The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Au Masculin arrives in 2006, extending the world that Annick Menardo built with her 1997 composition. The original had featured violet, licorice, and vanilla as its core, a combination that behaved unlike many other fragrances of its time. Au Masculin takes those same elements and reshapes them: rum adds warmth and spice, ivy brings a green lift, and vetiver anchors the base in earthiness rather than sweetness. The violet remains present throughout, but here it carries a different weight, sharper, less candied than in the debut. Licorice threads through the middle notes without ever becoming dominant. The name says masculine, but the composition doesn't apologize for its violet-and-licorice heart, rum and ivy in the opening, vetiver settling underneath.
What makes Au Masculin unusual is the violet-licorice pairing running through top and heart. Au Masculin 2006 takes that pairing and builds around it: rum adds warmth and spice, ivy brings a green lift, and the base of vetiver and cedar grounds everything in earthiness rather than sweetness. The vanilla and rose hip in the drydown prevent it from becoming austere, but this is fundamentally a woody, powdery fragrance. The violet starts bright and slightly candied in the opening, softened as it moves into the heart where licorice appears, sweet and slightly medicinal.
The evolution
The violet opens bright, almost candied in its sweetness. Then the rum arrives, warm and slightly spiced, carrying the feeling of a lingering evening. Licorice threads through the middle, neither dominant nor shy, present enough to keep things interesting as the fragrance develops. Vetiver and cedar anchor the base, but it is the vanilla and rose hip that linger, soft and warm, a quiet sweetness that stays close to the skin. The drydown unfolds gradually over several hours, the woody notes eventually settling into something quieter while the vanilla remains perceptible, a gentle warmth that rounds out the composition without ever becoming heavy.
Cultural impact
Au Masculin occupies a distinctive space in masculine perfumery. Where many fragrances of its era leaned toward fresh, aquatic, and citrus-forward compositions, Au Masculin went another direction entirely: powdery, sweet, violet-forward. It has since been discontinued. The combination of violet, rum, and licorice in this composition stands apart from typical masculine releases, offering something with more floral softness and gourmand warmth than the standard offerings of the period.
