Bud Parfums
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Aldehydes crack open like struck flint, immediately joined by sharp tarragon and that unsettling asafoetida note, creating an almost savoury, almost wrong topnote that refuses prettiness. Citrus fruits provide a fleeting sparkle before the spices—clove, perhaps black pepper—surge forward with aggressive warmth.
The florals finally assert themselves as the leather unfurls, geranium's peppery green animalism wrestling with jasmine's heady sweetness whilst orris root adds a powdery, iris-like restraint. Ylang ylang introduces a coconut-tinged sensuality that briefly suggests this might become approachable, before the lingering tarragon reasserts itself, keeping everything fundamentally austere.
The fragrance settles into its classical chypre skeleton—oakmoss providing that structural support, whilst leather, vetiver, and tobacco create an almost smoky, distinctly masculine aromatic landscape. Patchouli and sandalwood provide creamy woody warmth, yet the musk remains cool and slightly detached, never allowing this dry down to become comforting.
Sweetheart emerges as a peculiar artefact from the post-war fragrance canon—a composition that wears its contradictions like a deliberate provocation. Bernard Chant has constructed something fundamentally uncompromising here: a chypre framework of almost architectural severity, bristling with tarragon's green bite and asafoetida's distinctly funky animalic character, yet simultaneously reaching towards the honeyed warmth of ylang ylang and coconut in its heart. This is no demure feminine whisper, despite the romantic nomenclature.
The leather accord (88%) emerges as the composition's philosophical core, not merely as a supporting player but as an aggressive partner negotiating with the floral section. Geranium and rose don't soften this leather so much as complicate it—adding a dusty, slightly medicinal dimension that prevents any descent into sweetness. The opening's sage and spices create a savoury counterpoint to the jasmine, producing a tension between culinary herbalism and classic perfumery that feels almost confrontational.
Add fragrances to your collection and unlock your personalised scent DNA, note map, and shareable identity card.
4.0/5 (207)