A Kiss from the Earth: Narkiss by Ayala Moriel Parfums

by: Elena Vosnaki

Scented selfie, a portrait of the most eccentric flowers of them all. Narkiss means "narcissus" in Hebrew. The word curiously contains within it the fatal kiss that drowned the mythical lad in his very own reflection. Narkiss is an act of self-love, just before the illusion disappears. Just before the nose dips into the water and discovers its murky truth. The ethereal kiss of sunshine on a winter day, mingled with damp wood, grass and puddles. The delight of picking flowers by the train tracks. Wild flowers illuminated by a break in the clouds. A candle-lit flower, mysterious and dark.

Top notes: Szechuan pepper, bergamot, iris
Heart notes: Narcissus, coffee flower, orange blossom
Base notes: pinewood, liatrix, ambreine, musk
 

To treat Narkiss as merely a narcissus soliflore would be to do it disservice. The myth and the reality of the environment on which the flower is found calls for a different perspective. Canadian-based natural perfumer Ayala Moriel draws upon a pleiad of materials with a nature darker than the average floral aroma; they’re actually rather oriental and earthy-animalic in their effect, harkening to the murky depths of the psychological motives of Narcissus' self-love.

The liatrix (or liatris) plant, a reference note in Narkiss, is also known as deer’s tongue, prairie pine or blazing star (on account of the shape of its flowers). Although not much when fresh, the dried leaves when treated with solvents yield an oleo-resin useful for the creation of orientalized notes of coumarin, cured tobacco and cut hay. Folk rumor has it that you may use it to obtain a proposal of marriage, but I wouldn’t go that far! What I do know is that its highly coumarinic content makes for a smooth, powdery, bittersweet note that complements the floral notes beautifully.

The inclusion of animalic pheromone from hyrax (the fossilized urine renders African Stone) and the ambreine (from cistus, reminiscent of ambergris) further reinforces the musky, intimate character of Narkiss, especially coupled with the angelica plant, which is among the scarce plants with a natural musky component in their olfactory profile.

The pinewood note (Bois des Lands) comes from the inner core of the pine tree and usually renders a smoky, mushroomy note. I can’t say that I detect much smokiness in Narkiss, rather the warmer aura of a good tobacco pouch with its mown hay, damp forest floor and peaty scotch undercurrent. In fact, this effect is most closely reflected by the powdery chord of the narcissus absolute, plus orange blossom plus iris.

Narkiss feels at once green and animalic, less a spring floral tugging at the heartstrings thanks to its sweet narcotic makeup than an earthy etude on the damp, contemplative environment of a twilit snapshot somewhere in the Canadian train tracks leading to the eternal west.