Inspired by Piguet’s Bandit, Sillage Blanc is a modern chypre with a retro soul. This is Bandit with better manners and an independent streak of its own. With its bright herbal opening, Sillage Blanc is a chypre-leather riff, fresh, alternately crisp and mossy. Bandit’s sharp greenness and fierce leather are there, but the rough edges have been smoothed out. Where Bandit is an emerald-eyed dominatrix cracking a horsewhip, Sillage Blanc is an urban garconne sporting a Kelly leather bag.
Sillage Blanc opens with smack of bright green galbanum sharp as a nip-waisted suit. But soapy-sweet neroli soon tones down the galbanum bite, and orange blossom adds a touch of creamy florals. Sillage Blanc is not, however, simply Bandit’s more genteel sibling. Little Sis has a naughty side of her own. A green, moist tobacco note adds an earthy, illicit quality. The bitter herbal notes are distinctive, amped up with artemisia and a vegetal ambrette before settling down on a mossy, woodsy bed. Completely unisex, Sillage Blanc is like a well-made Campari cocktail held by a gloved hand –bitter, leathery perfection.
