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No. 63 by Pré de Provence (2019) is from what I can tell, the first full proper fragrance outing from the French soapmaker, which has its US distribution out of Tukwila, WA. That last bit is relevant because a local soap maker also stocks their wares, which is how I ultimately came across this scent. An entire shaving and grooming range also exists for No. 63, so those who end up loving this stuff may like to know that they can go nuts with bar soap, shampoo, shaving toiletries, and more. The basic structure of No. 63 is as a woody-spicy-leather-tobacco scent profile, crossing the streams between scents like Michael for Men by Micheal Kors (2001), Burbuerry London for Men (2005), Eau des Baux by L’Occitane (2006), and Spicebomb by Victor & Rolf (2012). So many different spicy sweet or leathery tobacco tropes must sounds like a nightmare to combine, but whoever the creative mind behind this scent was, they must have wanted to find a happy medium between them all, possibly because it was their own personal favorite style. To my knowledge, there is no feminine-market equivalent of N. 63 from the brand.

The opening pepper really slams into your nose at first, so fans of Spicebomb or Eau des Baux will be enamored most at this point. The lovely plum tobacco goodness starts soon after, but the particular way the plum flower note is handled (as it is plum flower and not plum), reminds me a bit of the floral heart of Chanel Égoïste (1990) in the abstract. Perhaps there is an ambrette musk note lurking about that combines with the plum flower to create this effect. Either way, it is mostly a brief fling as the dry Russian leather note and tobacco (once again recalling Spicebomb) takes hold. A bit more sweet woody-mossy nuance that brings in the comparisons to the Burberry is what to expect later into the dry-down, with the X-factor of violet leaf and a rather stark cedarwood becomes the defining moment in which No. 63 develops its own personality. When all is said and done, we have a violet and cedar woody-amber with tobacco, leather, and just traces of the pepper and plum floating about. This olfactive chameleon picks a lane, and stays in it, only at the very end. Performance is moderate, but very long-lasting, and I find this best as a winter scent.

There isn’t a whole lot new or exciting about this fragrance for dyed-in-the-wool fragrance enthusiasts who’ve already bought and smelled it all, which really should by rights also include me as well, Perhaps I’m just a sucker for a good bargain-priced well-made fragrance that doesn’t exactly feel like its reinventing anything, making a stark artistic statement, or speaking anything else of its wearer other than “hey, I smell good”. Perhaps this is also why I have an army of Avon fragrances as well, who knows? Bottom line here is for $50, you could do so much worse; and when you have a mishmash of tobacco styles from decades past all swirled into a release from 2019, complete with a full grooming and bathing solution to follow suit, then how can I not be attracted? I just want to know what happened to No. 1 through No. 62, or how the soapmaker arrived at this particular combination of smells as their first entry into proper perfumery (that isn’t a bar soap, diffuser, room spray, or candle). Perhaps I’ll never know, but I’ll just enjoy No. 63 for what is is: the most-unique combination of not-unique smells I’ve encountered in quite some time. Thumbs up