Neo Classics - Any Candidates?

Inspired by a recent discussion on Now Smell This, I would like to not only voice my opinions and musings, but also hear what you feel about  Frédéric Malle's notion that "Since Thierry Mugler’s Angel, created in 1992, the market has not generated one classic" and "They don’t concentrate on the fragrance at all. They concentrate on the story, they concentrate on getting a star, or an image or a launch or an event. It’s an idea they sell. It’s the easiest way to sell a fragrance which will please everybody, because everybody likes Céline Dion, for instance — or many people do. They create the sale by selling something cheap in a small bottle. None of these fragrances are designed to last."

Interesting observation. While Angel is an iconic scent, I don't think (and don't want to think) that classics have stopped there. It's hard to find spectacularly innovative mainstream perfumes. Somehow with Dune and Angel inventing the linear structure - it seems that innovation came to a halt and perfumes kinda stayed going in that direction. But there are some iconic scents that happened since then - Tocade (1994 - same linear story), Le Mâle (1995), Bvlgari Black (1998), and if judging by popularity alone - also Coco Mademoiselle (2001), Narciso Rodriguez for Her (2003) and Lovely (2005). The latter is probably the only celebrity fragrance that I would consider a candidate for an "iconic fragrance" - though it does not exactly offer something all that different from NR. though for those three, I think only time will tell: Remember how Cabotine (1990) was worn by EVERYONE and everybody back in the early 90's? (unless they were wearing AnaisAnais - which is is from 1978...) - I doubt that anyone would consider them classics by now. They sure are distinctive scents, but I don't think they come even remotely close in terms of popularity (customer approval) or their aesthetics/design significance (industry expert appreciation).

Kingdom and M7 were rather iconic too, and may have influenced greatly what happened later in the niche world - but since neither were a commercial success and already discontinued - we probably can't really consider them as classics. A classic would and should survive the test of time like Shalimar, No. 5, Mitsouko and the other masterpieces have.

To say that innovation ended with Angel is like saying that perfumery is a dead art. I think nothing could be further away from the truth! All you need to do is visit one of the smaller perfume shows of niche brands and the smaller artisan brands (such as those who participated in the Artisan Fragrance Salon that debuted this summer on the West Coast) to find a living proof that perfumery as an art form is alive and kicking: Vibrant innovation and out-of-the-box creativity is still possible. New technologies make possible more true-to-nature raw materials. Perfumers are exploring new dynamics or "structures" possible within the olfactory art form.

Last but not least: contrary to Mr. Malle's statement, story telling in perfume does not by any means contradict creativity or artistry! Rather, it is an integral part of the art of perfumery, and should remain this way. While the perfumes in his line might not have the traditional marketing schemes - but to say that they do not tell a story is an insult to the perfumers' art and the hard work they put in doing exactly this: telling a story by putting together volatile molecules that meld together sharing the same space and chase and replace one another in succession in a dance that begins in the bottle and ends on the skin. 

Intimacy

dreaming of you, originally uploaded by Amsterdamned!.

In Dans tes Bras, Maurice Roucel brings up the unspeakable topic of intimacy. Intimacy is something that is difficult to describe, but easily felt. It's a subtle emotion and a state of mind that occurs when we somehow connect to another person on the deepest level through closeness or proximity. It's one of those strange connections between spirit and matter: looking into someone's eyes and having a glimpse into their soul; being so close you can hear their heartbeat and sense their breath on your skin and breathing in the invisible scent of their skin.

Seemingly, there is nothing unusual about Dans tes Bras. It is very perfumey at first: violet accord that is both powdery like orris and wet and woody like cassie underlined by noticeable dosage of heliotropin - that vanillic molecule that makes heliotrope smells so sweet, almondy and plasticky all at once.

It is not until a few hours in that the intimate aspects of Dans tes Bras reveal themselves. At which point, technically speaking the woody base notes (most notably patchouli) are exposed, along with foreign molecules which I’ve never smelled separately and which create the sensation of minerals and salt on hot skin. From a more sentimental point of view, this is the point where Dans tes Bras begins to smell like perfumed skin that has been immaturely washed away in a warm salty ocean, but not completely. Whatever is left on the skin is going to dry out in the hot sand and sun and become only a vague memory of that violet perfume but an even stronger memory of that sunny afternoon on the beach. But if you wait till the morning, you will wake up to remnants of Nag Champa incense smoke that has stuck to your clothes, sheets and everything you've ever possessed.

Top notes: bergamot, clove

Heart notes: violet, jasmine, cassie, orris

Base notes: sandalwood, patchouli, incense, cashmeran, heliotrope, white musk

Lys Méditerranée

Lys Méditerranée creates the illusion of inhaling a lush Easter lily (AKA Madonna lily), resulting in a pollen-dusted nose. Top notes of lily are followed by the drip of citrus-honey, light and juicy, and a warm, full bodied orange blossom and rose for a touch of pure elegance. The orange blossom makes this particularly cheerful and happy. The dry down is warm, rich and ambery yet somewhat dry with the prominent note being Peru Balsam oil (which is woodier and less sweet than the balsam itself).

The sweetness is intoxicating but never heady, as it releases itself in small spurts of nectar. Lys Méditerranée may start off as innocent as a Madonna Lily but continues on to an almost pornographic nectar-dripping seduction.

Lys Méditerranée was designed by Edouard Fléchier for Frederic Malle Editions de Parfums. Other perfumes by Fléchier: Une Rose for Frederic Malle, Dior's Poison and Tendre Poison, Christian Lacroix C'est La Vie, Montana Parfum de Homme and the reformulation of Montana Parfum de Peau.

Photo: The Secret Life of an Easter Lily courtesy of Steve Kirby.

Une Fleur de Cassie

Une Fleur de Cassie by Dominique Ropion has a perfumey, flowery-powdery, indolic and wet presence. It surprises with a counterpoint of contrasting elements that work harmonioiusly despite the fact that some of them are very single-minded and stubborn. Aside from a high concentration of Cassie absolute, the notes I find most dominant in Une Fleur de Cassie are a highly indolic Jasmine accord accented even further to the domain of body odours by essence of cumin. The cumin is subtle yet carnal, which is very contradictory to the cool, green and aloof note of violet leaf echoing the cassie. In addition, orris root contributes a buttery powderiness, which along with the cumin feels warm and sensual. The base is sweetened with vanilla and balanced with the lead-like pencil-shaving note of cedarwood, which invokes the texture of wet green clay, musty and dusty.

Une Fleur de Cassie starts a bit perfumey, though not as much as Mimosaique. It is unmistakably a Cassie perfume. Cassie, also known asAcacia Farnesiana or Sweet Acacia, has an intense note that can be quite objectionable when undiluted or in high concentration. As I said earlier, it is one of the most unusual floral notes because it is a floral base note and provides an interesting floral foundation for other lighter floral notes. It is rarely used in such concentration as in Une Fleur de Cassie, and therefore it is not surprising that it often garners ambivalent or repulsive reactions. However, this is what makes it unique. And particularly when played by this particular ensemble of notes such as the cumin.

According to Basenotes, the notes are:
Top Note: Cassie, Mimosa, Jasmine, Clove, Cumin, Bergamot,
Middle Notes: Rose, Violet, Apricot, Aldehyde, Salicylate,
Base Notes: Musk Ketone, Cedarwood, Sandalwood.

The photo is courtesy of my brother, Yotam Dehan, a Desert Ranger in the Dead Sea area. It is a blue robin on an Acacia tree in the Yehuda Desert near the Dead Sea. You can also view more photos by Yotam on his photolight webpage.

Vetiver Extraordinaire

My very first encounter of Vetiver Extraoirdinaire was in the shower gel form. I took it with me to my trip to New York in August 2006, and it prove to be a nice companion in a trip to this humid land of concrete: cooling, grounding and somewhat earthy in comparison to the environment.

It is therefore comes as no surprise than, that my first impression from Vetiver Extraordinaire was that it’s a clean vetiver, perhaps along the lines of Guerlain’s vetiver, yet with far more subtle citrus nuances than the latter. The earthy cleanliness being one of the most esteemed virtues of vetiver, I saw no fault at that and found it very appealing, even charming at first. My current obsession with vetiver got me to revisit the sample I got at Barney’s when I got my Le Parfum de Therese last summer.

And indeed, Vetiver Extraordinaire is clean and fresh, with accent on the woody aspect of vetiver. It reads like a polished, smoothly worked pebble of wood that calls for repeat finger strokes, yet lacks the warmth of wood. Instead, you will find the coolness of a stone pebble at the bottom of a cold stream. Strangely, it feels more urbane than earthy.

Vetiver Extraordinare creates the illusion of thirst-clenching. Its coolness seems to pour continuously (until it vanishes completely from my skin, after about 2 hours; quite unusual for me because perfumes usually have a very good lasting power on my skin). It feels almost sterile and distance and the lack of evolution or depth leaves much more to be desired.

I found no information about specific notes other than vetiver for this scent, and I also can’t say I smell much more in it. Perhaps a tinge of citrus and a smidgeon of mint, and an even smaller amount of myrrh is all I can detect besides the vetiverness. The ad copy from Editions de Parfums claims it is made of 25% vetiver. The remaning 75%, I am afraid, seem to be made of mostly synthetic as far as I can smell.

Lipstick Rose

Nothing tastes more sweet, tender and alluring than trying Savta’s lipstick in front of her dresser. Whether or not I got permission did not matter, my grandmother often offered me her lipstick to try on. In her chic little magical purse she always has everything one needs when on the go – yet you will never guess there is anything in there by the weight or volume. Pure magic. From mints to tissue to anything else, including a lipstick in a basic colour – basic red or shimmering pink or coral - and a little vintage mirror that I will always remember her by: with roses embroidered on the back, and a brass ornamented handle. When looking at it, my tiny young-girl facial features appeared bigger than life and in incredible detail which could be only explained as a type of grandma’s magic.

Retro aldehydic, pink, powdery and lady-like, Lipstick Rose brings back these memories quite effortlessly. This is not supposed to be a rose scent – but the scent of a rose tinted lipstick. However, it does have a significant amount of rose that can justify both interpretations… With notes of violets (both powdery and sweet candied flowers), musky ambrette seeds, soft aldehydes and sweet-powdery heliotrope, powdery iris, and sweet and honeyed raspberry and tagetes notes.

Wearing Lipstick Rose is like digging in my grandmother’s vanity drawers, playing with her little mirror and a sweet smelling lipstick and staring glamorously at my funny facial expressions.

Notes (based on Perfume Addicts Database):
Top notes: Violet, Grapefruit, Ambrette
Heart notes:Coriander, Tagette
Base notes: Aldéhydes, Rose, Iris, Rasberry, Héliotrope

While Passing…

Whale Watch, originally uploaded by Weffie.

Things you may find while passing might be the least expected. I passed through to smell the lilacs of En Passant, and in a short snatch, a-la the chess maneuver by the same name, I found myself searching for whales on a misty day on the Sait Laurent river… Unsuccessfully, needless to say, but enjoying the fjords and the moist mist…
The heady, innocent and slightly powdery spring-like scent of white lilac quickly leads my nose to the subtly fragrant branches and stems bearing blossom-vines. These transform into an olfactory green fig leaf scent, and than in a split of a second you find out that you just jumped, head first, into a chilly ocean – smelling the fresh air of the ocean breeze, with its slight saltiness, and the clean, fine mist meeting your face as you watch for whales on the fast-loating boat…

With notes of white lilac, cucumber and wheat, Olivia Giacobetti has created an abstract lilac perfume that is more of a subjective interpretation of the flower rather than an effort to re-create the scent of the fresh blossom. Its ozone and marine cucumber notes are not my personal favourite and the wheat adds to a certain flour-y powdery yet green nuance that is nevertheless interesting and original on its own. However, the result of the final drydown is surprisingly disappointing in its ozonic-oceanism and its reference to l’Eau d’Issey of all perfumes.

Top notes: White Lilac
Heart notes: Fig, Cucumber
Base notes: Water, Wheat, Violet Leaf

Le Parfum de Thérèse

One of my new discoveries during my trip to Israel was Le Parfum de Thérèse, which I enjoyed on those hot dry spring days when the wind from the desert blows steadily and hydration is a question of sanity, not just simple survival necessity.

Le Parfum de Thérèse is both fluid and stable. Slippery like a cool veil of satin, moist and refreshing like a film of cucumber and aloe vera gel on a sun-warmed skin verging on a burn. Yet it breathes out coolness like a stone-house in the summer, and has the dry sensuality of a marble rock. It is so utterly Mediterranean and is most magical when worn on a hot and dry desert day – than its true beauty glimmers and shines.

With sparkling top notes of basil, lemon, melon and peach, Le Parfum de Therese was revolutionary for its time and preceded the watery trend of the 1990’s by a few impressive decades (and also is far superior in my opinion to any of those). The hedionic jasmine heart is sheer and uplifting, and creates a unique feeling of reviving euphoria. Some of the rose heart notes remain until the very dry down, which is a simple and gorgeous chypre accord of oakmoss and labdanum. Le Parfum de Thérèse shares a lot of its charm with the more widely available Diorella, only is somewhat deeper and more complex in my opinion. Though I barely notice any of the plum and leather notes that it shares with Femme (another great creation of Roudniska), it has a similar sensuality and warmth that is softly captivating and sensual.

Le Parfum de Thérèse reminds me of all that is summer – folding the tart grapevine leaves stuffed with rice and spearmint on a marble-tiled patio and the scent of laundry drying fast in the desert wind, and enjoying the coolness of fragrant melons in the evening.

Musc Ravageur

The obscurity of musk in Musc Ravageur is buried in a cloud of confectionery whiffs of cinnamon-buns. Downright spicy, sticky-sweet cinnamon, vanilla and caramelized sugar. Maurice Roucel has already proved his mastery in creating fluffy, cloudy scents such as Toacde and l’Instant de Guerlain. In Musc Ravageur he goes all the way creating a blunt statement of indulgence. It’s taking musk to it’s extreme warmth, pulsating sweetness by pairing it with vanilla and cinnamon – a LOT of cinnamon and vanilla – to the point that the theme is almost shifted. The opening may come through as a bit crude. It instantly reminded me of Coty’s Vanilla-Musk. It is not until the very dry down that the musk is revealed by bringing forth a velvety skin-scent quality with the sweetness and spicy warmth lingering for an extended silage…

Musc Ravageur is not distinctly a musk scent - not the first one to refer to in order to learn how musk is "suppose" to smell. Nevertheless, it's a great "comfort" scent. If I haven't fallen in love with Tocade for that purpose, Musc Ravageur would be my pyajama-scent.

Coming up next in the "musk series": easy to find & affordable musks.