Pitti Fragranze 2015: Cologne Intense Houbigant & Perris Monte Carlo Extraits

by: Serguey Borisov

During one of my previous conversations with Houbigant and Perris Monte Carlo art-director Gian Luca Perris, I was informed that he was working on a new Houbigant launch, which would be a masculine fragrance. Neither the name, nor the perfume composition were disclosed at that time. But now, at Pitti Fragranze 2015, all those secrets were revealed at once. Here's what Gian Luca revealed to us:

Gian Luca Perris: "Our new project for Houbigant is a cologne. At times, there`s some misunderstanding about what cologne is – some people believe that it`s depending on the concentration only, the lightest possible dilution of fragrance, about 3%. In reality, cologne is a very beautiful idea based upon a citrus accord combined with important components like lemon, bergamot, a very nice quality of neroli and petitgrain. And we did an interpretation of it – we took out some ingredients that make the cologne idea dated and reminiscent of an old barbershop, and we added other ingredients like a nice quality of incense to make the citrus cologne accord more modern.

The ambition was to make it with a high amount of natural ingredients, so you can feel the beautiful natural lemon immediately, and after that a perfect neroli-petitgrain accord combined with woody incense comes out. We used a special grade of incense oil, made by Charabot and named Hyper-Incense. It`s really very nice. In my opinion, it has the capability to maintain the promise of the hesperidic notes of the top, the fruity lemon accord, then comes the white floral neroli, and then that incense resinoid with a lemony touch that stays on the skin for a very long time, after which it develops into a dry, woody, ambery accord with cedarwood. You will be able to smell a slight animalic touch that comes from the incense itself.

It will have two concentrations, like we always do for our new Houbigant fragrances – an eau de parfum and an extrait de parfum. And the flacon will have the very same design created with the old mould by Lalique – you'll recognize the shape from  Fougère Royale. The lacquered box for the extrait de parfum will be also used for the new Fougère Royale, but white colored inside and out to emphasize the bright yellow color of the perfume juice.

Sometimes colognes have the problem that it`s a beautiful construction but too light in concentration. Here we give ourselves a chance for a longlasting life, as we made an eau de parfum and extrait de parfum. So we called our new Houbigant project –Cologne Intense. It`s really an intense accord and an intense cologne.

Sergey Borisov: Who`s the perfumer of the project?

Gian Luca Perris: The perfumer of Cologne Intense is Luca Maffei. I really like creations of Luca in general. We worked together on many projects and I like the results. The first project he has done with me was Rose de Taïf by Perris Monte Carlo, and after that we created Oud Imperial for the same collection. We have been cooperating for 6 years, and I think Luca is really talented and brave, and he is having a lot of success. This year, on a blind perfume testing in Los Angeles, his perfume won the first prize. I don’t remember what perfume it was, but it`s a fact. (Sergey:Gian Luca Perris is talking about The Art and Olfaction Awards in 2015, where Luca won in the Independent category with his fragrance Black Pepper & Sandalwood for Acca Kappa). It`s the only contest that is judged blind, without disclosing names and brands, as far as I know. It`s really important to him and I believe he deserved this.

Luca Maffei with Art&Olfaction award 

Sergey Borisov: Have you had any historical references for Cologne Intense?

Gian Luca Perris: No, not at all. It was a totally new and contemporary cologne project that came out of the blue, and it gave birth to this extraordinary cologne. I smelled the fragrance, and we decided to launch it. The international launch is planned for the end of October 2015.

(Sergey: There's not very much to add about the Cologne Intense after the description Gian Luca Perris gave us. The cologne has lemony, piney, incensey smell that feels transparent, refreshing, resinous, healthy and revitalizing. It does not make me feel like an old and classic-oriented man, but also it doesn't convey a feeling of fantasy. The only thing I would like to point out  – incense and lemon really work great together, as they share some components. Cologne Intense should fit any man that prefers hygiene to any other perfume quality. If you seek for more than just that – you could find it boring and uninspiring. The good thing – Cologne Intense is a really long-lasting cologne. And it fits autumn and winter time perfectly.

Gian Luca Perris: The second part of my news comes from the Perris Monte Carlo range. We took four editions from the Black Collection and we made four perfume extracts out of them. The launch for these new products is also planned for the end of October 2015. In our Eaux de Parfums we usually offer an 18-20% concentration, so in the Extraits de Parfums the concentration was increased to 30%. And also, we improved the quality of the raw materials used in Parfums, and we rebalanced their accords.

Let's start with Rose de Taïf extrait [spraying perfume]. If the Eau de Parfum smells like you are in the middle of blooming rose field, the Extrait smells like you are under several tons of beautiful rose petals. This is the biggest bouquet of roses you can offer to a lady, that`s for sure. The blend of the essential oil, from Taif, and the rose absolute, from  Bulgaria, is supported by some other components, but it`s the rose that is the main character of the perfume.

Sergey Borisov: Yes, that`s one big and beautiful rose, with a great diffusion.

Gian Luca Perris: Let`s go to Ylang-ylang now (spraying blotters). This is it. So there`s much more Ylang-ylang Extra in it – which is an ingredient that's not easy to obtain. I think the fragrance becomes more solar, more bright, even more white-flower-like in the flowers accord. So what do you think – is it improved or not?

Sergey Borisov: It is more powdery, more white and tender, not so aggressively oriental.

Gian Luca Perris: Yes, that`s the feature of any perfume. When you put more oils and less alcohol, it develops more smooth and charming. Alcohol really pushes all the volatile ingredients, and makes a fragrance really sharp – extraits are more oily and feel more round. Also, the increased amount of naturals instead of synthetics also could help to make this perfume rounder – for example, natural rose oil makes it mild and round. Ylang-ylang oil looses the freshness of its flowers in the process of extraction because you have to use a high temperature that destroys the fresh part. You can introduce the fresh part by adding some rose oil to make it fresh.

Now – Patchouli Nosy Be extrait. Currently we are the only company that uses this quality of patchouli oil. It has less patchoulol, and more patchoulene and alpha-guaiene, so it's more woody and it also has a touch of  dark chocolate in its natural smell. And it`s less camphoraceous and mossy than rude oil. You can smell the chocolate part and also 'shinus molle' or pink pepper. I like this blend a lot. But also, I am disappointed by the fragrance, because my skin changes it a lot, and on me it smells so much different from the ideal we created. I just cannot wear it. When I smell it on my father or other people, it smells fantastic and I want to wear it – but on me, it becomes too sharp and too dry, it lacks roundness…

Sergey Borisov: You could wear it on your scarves, on handkerchiefs… 

Gian Luca Perris

Gian Luca Perris: Yes, that could help… Sometimes I put it on my clothes or on my drying shirts after washing, but never on my skin. And now Oud Imperial, the fourth fragrance. If you have noticed, we started with the easy-going and tender edition and worked our way up to the most intense – Oud Imperial is a beast. It has a big improvement in quality of the oud oil, it`s a different oil which is much more expensive, and we doubled the concentration of the natural oud oil in the blend. Plus, we lessened the amount of incense, as it tends to be a bit sharp in the base notes of the Oud Imperial EDP. So now, the extrait is less camphoracious and more round, and it`s prolonged with cistus absolute, to make the animalic part of oud oil more mild. And to bring that woody resinous part of cistus. All extraits will be in transparent bottles of 50 ml, priced around 275 euro. 

Sergey Borisov: OK, Gian Luca, thank you very much for the good news! Congratulations upon the future launch! 

Gian Luca Perris: Thank you! All the best to all Fragrantica readers!