The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
The name says it all. "Encore Une Fois" means "once more", and this fragrance captures the feeling of wanting to return to a moment, a sensation, a specific quality of light. Art de Parfum built this around a tension: bright citrus fireworks against the salty intimacy of skin. The ambergris doesn't float above the composition like a fancy top note. It sinks into the dark forest of cedar and patchouli, glimmering like gold thread on black velvet. That's the reference point the brand keeps returning to, that contrast between explosive light and shadowed depth. It's a second act. The one you didn't expect to want.
The real star here isn't any single note. It's the interplay between citrus brightness and mineral darkness. Sea salt and ambergris create a salty animalic quality that most fragrances either avoid or bury under sweetness. Here, that salt-skin character is the point. It's what makes this fragrance feel genuinely different. The floral heart, violet, peony, lily of the valley, saffron, provides a bridge between the bright opening and that dark woody base. But the bridge doesn't soften the fragrance into something safe. It just makes the arrival more surprising.
The evolution
The opening hits like citrus fireworks, bergamot and petitgrain sparking bright and sharp. Orange blossom adds a creamy floral edge that keeps it from being all zest and no body. Then the salt arrives, mineral and unexpected, and the whole composition shifts from playful to intimate. The ambergris doesn't hit immediately. It builds as the citrus fades, adding a marine-animalic depth that reframes everything that came before. By the heart, incense and saffron introduce a smoky warmth. Violet and peony keep it from going too dark, the florals are there, just barely, threading through the smoke like color through shadow. The drydown is where this fragrance earns its name. Cedar and patchouli form a dark forest floor. Benzoin and Peru balsam create a sticky, resinous warmth. Sea salt lingers in the background, keeping everything honest. And the ambergris? It stays close to the skin, intimate and animalic, refusing to let go. Lasts through the evening and into the night. The sillage is moderate, present, but not filling the room. It wants you to lean in.
Cultural impact
The 2019 launch placed Encore Une Fois squarely in ambergris-adjacent territory, part of a moment when independent perfumers began exploring marine-animalic notes that mainstream fragrance had largely sidestepped. The sea salt note was unusual then. The combination of mineral depth and bright citrus keeps it feeling distinctive now. The moderate projection is a feature, not a limitation. This is a quality-over-quantity fragrance, built to be discovered rather than announced. Encore Une Fois moves through its phases with quiet confidence, bright and effervescent at opening, softly floral through the heart, warm and grounded as it settles.
