me ended being the bottle, not that it's ugly but it looks different than shown in the campain pictures.
Oh well🤷, I'm very satisfied with my purchase and happy to have found a flexible earthy-woody composition that manages to strike such a good ballance between ellegance, sensuality and comfort. My risk paid off!

Smells like mud and mould. Absolutely couldn't stand it.

Starck Peau d’Ailleurs (2016) - earthy musk - Clothes strewn on the forest floor. Earth meshes with human skin. A unique creation by #annickmenardo where she combines the smells of Cedar pencil shavings, freshly rained on earth geosmin, smoky Incense, resinous Pine and a myriad of white musks. Textured like linen, starch, on well worn clothes. A beautiful and artistic perfume

Here is the smell of laundered linens air dried in a wooded yard, just as clouds form, pushing out the sun, and the first few pitter patters of rain hit the earth. Grab those clothespins and get those sheets in before in pours.

Oddly addictive and mesmerizing to my nose, Peau d'Ailleurs is a brilliant composition from Annick Menardo where she effectively uses geosmin and perhaps some other humus and petrichor reminiscent materials juxtaposed with clean white musks. There are suggestions of damp woods, freshly tilled top soil, and that negative ion sensation that comes from waterfalls.

Brilliant.

This is an earthy green combined with clean laundry musk type scent.
Starts out smelling a bit like ink to me, though.
Not for everyone.

Was hoping for something more earthy, though.
{Demeter Dirt's fresh soil scent is a favorite}.


Try before you buy.
Unisex.


✨

Update: the thin, almost thunder-like (time wise, 1-2 seconds) citrus blast on the opening is a false impression of the lively earthy--so fresh soil (I believe it's beet root). This fragrance radiates comfort, trust, uniqueness like no other. I have never smelled something like this on any perfume. AND as a review below said that this is a scent of geology, I had to agree. There's no living thing here, just a peaceful wet soil (in the most comforting and good way, like one land that never been colonialized by any hands). Surely it's good for any occasion but lately it's gloomy and rainy most of the times, and this fragrance is such a comfort (phew, I mentioned the word more than I should be). This is strange in a good way, a lovely companion for books and turtleneck, or just a stroll with a lovely friend; just for anything intimate, this one definitely works. Please give this one a try and as I said earlier, you won't regret it.

This perfume is strange, mysterious, damp, dusty yet sexy and gives the impression of a well-groomed person, leaning to masculine. It's a perfect scent to hang around my body (22, M, 5'11). The bottle is stunning with the wavy texture on the back and minimal decorations. I smell earthy, dusty kind of thing. The opening is a trip, I believe I smelt something citrusy, kind of zesty that later turned into something quiet and mellow. It's one of a kind and if you are debating whether to get this or not, just buy it right away... You won't regret it.

A strange (and strong!) metallic opening that somewhat reminds me of Paco Rabanne Metal, although this is actually more metallic by far. Peau is like a more modern interpretation of the aldehydes in old school green scents. The metallic vibe stays but is joined by earthy musk. Sun warmed soil and musky skin. After a bit it becomes quite powdery. At this stage I also notice the woodsy notes and amber more. Very strange, an olfactory oddity, I absolutely love it. I love the musk in this one, it’s a musk I’ve never encountered before in perfume and it’s used in such a unique way! I got my 3 Oz bottle from a perfume discounter for only $30 with a coupon. My only complaint is that the sprayer is a little hard to use. I don’t get huge silage from this one, strong at first but after a few minutes it settles close to my skin. Got about 5 hours out of it going strong then it continues to linger faintly for the rest of the day the drydown is kinda sweet, kinda musky, and kinda powdery and faintly reminds me of something but I can’t think of what

Does anyone know if there are differences between the EDP and the EDT of this range (other than the obvious concentration difference)? The EDP is drastically more expensive... is there any reason to buy it?

I have the EDT, and it is beautiful. I'm not sure what exactly to do with it other than... continue to be curious about it and admire it. I'm not sure where to wear it, or how best I may layer it, but I'm very happy to have it. NOT A SAFE BLIND BUY, unless you are experienced and excited about these notes.

This is such a well balanced scent. It reminds me so much of Comme des Carcons 2 - that aldehyde, metallic edge. Moderate sillage and above average longevity. Classy and a great summer scent

Raw beets (geosmin) and drier sheets (white musk). In the opening I get the vague impression of lemon for a few moments. The unlisted citrus is a conceptually strange nod to a traditional cologne profile in the middle of a very niche, “special effects” soil experience. Not sure what it’s about, honestly.

It’s linear but I don’t mind a linear scent that’s well done - I can especially appreciate them for their layering uses. But I just don’t understand the laundry musky thing. I guess maybe it’s supposed to smell “clean” or “fresh” in juxtaposition to the dirt? It just gives me a headache, as this kind of musk often does.

I've only tried a tester of this one and I have to agree with @Marcjanssen: it is rather off-putting on paper. That is why it took me a while to give it a try on my skin and only then could I appreciate the full character of this scent. As a child I used to walk past farming areas when going to school and this fragrance brings back memories of the freshly turned earth on an early spring morning, when the sun is just coming out and a certain warm, comforting smell seems to evaporate from the earth. I personally love it but you have to try it on your own skin to see how it evolves and adapts to your chemistry. It is at least worth a try though.

Smells like washed linen hanging from a clothesline in the middle of a forest, near one still water, with the wind blowing through. Almost minty with a strong and natural green/soil-like undertone that elevates this perfume, adds something very interesting. One of those creations that demands time to discover which will either make you love it or hate it.

This is weird it smells like mud mixed with musk

Wow, this is the most disturbing thing I've laid my nose to for a while...
Smells like wet wood that's gone mouldy, with a dusting of wood shavings and dirt... . After a while, the slight floral musk pokes out.
I'm afraid it was a scrubber for me, as it made me stomch churn, and even with a good scrub, the smell stayed.... just the lovely musk left on my hand now, so much better.

Well yes, it is unlike other things out there, so don't expect it to be in any way like other perfumes. And if you are not into horticultural work, or otherwise involved in the hands-on appreciation of rich soils, it's quite possible that you will be puzzled or offended by it.

But if you are mindfully looking for a "dirt" perfume and this stuff falls squarely in the center the category. Not quite as mulchy as I Hate Perfume's 'Black March' but certainly along the same lines.

It would be nice if it projected more, and if the dirt phase lasted a bit longer, but the dry down is nice as well, and lower projection is often the thing with perfumes these days. Still widely available at reasonable prices - I purchased the smaller bottle as it was a blind buy for me, but given how much I enjoy it, and am tempted to over-spray, now I wish I'd purchased the larger one.

Not something the conventional or non-curious are ever likely to beat the doors down for, but I can say with some assurance that horticulturally-minded folks in the perfume hobby are pretty much guaranteed to be happy with their purchase. Reasonably unisex too.

And really, what's not to like about Annick Menardo.

It's got geosmin in spades (in spades - haha! see what trabuquera did there!?) alright ... but I'm not sure it's got anything else in it!

I'm definitely going to give this a wearing soon. On cardboard, the aroma I'm getting is overwhelmingly of geosmin. I do know what that smells like, as I have a bottle of it. I am willing to suppose that if I wear it it will manifest as a ... more entire fragrance. Not that geosmin is an unpleasant smell - far from it indeed ... but alone it doesn't quite constitute a perfume!

I've put some of this on now ... and I'm at ease now that it isn't monomolecular. I'm getting that dark oily woody musky aroma that I've mentioned under Soie.

I think the spray mechanism leaves much to be desired on these bottles, though. I hope it holds out for the full 100ml ... it kind of feels like it might not, TBPH!

Having had this on a fair while now, I would say it's soapy also ... and exceptionally linear. I wouldn't say now that this is Nasomatto-grade stuff - no, it doesn't attain to those heights, I'm afraid. And I'm in doubt as to the sheer strength of it - although I am getting pleasant whiffs of it, not as much as I ought to be getting I think, really ... although much of that might be attributable to to-one's-own-perfume anosmia.

my wrist smells like a freshly opened sack of John Innes compost.

I'm transported to Spring time, of pruning the rose bush. and of when i return home with a few new plants from the garden centre and the smell that emits when i release them, roots and all, from those horrid black plastic pots they grew up in (that you never know what to do with afterwards). dig dig with the metal trowel. and getting occasional wafts of Dolce Vita that was sprayed on my jumper yesterday.

the surrounding wafts (sillage) are a musky, woody clean earthiness. and like you have just fallen into a privet hedge on your way home from Homesbase, as the sun comes out after the rain.

clean, new, humid. the dewy perspiration from kids foreheads, playing on a hot day by the overgrown pond watching frogs, cheeks aglow.

this unusual creation manages to smell like perfume as well. genius.

Deeply weird, completely fascinating synthetic enigma. Super-mineralic, damp sterilised earth which has nothing whatsoever organic or warm about it, but somehow grabs your nose and won't let go. Vermiculite? Sharp sand? rock wool? It's got geosmin in spades, it smells of geology, not biology, but it's not at all hostile or unpleasant ... just eons (light years) away from whatever you might be used to. I get nothing woody at all - there are no recognisable flora or fauna to my nose, it's all kind of sterile and space age- yet it keeps being oddly compelling. On my nose it even - really weirdly - cycles into some sort of space-suited citric fresh cologne on some wafts, before returning to the orbital's seed bed laboratory again. It's the sort of thing that might give me the fear I felt with many Oliver & Co or Clean scents - the sheer lab-brewed artificiality is startling and disorienting - but somehow in this one, the approach actually works. Robust, but not overwhelming on either projection or longevity. An absolute baffler - it leaves me endlessly intrigued but rather bewildered at the same time. Definitely not to be blind bought unless you really, really love the oddball.

The wonderful exciting smell of wet ground,just after the first drops...Has surprising long lasting,6 hours ago I have put it on me-after a bath and it is STILL there!!

4/10

Now this is overly earthy with metallic notes somehow. It's like the fertile soil but mostly in an artificial nursery.

It's musky, woody, earthy blend in an artificial frame. It could be used for spa purposes for instance.

Fair.

Peau d'Ailleurs by Annick Menardo for Starck.

Probably the oddest and totally mesmerising perfume that I have experienced in my life so far. The only way I can describe it is that it smells like someone spilled perfume onto a pile of soil - dark brown, moist, nutrient rich and fertile, the kind you just want to dig your hands in and squish through your fingers. The scent itself is linear, and body warmth amplifies the earthiness. It doesn't project far, but I don't think it is supposed to. I think it is meant to be a personal aura, at least that is what it feels like for me.

Now, describing a scent as perfumed soil, you would think it smells dirty or unhygienic, like you spent the day digging in the garden and didn't bother having a shower. Far from it. It smells like clean and moisturised skin after spending a day outside in the sunshine.

Structurally, I am reminded of Hypnotic Poison (another Menardo) in that no specific notes stand out because the blend is so well done, and the graduation of top, middle and base flow seamlessly into each other.

I managed to get a sample of this some months ago and I knew I had to find a full bottle. Finally, yesterday it arrived, and in the meantime I have ordered the other two in the series.

FIRST SNIFF: Standing in the downstairs mens section perfumery of Neiman Marcus in Houston I notice a trio of bottles, tall and rectangular, spray-mechanism built in to the black faux-cap. When I visit a store I can go through a LOT of those smelling papers (blotters, smelling strips, etc?) Whatever you call them, I go can easily spray perfume on a thick stack of them. Some companies make really very nice cards for spraying their scent and it never fails in a store setting, that a SA will take cards from another brand and use them to demonstrate the scent you are discussing at the moment. So I feel bad when this happens and I took the utra-lux Tom Ford cards on the counter and tore into three parts and used each section to sample each of the Starck trio on.

I am immediately drawn to Peau d`Ailleurs, its raw green earthy notes immediately pull me in and activate a part of my mind that holds memories from my youth of working in the grain fields moving the sprinkler pipes. The still green grain has a very green plant-specific smell. The scent develops on skin and clothing into a very dry, sweet, citrus plant-like smell. The notes for this reference wood-notes, but I am more convinced that the wood they are talking about is the smell emitted from a broken green sampling tree whose flesh tears and strings rather than snap or break off the way an aged twig would.
Stark references Meteorite, Mineral and a mandala of light...which I am not able to translate for you except to say that this scent is DIFFERENT from others. It's a strange and beautiful blend of the extremely natural and organic with the synthetic sterility of the not-living.

THE PICTURE IT PAINTS: The Starck website handles this section better than I can, so here is the text copied verbatim from the Starck website... "Peau d’Ailleurs is strange, undefinable and elusive. An exploration into ourselves, through the elsewhere and the unconscious, its perfume is also an escape into the infinite territory of dematerialization, where the scent of the cosmic void comes into contact with that of a Terra Incognita.

Here are the notes as described by STARCK, copied verbatim from the Starck website... Ingredients, a few clues: meteorite; a circular mandala of light and dark; the heart of an earthly material, mineral, amber, musky and woody, whose notes are only revealed at the end of a long voyage.

What it is NOT: spicy, fruity, aquatic, masculine, feminine, woody, heavy, dark, rich.

What it IS: Airy, Dry, green, sweet, grassy, powdery, light,

IN THE BRAND FAMILY: I smelled all three in the line at the same time, before I read about the strange an obscure nature of the notes hiding within, so for lack of a better analogy... I was listing, but I could have been listening more closely. The scent we are discussing here most stood out to me, but I am anxious to get back to Neiman Marcus to sample the other two properly.

Full Bottle worthy? - YES
Retail Cost? $150 for 90mL
Sample worthy? - Most definitely

PARTING THOUGHTS: I applaud Phillipe Starck for creating a Niche line that is not afraid to be obscure and weird. Some may find it trite when a company says that a scent has a note init that is outer-worldly or otherwise impossible, but I like it A LOT. It almost always means that it will have a weird edge to it. tell me it smells like a plastic bag, like gray plastic, meteorite, moondust or lens flare and I am in-in-in! So far I find that these unnatural edges are typified by aldehydes of some kind because they are synthetic in nature and usually defined by the things they smell like rather than being created to smell like something specific. Nevertheless, I am a hopeless sucker for this tactic.

IF you are interested in buying Peau d`Ailleurs by Starck I would direct you to talk to my friend MARLA at the Mens fragrance counter @ Neiman Marcus Houston' store. You can call her at (713) 621-7100. Tell them TheNichepPerfumery.com sent you

I tested this yesterday at NM. The SA asked me if I liked it. I told her it smelled like beets. She grabbed my wrist, sniffed, and agreed. I don't want to smell like beets. I bet if you could quiz beets they would admit to not liking their smell either.

You've maybe heard about Guerilla Gardening; where people reclaim their connection to the land by growing things in cast off landscapes. Well, Peau d'Ailleurs is an olfactory landscape in miniature : beetroot growing through cracks in concrete, watered with a stagnant puddle and splattered with citrus milkshake :- welcome to Guerilla Perfumery!

But don't give up yet - its not all about decay and trash... Running through Peau d'Ailleurs - like a seam of muted gold - is a subtle, musky, lemon cream floral.

Putting on Peau d'Ailleurs is a fabulous challenge. Its like a tightrope walk through the wasteland; with musky lemon on one side and ditchwater on the other...

****

Dont smell it from the bottle, nor blotting paper!!!
I thought the saleslady wanted to kill me with the smell of rotten potting soil....
NOT SO ON SKIN! So give ot a fair chance,
A very likeable, ghost scent.....unindentifiable yet familiar
Smell of thousend things ...
Perfect synth- biosis.

It smells carrot seed and exotic musty woods. Interesting!