Lists: 140 posts

When the mesmerizing Spanish actress, Rossy de Palma, decided to create a fragrance, she selected rose as her main theme. While the choice of such a classical flower for the star of Pedro Almódovar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown might have struck some as surprising, the perfumers Antoine Lie and Antoine Maisondieu weren’t taken aback. They were the co-authors of de Palma’s scent, and when it was released as Eau de Protection by the niche perfume house Etat Libre d’Orange, the result was anything but staid. As the perfumers knew, rose had many faces, and it could be made as smoldering or as innocent as an artist’s skill allowed.

Eau de Protection opens up on a spicy but fresh accord of green citrus peel and black pepper, but as the rose unfolds, so does the dark note reminiscent of damp soil and antique woods. Spice, honey, green sap, and fruit, the notes present in rose absolute, are cleverly highlighted in the fragrance, but the overall effect is abstract. The perfume is memorable not only because of its opulent character—aided by the generous dose of natural rose essence—and original interpretation, but also for doing away with the usual gender labels.  For a man who loves patchouli, amber and dark woods, the prominent rose notes in Rossy de Palma’s Eau de Protection aren’t too challenging. On the other hand, a woman who wants to eschew the cliché of “sweet and pretty” would find it a perfect statement fragrance.

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I never met my great-grandmother Olena, who passed away shortly after I was born, but I always felt as if she were a constant presence in my life. Partly it was due to the numerous recipe books that she left behind. The hand-bound sheets covered with Olena’s lacy handwriting detailed her techniques for stuffing a roast, making multilayer cakes or selecting fruit for jams and marmalades. The most intriguing of her recipes was the one she called “a dry perfume for gingerbread.”

Every European country has its own gingerbread recipe and a combination of spices that gives each regional variation its distinctive flavor. Olena’s Ukrainian version was scented with cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, star anise, and a hint of saffron. When I blended it myself following her proportions, I realized that it was similar to the “gingerbread perfume” accord I learned making as a perfumery student, although my liquid version didn’t have the voluptuous richness of saffron.

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Announcement: I have an opening in the workshop/seminar on Japanese Incense.
Location: Online, Zoom
Date: July 14th, Sunday 12:00pm-1:30pm EST/6:00pm-7:30pm CET
SOLD OUT

In his marvelous essay Why Read the Classics? Italo Calvino offers 14 definitions of what makes a classic piece of literature. Reflecting on his list, I thought how easily its ideas could also be applied to perfumery. The same notions of the inexhaustible sense of discovery, timelessness, and “imprints on our imagination” also define a classic scent, be it Guerlain Shalimar or Chanel No 5. It was Calvino’s 13th point, however, that struck a chord. “A classic is a work which relegates the noise of the present to a background hum, which at the same time the classics cannot exist without,” he says. They’re rooted in the present even as they transcend it.

Inspired by Calvino, I decided to draw up a personal list of perfume classics, creations that reflect their moment and yet have timeless relevance. The first I selected was Serge Lutens’ Féminité du Bois, a fragrance conceived by the artist and photographer for Japanese brand Shiseido in 1992. Lutens wanted a perfume based on the Atlas cedarwood, and he sought to convey the softness of the ingredient that beguiled him ever since he came to Morocco in the 1960s. Initially when Lutens talked to the perfumers about his idea, he encountered a lack of comprehension. Cedarwood was traditionally treated as a sharp, masculine note and few fragrance professionals understood how to reinterpret it in a different guise.

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I’m inspired by the scents of spring, but this idea has little to do with the calendar season. My ideal spring is a state of mind, which is why the perfumes that evoke an exhilarating, uplifting sensation are part of my wardrobe all year round. The most effervescent among them conjure up the color green.

Chanel Cristalle is a classic example of a green floral that has a dazzling character and radiant aura. It suggests lemon peel and shimmer, with a bittersweet twist of orange blossom and petitgrain (distilled Seville orange leaves). The Eau de Toilette offers the freshest experience, but it can be difficult to find. While the Eau de Parfum is so lavishly decorated with hyacinth and narcissus that it becomes a velvety, baroque bouquet, it has an uplifting green note that feels like champagne bubbles. Cristalle Eau Verte is another beautiful rendition, sharper, brighter, and yes, greener.

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One of the most intriguing aromas, that of roasted coffee beans, can be elusive. Anyone who has swooned over the perfume of freshly ground coffee– sweet, bitter, spicy, floral, toasted, with hints of blackcurrants, chocolate or hazelnuts—knows the frustration of capturing all of those beautiful nuances in an infusion. Coffee aficionados have challenges in brewing a perfect cup, but the task of perfumers to bottle the fragrance of Arabica is not easier.  A coffee note is capricious, and while the natural essence, coffee absolute, has an addictive aroma on paper, on skin it can resemble roasted meat and damp wood.

The solution is to approach coffee notes creatively. Instead of mimicking nature, a perfumer instead might fashion a blend that hints at coffee’s pleasing bitterness and heady richness. Such is Arquiste’s Nanban. The composition uses a plush backdrop of woods to frame the smoky, spicy notes of myrrh and incense, with an accent of coffee to lend the composition a dark, delicious twist. It teases with its smoky, nutty warmth, but it keeps its presence mellow behind layers of sandalwood and leather.

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