This Cult-Favorite Perfume Deserves All The Compliments

Welcome to FP, Maison Louis Marie.

One of the most exciting things about working at Free People is getting the inside scoop on the new products we’ll be featuring each season — especially the beauty products. Every month I get to sit in on a meeting with our beauty buying team where they go over new items they’re bringing in, makeup launches, anticipated drops, and new brands we’ll be carrying.

In our March meeting, they introduced Maison Louis Marie. Rich in family tradition and French botanicals, they’re a luxury clean beauty and non-toxic fragrance brand that specializes in unique, memorable scents, without using environmentally harmful ingredients—whether naturally sourced or manmade.

Their line of fragrances takes inspiration from nature, with sophisticated blends that are often light and fresh, and perfect for everyday wear.

The beauty team was super excited to bring in this line — they’re a heritage brand that’s been popular amongst fragrance aficionados for a long time, and had a glowing reputation that preceded them even around the Free People office, and the scents are now right at home in our beauty category.

The scent that had the office abuzz when news dropped that the brand was coming to Free People was No.04 Bois de Balincourt. Hailed as their “signature scent,” it’s a warm, woody fragrance with notes of sandalwood, vetiver, and amber wood that has developed a bit of a cult following. One of our merchandisers says it’s the only perfume she’s worn for years. The brand describes it as a romantic, comforting fragrance with effortless depth. It’s “endlessly wearable and deeply personal.” The perfume-oil formula seems to melt into the skin, working with each wearer’s body chemistry for a unique, personalized twist on the scent.

The full list of scent notes includes top notes of Sandalwood and Cedarwood, middle notes of Vetiver, Cinnamon and Nutmeg, and base notes of Amber Wood — but what does that mean if you’re reading this? It’s warm but not too musky, earthy, but in a light and natural way, and it’s overall really fresh and clean-smelling — like you just hopped out of the shower. It’s a really nice everyday fragrance, it’s not overpowering or powdery, and it feels seasonless — it can lean just as beachy as it can cozy depending on the season. It’s subtle and minimal, the type of scent that sits close to the skin and makes an impact on people who get close to you.

I wore No. 4 on its own as my signature scent for the week. It applies with a rollerball, so you can target it right to your pulse points — I like that type of applicator because I often over-spray perfume trying to make sure it really hits my skin. It’s an oil-based formula so it doesn’t project quite like a spray, which I prefer because walking into someone else’s perfume cloud can be unpleasant. It’s one of those fragrances that really melts into your skin — you don’t notice it all the time, but when you catch it, it’s just as fresh and comforting as when you put it on. When I first applied it, the smell was a little more vibrant and almost leaned citrusy in my opinion, but it dries down to be warm and woodsy — it’s a very grounding fragrance that reacts well with the skin. I find that sometimes warmer scents turn too spicy on me for my liking, but this one stays crisp and clean in a way that lingers all day.

When I say this scent gets compliments, I mean it. It feels like a unique scent right now at a time when gourmand fragrances and creamy florals are having a big moment. It’s a stops-people-in-their-tracks kind of perfume to the point where every day I wore it, someone asked, “What perfume are you wearing?” The main feedback I got was that it smells very “clean”. As I talked with more people around the office who wear the perfume on the regular, they shared that they gravitate toward it because it’s not overpowering or cloying. It’s refined and grown-up, sophisticated but not stuffy. It’s also not overly feminine — it’s unisex and could work for anyone, especially with the way it blends into the skin to work with your body chemistry and natural scent.