“Sunset Beach is a little piece of heaven tucked away in the midst of bustling boat-False Creek and busy traffic on the bridges that cross it. It is that happy place where time stops and the only thing that matter is the tides, currents and basking in the gentle evening sun. You can spend the day there or just bring a hectic workday to a serene close with a beachside walk or a leisurely picnic. Fragrant Harlequin glorybower and Robinia embellish its borders, and in midsummer you'll find musky wild blackberries and hot-pink everlasting peas along the shoreline. And if you're particularly lucky, you'll find yourself swimming alongside a playful harbour seal. Sunset Beach can be anywhere... Mine just happened to be in Vancouver.” ~ Ayala Moriel
Vancouver, British Columbia has been Ayala Moriel's very real home for seventeen years: it's a source of constant inspiration. She's also a swimmer [and a certified Pilates instructor] who feels completely at peace in the sea and relishes every opportunity to be at one with it.
Ayala asked me to hold off on the sample she sent me along with Komorebi, as it was supposed to be released for St. Valentine's Day.
Well, the romantic holiday is nigh upon us.
Ayala has created an olfactory respite for us in the pronounced chill of midwinter.
Sunset Beach's two lone florals are sumptuous and decadent: glorious champaca [an Indian member of the magnolia family] and decadent ylang ylang with its buttery banana tones. Ayala may cite orris butter here [in another post she refers to orris root], but it isn't a floral aspect which garners our attention, it's the rhizomal/unctuous dichotomy we perceive. This creaminess is amplified by massoia bark, two fine sandalwoods [Indian and Hawaiian], coconut and milky oolong tea.
Pandan leaf is often used to augment / simulate the aroma of basmati rice in pulao – yet another contributor in the pursuit of dolce far niente.
Nutmeg adorns champaca's spicy facet; chocolate and coffee serve as modifiers, vivid in the opening of Sunset Beach and mellowing as the perfume unfolds. Cedar provides both communion with sandalwood as aromatic anchor and imparts a deliciously dusty/woody base – a welcome complement to tropical indolence, it feels earthy and grounding.
Woody Floriental
Notes: Top Notes: Pandan Leaf, Milky Oolong Tea Tincture, Cedarwood
Base notes: Indian Sandalwood, Hawaii Sandalwood, Chocolate, Coconut, Massoia Bark
Sunset Beach manages a distinctly beachy holiday feel without resembling Coppertone suntan lotion.
It's spicily, soothingly narcotic in a delicate, refined manner – so I think of it as an elegant complex gourmand for adults. It is so comfortable to wear, yet never mundane: the flinty/metallic aspect of orris adds that silvery edge of mica in the sand, mirroring late afternoon light's reflection scattered upon the waves.
Everyone could use a little tranquility in this chaotic life, couldn't they?
“Finally, a result came about that fulfilled the needs - smoky, green, red, rosy, amber, milk-like, nutty and fading off into some dark berries, green and wood.” ~ John Biebel
“From the very beginning of this project, I knew that there was a strong visual component to my ideas (this is what happens when a painter works with smells), and because of my connections with music, it made perfect sense to put together something with sound and film. I was fortunate to work with Joe Mordecai of Brooklyn, New York to bring together these ideas into a short but potent 18 seconds of sound and image. His film work was extremely important to this project. Nothing beats people around you who share your particular vision, and Joe took the sound and images to an entirely new level. The Smolderose promotional film for January Scent Project put a distinct voice to this scent that has so far remained voiceless. Now, it sings.” ~ The January Scent Project
When it comes to John Biebel of our Fragrantica family of writers, it's personal.
John is not only a cherished colleague, he is a dear friend, a family-member-by-choice who is loved and admired by my husband, our grown sons [My particular love name for him is Janusz, The True Biebs.].
The man I trust with my confidences who sits in our kitchen and eats whatever I've dreamed up for him: drinks coffee, tea, beer, wine, spends hours sniffing and discussing.
He is a polymath, a complex human being with many facets: John's a fine artist, for one, who attended Cooper Union and graduated with a BFA in Painting and Photography. He is also a musician, fascinated with exotic instruments [most recently, ones from Istanbul] who has recorded any number of eclectic strains. He writes evocatively and is a fabulous interviewer; John possesses a perpetually inquisitive mind which never sits still. He's quite a cook as well and is fascinated with film [another aspect of his visual-spatial orientation]. He can knit the hell out of anything. Travel on a shoestring budget.
"Love as a Dream with Bird and Hand" 9.5 x 9.5 inches, ink and gesso on wood, 2016, John Biebel
In short, here is a man intensely curious about everything which crosses his path – and perfume is no exception.
So when he came to dine with us awhile back, it was even more special: Lucy Raubertas of Indieperfume in Brooklyn had come to spend the weekend here in Boston, and I'd been cooking and baking like a fiend. Most of the family was present. After dinner, John reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out a small cylindrical bottle: Smolderose, a recent mod.
He passed it around, and everyone tried it on their skin. Smoky [very!], rosy, lovely, but unfinished somehow. A really good beginning. I suggested pulling back on the cade and birch tar [it's such a tenacious, tricky thing] and adding perhaps a touch of benzoin in the base; Lucy was thinking heliotrope or cashmeran, to gentle the composition a bit.
Everyone agreed that we liked it and that it was unusual...
Fast forward: I received a package in the mail, a fait accompli. Exquisite graphics [no surprises there], thoughtful packaging including business card, mouillette, and rollerball bottle. It looked like John was really serious about this, and that here was the end result. Beautifully, carefully executed.
I asked John if he would allow me to review it here on Fragrantica, to interview him; happily for me, he agreed. Somehow, though, the timing didn't quite feel right. I had a significant backlog of prospective work [what ever changes?!] to attend to, and the holidays were rapidly approaching.
The article had to wait.
The Interview
I: How long have you been experimenting?
J: “I'm a little embarrassed, but...I started fooling around in my 20's; it was an utter disaster. I turned my back on it, and remained 'fearful of rosemary' for about 15 years! I think I overdosed on it.
Recently, though – I'd say about 2 years or so, with the last year being pretty intense, working a few times a week, every week after work – I revisited my passion.
I started by investigating how perfumes are made. I need to refer to you here, because a major part of the process has been exposure to certain perfumes; being exposed to elements in them was an enormous learning process.”
I: How did you go about building up materials?
J: “I started looking up sources to deconstruct perfumes online. The Good Scents Companyhad a lot of information about scent profiles for essential oils and other substances. I noticed a particular triangulation in the process: being exposed to the scent/thinking about it/researching websites that sell and obtaining materials. When I received samples, I experienced the sense of recognizing an old friend – or complete surprise, as in “What is this???”
I: What literature, sources did you utilize in your research?
J: “When I went looking, there really wasn't a lot out there, and that was a surprise.The Art of Perfumery by Septimus Piesse [1857]was a great resource; really chatty, you know? A lot of 'tricks of the trade', revealing stuff you weren't supposed to talk about, trade secrets. How people were passing rose geranium off as rose oil, for example.
I found that people reveal information slowly and carefully.
I searched on Amazon, and found British literature, in particular The Chemistry of Fragrance by David Pybus: it's a group of essays published in 1999, but many essays are older. It gets into early testing – what components do the following things? There is a lot of science, things like evaporation rates, molecular reactions, and the importance of natural substances. The realization that you can attempt to make something smell like a natural, but it will never quite approach it.
For those of us who can't learn formally, this is the process; I can't stress the importance of exposure enough. It's the fulcrum, shared knowledge, experience. Otherwise, it's like creating in a desert.”
I: John, how did the January Project come about? What's the significance of the name?
J: “It's a funny anecdote. I went to a public high school with a very good art department. I was in a design class, and the teacher assigned us one project for the first half of the year: we were to produce a calendar, and each student would pick a month and create a silkscreen. The calendars would be sold, and the proceeds would go to help fund the program.
Each month had its own importance, challenges built in. No one wanted January.
I chose it because January is the beginning, the start of something: it sets the stage /tone, it's a blank slate. I represented the month as a woman stepping out into the New Year, a sort of debutante.
January began to translate into a music project. I changed the word January into Japanese: Ichigatsu.
I guess there's a lot of consistency in my ideas."
I: What perfume influences would you cite? 'Aha' moments which marked a milestone?
J: “There were a lot of scents you introduced me to, but two in particular. JAR Bolt of Lightning – so green tuberosey - gave me a sense of how the alchemical comes into play beyond the elements themselves, heavenly. Challenging to understand.
The other was the whole world of Dior Eau Noire with its lavender/immortelle, an intense learning experience!
My earlier exploration into the whole Orientalist Series from Annick Goutalwas really accessible, a gateway drug for me. The idea of darker, ambery scents, the world of resins, Biblical scents, the earthiness of them [of myrrh!] which had felt like they were reserved for the Church, you know?”
I: What particular perfumers are influential?
J: [Laughs. It's late and he still has work to do after our interview]
“Well, there's that perfumer from Molton Brown,Jennifer Jambon. She's young, but herNavigation Through Scent series is really good, gateway scents which are accessible but with an exotic feel. It's a hard thing to do, both wearable and fascinating, admirable!
In a way, it's about the intense relationship withSerge Lutens and the collaboration they embarked upon. I admire their incredible consistency; they created a family - the crazy aunts, obedient children, dead relatives! A similar base, perhaps – whatever it is, it works incredibly well.
Jacques Polge created a number of Chanel Exclusives, just beautiful: Beige,Coromandel, poetic perfumes. They come at a strange time, new perfumes like traditional perfumes with a lovely layer of dust on top – genius.
Charna Ethier is a very free, daring inventive spirit. She has an intuitive sense of perfume, things seem to come to her. Really wearable; she's great with top notes, too. Her own fruit tinctures really add a sparkle.”
I asked John about his much earlier mods which I'd smelled when he first started sharing them.
I: What about a few years ago? You were really into citrus/patchouli then! Litsea cubeba – you were wild about it.
J: “I save everything, all of them! I have a vast box of little vials and catalog meticulously. Certain times, my nose shifts in interest. I go back and smell my older work. I keep re-referencing and revisiting them.
One of the dangers of working alone is being seduced by complexity, the chauvinistic idea [and I imagine that more men would react this way than women] that 'the more complex it is, the better it is'.
If there is too much going on, then simplify. Pay homage to simpler ideas.”
I: Why did you choose an oil format for your first perfume? The ability to mail it more widely? The intimacy?
J: The choice of oil was part of the process. I see it as a learning curve. Let me be clear: this is all part of a learning process. I am not a traditionally trained perfumer.
Oil allowed me to blend more quickly and mature the fragrance much faster. The very nature of the smell is suited to oil, and I liked the idea of fractionated coconut oil, something good for the skin. I liked the idea of something to tuck behind the ear, the wrist.”
I: Well, we're back to something I asked you when you started: are you ready to meet the prospective supply/ demand if this takes off?
J: “I think so! I have a supplier for everything and a backup plan, materials!”
[I hope that I've captured something of John's personality, thought process here, through his own words.]
Smolderose
Notes: mandarin, citronella, rosa bourbonia absolute, rose geranium, angelica, labdanum, castoreum, cade, blond tobacco, birch tar, agarwood, cashmeran, coriander, honey, patchouli, black pepper, benzoin, vanilla, and galbanum
John became enamored of cade, that resinous end product of burnt juniper wood.
[I smile. I first encountered oil of cade while working with psoriasis and other skin diseases over 40 years ago; it was so potent that the odor lingered even after donning 3 pairs of rubber gloves, I might add. It took me years to get over that very immediate olfactory association.]
John venerates the rose as well, and I share that. All her faces, facets, so much choice.
The name Smolderose is just brilliant. It breathes life into a different spin on smoky rose.
Heaven knows, there are more rose/oud combinations than one can shake a stick at.
When John first revealed Smolderose to us, it felt too medicinal, a bit rough [not that there is anything wrong with that, if that's what you're aiming for] around the edges; the cade and birch tar were a bit overgrown in the garden, much the way mint will choke a rosebush. He's modified that.
The spiciness of coriander, black pepper and angelica [with its spicy/rhizomal/green smoky undertone] prove an excellent foil for the tangy citrus topnotes and the rich honeyed rose/rose geranium; galbanum's voice is immensely green and resinous, but it speaks softly here. Animalics growl sociably underneath it all, with many favorites – honey, castoreum, labdanum. Smoky aspects are amplified by blond tobacco and oud, softened by vanilla, patchouli, cashmeran and benzoin.
What does this mean?
How does it translate?
For me, Smolderose is a Hookah Perfume, a perfume for the seraglio.
I want my legion of eunuchs bearing fans, abundant silken cushions in riotous hues, and female companions bathing in precious attars - after which we are liberally massaged with all the perfumed unguents of Arabia.
Conversely, I want to be an intimate group of Moroccan men in a cafe, smoking hookah and drinking small cups of potent Arabic coffee; spending the larger part of an evening regaling one another with storytelling into the wee hours.
Intimacy, camaraderie spied through a veil of spicy, honeyed floral embers.
The caravanserai awaits.
This is Smolderose.
I'd like to thank John Biebel for his infinite patience and good humor.
And for allowing me to be his Fragrantica interviewer <3
[P.S.: Despite our friendship, good jus is just that. Several friends create perfumes which do not appeal to me in this manner; it's a fact of life. Nothing can possibly suit everyone.]
Mme. Gauri Garodia frets: “Is the oud a bit heavy due to the saffron? I wanted the oud to stay still and creamy and warm. My next version for myself will have more sandal and less herb...it will not diffuse at all.” I assure her: “Nothing you create is heavy, Gauri! You are the Queen of Gauzy and Diaphanous.”
Which she is.
Perfumer Gauri Garodia of Code Deco has created two new masculines—a monsoon-jungle mossy fragrance and a polished bare bones oud of the modern bent. They possess the discerning restraint which feels like her fingerprint.
I've addressed this characteristic before: despite an enduring love of/for the potent aromas which fleshed out her Indian childhood, Gauri lives in Singapore, where it's hot and humid on a regular basis; any fragrance which swells up and fills a room would be woefully intrusive! Cloying, grasping perfumes would violate her aesthetic and sense of balance.
There are several schools of perfumed thought, as I see it. Many enjoy [or prefer] heavier scents, intense ouds, powerhouse florals. Another group wants to smell lovely, but not at the expense of suffocating the neighbors. Some of our preferences are cultural as well. Gauri strives to maintain a delicate veil of fragrance, utilizing materials which always have the potential to overwhelm; in her hands, they never do.
Middle Notes: red sandalwood, gaiacwood, saffron, labdanum
Base Notes: Assam oud, suede, ambergris, patchouli
This is a minimalist's oud, a whispery pashmina of understated elegance. Citrus and herbal accents are the prelude to a luminous heart of glowing wood, resin and saffron. If it were a hue, it would be yellow ochre. The base is more subtle than it looks on paper: no one element drowns another, and the suedelike effect is soothing and tranquil.
I think that White Oudmay appeal to men and women who desire oud-as-second-skin with the understanding that second skins don't shout. It is very herbal and will smell marvelous in the warmer months; also a discreet choice for office and close quarters.
Base Notes: moss, patchouli, sandalwood, cedar, musk
Our perfumer refers to raw mango and wildflowers in the top notes, but these aren't listed here; the nose implies their presence. Hot spices mingle with moss and woods, redolent of sylvan dampness. Even the cardamom smells green. Powerful base notes retain their presence while feeling sheer. I can't explain the contrasts here, except to infer depth without weight; Malabar possesses lusty character without a massive footprint. It won't trample you underfoot, but it will linger with you throughout the day like an adventurous verdant memory.
It seems that I've written twice in a row about subtlety. ;)
Well, so be it!
As it warms up, all aromas will be amplified incrementally—and perhaps being able to "dose" wisely may be a good thing indeed.
I love it when home-grown, hardworking folks create beautiful things on a grassroots level. When you have to build up a full-sized botanical perfume organ from scratch and raise a lively family of four children, this can be no mean feat. I admire Amanda's grit and determination; she's created a number of intriguing perfumes, and her latest—Pro Fond— is a heady floral/earthy composition.
Like many natural perfumes, Pro Fond is, by nature ephemeral.
First and foremost, it is helpful to acknowledge this, just as we comprehend thatNothing Lasts, if we follow Buddhist thinking. <3
We must take pleasure in it now.
Amanda tells me that the concept of a white floral fragrance embedded in “savory base notes” came to her in a dream.
[Knowing the perfumer, I'm fairly certain that she agonized over the process, trying to coax her fragrant components into compliance.]
I feel her perfume more a floral/balsamic/gourmand presence with a juicy preamble.
My attention is immediately garnered by a pulpy blood orange and zesty petitgrain at the outset: the natural isolate phenylethyl acetate possesses an intensely sweet, honeyed-fruitiness redolent of rose, pear, peach. These voices are brilliant and of relatively brief duration [due to the low molecular weight of top notes, generally speaking], as the floral heart follows on its heels and melds with rapidity.
Karo karounde originates in West Africa, a rather tempestuous white blossom with a jasmine/tuberose scent profile and animalic aspects; it is blended with white lotus, ylang ylang, tuberose and white champa, for a bold, unwavering floral heart. A luscious, unstinting heart.
Where do all these lusty blossoms repose?
Upon an unlikely bed of barley, Haitian vetiver, muhuhu [a soft cedary-vetiver African sandalwood with a decidedly balsamic nature], cacao, and choya loban [referred to as a “destructive distillation” of Indian frankincense—a smoky beast often used to emulate leather tones].
I have applied and reapplied Pro Fond over the past few days, focusing on the various stages of development. In this case, I truly enjoy them all: the joyous top, vividly sensuous heart, and the cacao-laden balsamic base. It's a truly beautiful perfume.
I have to hand it to Amanda—it is extremely difficult to micro-manage choya loban, it's such a smoldering powerhouse material that devours everything in its wake, if not vigilantly checked. It confounds me how she dosed that smoky little devil, but it never dominates the base; the vetiverlike components foster a comforting balsamic foundation.
As for barley—well, does anyone recall the Lostmarch Lann-Ael eau de toilette, with all its grains? The complete sense of childhood reassurance [we're assuming secure, happy memories here] inherent in each spritz? That's the role reprised in Pro Fond.
This is one of those moments in which I wish that I had a bottle to fully spray—just to see what would happen. Dabbing works well in many instances, but some fragrances beg to be lavished everywhere. You want to live with them on a larger scale ...
Pro Fond falls smack dab into the latter category.
Thank you, Amanda, for sending me a sample to explore!
It seems that I have waited an eternity to smell this new pair from the Russian-inspired company The Vagabond Prince!
I had heard that they were in the process of being created awhile back and knew very little about them, save that one was going to be about pomegranate and leather. A good deal of secrecy surrounded them—so when samples became available onLuckyscent, I ordered some for myself.
Being half Russian myself, I have been steeped in Russian folklore from childhood, despite being born in America. Expatriates flourished in New York, as elsewhere—and the cuisines, the pastries, the stories, the culture permeated us from within and without. The love of literary and musical narrative was ingrained.
The Vagabond Prince proffers diametric opposites from the land of fables: the feathery, downy silvery swan princess and the furry-chested burly combatants of legendary renown, both signed by Bertrand Duchaufour. These are delineated as feminine and masculine, but [as always] the choice is dictated by individual taste.
It is a tale of familial jealousy and betrayal, true love and transformation which culminates in justice administered to the offenders and paternal reconciliation.
Three sisters vie for the attentions of Tsar Saltán: the youngest is chosen as tsaritsa, while the older sisters serve as cook and weaver, most unhappily. When the tsaritsa delivers a son during his absence, her sisters conspire to have her and her infant son thrown into a sealed barrel at sea [under pretense that it this is the tsar's wish].
The sea takes pity upon these two wayfarers and casts them upon a remote shore. In no time at all, Prince Gvidon is grown and hunting when he saves a swan from a kite bird. She befriends him and helps him return to the ancestral home for which he pines, transforming him into a mosquito, a fly, and a bumblebee in turn. During these visits, he attacks his two aunts and grandmother.
Finally realizing that he longs for a bride rather than his home, the swan turns into a princess and they are wed, and reunited with the tsar—who welcomes them with open arms.
[This same fable inspired Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1900. He wrote an opera, The Tale of Tsar Saltan, in which famed "The Flight of the Bumblebee" refers to Prince Gvidon's last visit to his natal castle in the form of a bee.]
Notes: Pink pepper, aldehydes, fresh citrus accord, bergamot, jasmine, a touch of gardenia, lily of the valley, mimosa, iris, rose, peony, six different musks, sandalwood, vetiver
Swan Princess begins with snow-blindingly steely aldehydes and nose-tickling pink pepper; the citruses are fleeting and cold-air crisp. What follows is a floral medley, sweet upon sweet: mimosa, rose, muguet, peony, gardenia and jasmine. At times, the iris feels cold and remote, echoing the leitmotiv of preceding aldehydes. The princess has many petticoats, masquerading as individual musks – which are buffeted by a somewhat incisive sandalwood coupled with vetiver. These last two components feel dark and foreboding.
I find the Swan Princess fairly linear and aloof despite her sweetness and light. There is a dark undercurrent which lies beneath many a fairytale; perhaps that may be the point. Fairy tales were often pedagogical in nature, cautionary tales for young children in hopes of preparing them for the real world [Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm are excellent examples of this propensity].
These mythical heroes are larger than life: soldierly and stalwart; they have broad hairy chests, tousled bushy beards, tree-trunk pillar legs and are leather-clad from head-to-foot. They can surmount any onslaught, be it from Nature or a feuding rebel horde of marauding tribes.
They rarely bathe, and they smell somewhere between animal and scorched earth.
The opening of Land of Warriors is my favorite part, singing of herbs and leaves, spice and wood. Very soon the fragrance takes a more linear shape. It possesses a palpable density and chaotic amalgam of the fragrant components, feeling much like the charred soil which remains after burning, plundering and pillaging. The leather accords are raw and realistic.
Land of Warriors is undeniably virile and hirsute. It is well-composed yet feels very familiar.
The Vagabond Prince presentations are simply wonderful: Elena Knezhevic's exquisitepermogorka artwork animates the bottles and packaging with personal folkloric ease as she taps into the riches of her Russian heritage. I marvel at how the delightful marries the ornamental. The bottles are a joy to behold and to hold: voluptuous yet practical, colorful as the stories they depict.
There exist SO many perfume boards these days: forums, blogs, you name it—when once there were but a few. Each seeks to distinguish itself from the others.
GoodsmellaCarlos J. Powell began his own forum in August, three years ago. He challenged a number of independent perfumers to create fragrances based on those three tenets: Peace, Love, and Perfume.
Here is the perfumers' brief:
Peace – a meditative incense fragrance Love – a sexy animalic fragrance Perfume – a traditional cologne with a twist.
The responses are still coming in; last week I received samples from Christi Meshell of House of Matriarch.
So, who has participated thus far?
In no specific order, we've accumulated the following:
Each perfumer possesses his/her own vision, that's what makes such projects a real treat.
OPUS OILS CHOCOLATE LOVE COFFRET
Kedra Hart, the nose behind Opus Oils, is always Up to No Good. I enjoy all the collaborative works that I've sniffed over the years, from toothsome gourmands to very dirty perfumes. Kedra has a delightful sense of whimsy and play, and she seems to be inspired by everything and anything. The Chocolate Love Coffret is actually a quartet of luscious gourmands.
Raspberry Rose Rapture: This might be my favorite, considering how much I adore roses, raspberries and chocolate. I sense no faltering or false advertising here; the substances ring true and delicious, not cloyingly sweet.
“A Mouth-Watering Blend of Marc de Champagne, Juicy Red Raspberries, Heavenly Rose Absolutes (Moroccan & Bulgarian) & Decadent Chocolate”—Etsy website
Violet Lilac Dream: Oh, wait. Maybe THIS is my favorite! It's darker and wilder, with the floral petticoat underlying a very dark chocolate... mmmmmm.
“Sweet Lilac & Candied Violets Are Caressed By Creamy Chocolate With A Ginger Sugar Twist”
Dark Chocolate Royale: This has a very singed-woodsmoke tenor to it, as if there might be Ambroxan and/or a gaiacwood component. It is truly dark and mysterious; loud as it may initially seem, the drydown is worth waiting for ...
“A Swoon-worthy, Addictively Sexy, Rich Dark Chocolate Liquor Nestled On Top Of Deep Amber & Dark Woods & Hints Of Otherworldly Ambergris”
White Chocolate Delight: I'll admit that I am generally not a white chocolate fan [OK, perhaps the exception might be Guerlain's now-discontinued Iris Ganache], but this little number is creamy and juicy, a real sassy elixir. It feels the sweetest of the lot, so I might choose to be judicious in application! It's really, really good. Darn that Kedra. My B can't resist this.
“Creamy, & Delightfully Delicious, With a Soft Musky Vanilla Dry Down That Is Positively Voluptuous”
Consider yourselves duly warned. ;-)
OLYMPIC ORCHIDS PEACE LOVE PERFUME
Dr. Ellen Covey, the perfumer, wanted a '70s vibe, a flower-child feel with perfumes that could be worn separately or in combination. Here's how she describes them:
Peace: Peace is the “serious oldest child, with emphasis on incense, vetiver, benzoin, patchouli and other calming notes.” This is a lovely, sinuous wisp of earthy/ otherworldly materials, perfect for meditation.
Perfume: Carlos suggested a cologne-like scent, and so “Perfume is the flighty and free-spirited youngest child, representing the light, airy and dry top notes.”
This is truly a breezy, delightful, somewhat ozonic fragrance, with a light hand and a lilt.
“PINK HAZE is the scent of tree lined Brooklyn streets, of stone buildings, both old and new, and of the hot metal of subway cars. It is the heady yet ephemeral scent of gardens blooming with lily of the valley, gardenia, lilac and honeysuckle on early summer nights. It is beauty of light haze tinting the sky pink, and the energy of throngs of people. It captures the old elegance of the city while regaling the modernity and change of our neighborhoods. It is the scent of our Brooklyn- artistic, musical, inspiring, beautiful….equal parts classic and new, as is this city we live in. Created for the PLP Project.”—House of Cherry Bomb Etsy site
Together, and separately, they have created their own Atelier fragrances.
[For those who might not know: a cherry bomb is a small round hand-held explosive firework that many children used to light on the Fourth of July here in the U.S. They can be dangerous, but weren't illegal when I was a kid. ;-) ]
Pink Haze is an ebulliently floral scent with a certain metallic brilliance to it. It smells faintly of wet sidewalks and the summer sun on a heated car grill: cheerily optimistic and somewhat hip. There's nothing stuffy or stodgy here, and it is as fun as its name.
Notes: lilac, lily-of-the-valley, gardenia, metallic notes, cedar, honeysuckle and beeswax.
EN VOYAGE NEW YORK MAN
Shelley Waddington wished to honor and acknowledge Carlos and the fragrance community, capture the flavor of New York and its sophistication. She succeeded wildly, I might add.
New York Man is rich, worldly, and impossibly elegant. It wafts a self-possession and warmth as well. If you can imagine an old-school club atmosphere sans snobbery [does such a thing even exist?], this perfume would be a fine fit. I can't imagine that men will be allowed to keep this to themselves, frankly. It's just too good.
“New York Man was composed for The Peace, Love & Perfume Project. In the spirit of a celebration amongst friends, perfumers were invited to commemorate the Third Anniversary of Peace, Love & Perfume Facebook Group by creating a fragrance or fragrances according to the following creative brief:
Peace - an incense meditative perfume Love - an animalic sexy perfume Perfume - a classic cologne with a twist Family: Animalic Woody/Aromatic
We’ve intertwined meditative wafts of incense with rich musks and ambers, and added in some City Lifestyle notes to represent that special New York Man who is everything a man should be; peaceful yet sexy and strong, ready for action, and secure enough to share his softer, sweeter side.
Peace Notes: Incense, Myrrh, Sandalwood, Smoke, Patchouli, Cannabis Flower, Natural Oudh, Resins Love Notes: Sexy Animal Notes of Musk, Ambergris, Castoreum Perfume/Cologne Notes: Citrus Notes, Fir and Cedar, Herbal Notes, Jasmine Bonus Notes of Scotch and Cigars”—Shelley Waddington
HOUSE OF MATRIARCH HIGH PERFUMERY DISCO STYLE
Christi Meshell is a Wild Woman, and I love how her mind works.
This time, her inspiration is musical, and she's laid down scents as tracks.
Track 1 OH, MY STARS!: [Heaven forfend that any notes might be thrown my way ;-) ]
I'm smelling heavy-duty florals, ? fruit and aldehydes. There's a real metallic edge to this over-the-top Studio 54 fragrance. It's a wild ride.
“Disco in liquid form. Seductive, spicy and unapologetically vintage. Fizzy. Inspired by the Stars On 45 Beatles Medley.”—Christi Meshell
Track 2 DAFT LOVE: Remember Kreteks, those Indonesian clove-redolent cigarettes, before they were outlawed in the U.S? [Now there are only cigars. Boo hoo!] No self-respecting pseudo-intellectual would have been caught dead without them. ;-)
[Just to keep myself honest: the last time I purchased these, it had been many years since and they were just about to stop selling them. Serena Ava Franco and I sat on the damp grass in Harvard Yard and chain-smoked them. ;-) And when our youngest son Jacob turned 18, our eldest came home horrified—at the sight of J and I smoking Kreteks, drinking absinthe and espresso with his birthday cake. No One smokes inside our flat!]
Spicy, spicy-hot clove dallies with unknown floral [?white] and some mighty animalics, including the requisite musk. The drydown is tender, quirky, and just a tad perverse, for good measure.
I love my crazy Christi.
“The nostalgia of clove cigarettes betwixt freshly powdered silk sheets. Dreamy. Inspired by Daft Punk's 'Digital Love.'”
Smoky, tight-rope walking malevolent/cheerful, ebullient florals breathing fire and gaiac. I couldn't think of a better name for this.
But I suspect that the group Cream would!
“A strange inky brew: purely magical. For blending purposes, your X factor. Inspired by Lopazz's 'Perfume Laboratory.'”
DSH PERFUMES PEACE LOVE PERFUME
By now, Dawn Spencer Hurwitz's name should be a household name—but it probably isn't. That's unfortunate, because she is such a master of the art.
Here's what she created for the PLP Project:
DSH Peace: Bridging East and West, Dawn sought to incorporate the meaning of incense via Japanese, Arabic, and monastic/Western perspectives.
What a complex, deeply contemplative and soothing composition this is.
Not a scent for the vapid: the dreamer, the idealist, the philosopher among you / within you will appreciate the woody-resinous depth and solitude of Peace.
Notes:Bakul attar,Choya Ral, Laotian oud, frankincense, myrrh, rose de Mai, orris, champaca leaf.
DSH Love: For Love, Dawn ventured into the era of early to mid-20th C., known for its animalic perfumes. This is a growlingly filthy fragrance, decadent, rich, and memorable. I cannot imagine any shrinking violets wearing it, but I would, in a heartbeat. Despite its lack of costus, it reminds me of vintage Nina Ricci Fille d'Eve —one of the few fragrances she created which was truly carnal [as opposed to her other beautiful yet very ladylike perfumes].
Notes: musk, civet, ambergris, castoreum, ambrette CO2, labdanum, hyraceum, indolic juhi jasmine, orange flower absolute, gardenia, white pepper and aldehydes.
DSH Perfume: Dawn exhibits her joyful sense of play with us: a truly tonic, fruity herbal freshness which is delightful. So many elements engaged—crisply bitter notes, citric tang, floral generosity, verdant touches.
While colognelike in character, it possesses the lasting power of an eau de parfum.
I'm enjoying participating in projects of this nature again.
[A few years ago I felt overwhelmed, there were so many and I wanted to join them all—except that no one can, unless they have no day job, and no life to speak of! So it goes ...]
I wish you only the best, dear Carlos [I like to call him Lil' Papi—a reference to the Boston Red Sox's famous and adored David Ortiz, known to all as Big Papi !] <3
I hope there's more to share.
On va voir. ;-)
Images: Opus Oils, Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes, Jodi Battershell, House of Cherry Bomb, En Voyage Perfumes, House of Matriarch, DSH Perfumes
