Olivier Durbano - Parfums d'Ambience & Extraits de Parfum

I'm thrilled to discover master of olfactory perfection Olivier Durbano has recently added several new product lines to his perfume portfolio. Since his first release Rock Crystal in 2005, Monsieur Durbano has launched eight eaux de parfums to date that serve as fragrant interpretations of semi-precious stones: Amethyst, Black Tourmaline, Jade, Turquoise, Rose Quartz, Citrine and Heliotrope (Bloodstone). This year, the EDPs have been supplemented by delightful scented candles and fragrant room sprays. Also appearing, are the exhilarating parfum extraits that we perfumisti have been howling for for years!

For purposes of reviewing his products, I chose to purchase Black Tourmaline - a much-loved scent from his line, which focuses on smokey woods and resins.

Parfums de Flamme 165g / 45 hrs

As one would expect from a candle created to scent one's domicile, Olivier has used exceptional ingredients and top-quality wax. These candles are fragrant from the moment the protective dust cover is removed, and once lit provide an even, smokeless burn. Black Tourmaline is the perfect scent to use to perfume your home as the autumn/winter chill sets in (ideal for us Aussies at this time of year)! The scent evokes feelings of warmth and comfort, but is also mysterious and striking enough to transport one to a distant oriental landscape. It's throw is average / above average. I'm please to see the candle burns evenly, ensuring there are no craters down the middle and wasteful wax stuck to the sides.

Parfum d'Intérieur 100ml Spray

Finally a Durbano product that can be spritzed with mad abandon! The Black Tourmaline room spray is every bit as effective as the EDP in producing a radiant aura around you and your environment. Sprayed in the air, or lightly over soft furnishings, this ambient perfume brings an enigmatic tone to your home, filling it with the scent of smouldering woods, fragrant spices and incense. I find it works incredibly well when used to perfume one's curtains when doors and windows are left open on opposite sides of your home. The through-draft carries the scent from room to room for a thoroughly even, blanketed result.
Whilst some might consider wearing this as an alternative to the eau de parfum, it is recommended for use as a interior fragrance only, and direct contact with skin should be avoided.

Extrait de Parfum 30ml Spray

For those (like me) whom have rhapsodised for years over Black Tourmaline EDP - well you're in for a treat... the extrait de parfum is every bit as good, and so much more! The pure parfum offers a whopping 40% concentration (the EDP's a generous 20%), which means there's much to love in this handy 30ml bottle. Straight off the bat, I find the extrait follows the same trajectory as the EDP but for one thing... the eau de parfum's opening is somewhat sharp and astringent, whilst the opening of the extrait is smoother and more refined. The extrait focuses more on the glorious black pepper / cardamom / coriander / cumin facets up front, and the charred, burnt woods and oud emerge in the heart. The overall texture - by comparison to the EDP - feels buttery and polished. Glorious florets of frankincense and precious resins blossom at the heart, and lend their dry, mineralic appeal. There has never been any question amongst fans as to Black Tourmaline's longevity and projection, so I'm sure it comes as no surprise to learn the extrait perfumes my skin for close to 8 hours.

I am greatly pleased that these products escalate an already exquisite line, and remain true to Monsieur Durbano's oeuvre. These products, and products from Durbano's other Parfums de Pierres Poèmes can be purchased directly from Olivier's atelier in Paris.
Visit: http://www.olivierdurbano-store.com/

Parfums d'Ambience - CIRE TRUDON: Odalisque

Maison de Cire Trudon is heralded as the oldest wax-producing company in the world. With its roots firmly planted in the mid 1600's (1643, to be precise), Cire Trudon produced high-quality candles which lit Royal Courts, churches and cathedrals all over France. An infrangible family bloodline spanning several centuries preserved, protected and improved upon original recipes and tools; a great deal of which are still in use today. Cire Trudon products are every bit as desirable and exceptional int the present day, as they were in the 17th century.

What one finds oneself immediately drawn to when first introduced to the brand, are the exquisite hand-blown glass receptacles in deep, forest green. Cire Trudon travelled to Vinci, Italy to have accomplished craftsmen produce individual pieces which are unique unto themselves. A generous selection of candles and room-sprays are available in a variety of sizes and scents... there really is something that will appeal to everyone amongst their delightful perfumed products.

Odalisque is one of several scents that enchanted my nose... not because of its olfactory pyramid, but rather because of the journey it took me on. It regressed me to a time in my life when I was on a globe-trotting pilgrimage to rediscover my Southern European heritage. As I sniff from the candle, I suddenly recall the brilliant Mediterranean light of high summer the first time I stepped off a ferryboat in the Greek Isles... the azure blue of the Aegean straddling a pebbled beach; cicada songs ringing in my ears, and the scent of orange blossoms cartwheeling down to the harbour from the green mountains above. The perfume is etched into my memory forever.
Odalisque is a vivid snapshot of orange blossom and neroli, just like the mental photograph I carry around with me of that day in my mind. But it is so much more. A wisp of husky incense lies at the heart of the perfume... a beautiful tendril of cade unfurls and brings with it, thoughts and sensations of Asia Minor... a bonfire lit on the edge of an Anatolian desert... charred wood, folk music, whirling dervishes, and the twinkle of gold. A poetic narrative of the Near East is playing out under a night sky stippled with silver.

Whilst Odalisque - for me - conjures visions of exotic far-flung landscapes, I must admit that there is something resolutely French about the olfactory composition... a certain tenderness and sense of longing permeates the perfume. I attribute this aspect to a buttery yet somewhat chaste measure of vanilla used to embellish the formula. It has milky alabaster curves like that of a romantic marble sculpture.

The Odalisque scented candle offers up to 80 hours of burning time, and uses 100% parafin-free vegetal wax. The generous 375ml Room Spray with bulb atomiser lasts many, many months. Used either independently or in tandem, these exquisite Cire Trudon products scent my home for the best part of an entire day. I cannot think of a more enchanting nor indulgent way to perfume one's domicile.

Cire Turdon perfumed products can be purchased here in Western Australia at Mariposa Perfumery in Mount Lawley, and globally via the Store Locator on the Cire Trudon website www.ciretrudon.com

NOMAD TWO WORLDS: Raw Spirit - Fire Tree

Like many cities around the world, here in Western Australia, our social identity is defined by many diverse cultures. Our colonial heritage, mixed with the influx of southern european immigrants in the early 20th century, and our proximity to south east Asia has resulted in a state with abounding ethnic diversity. Living in a modern city, however, it is sometimes easy to forget the indigenous tribes that live and have flourished here for millennia. The Noongar people are an ancient aboriginal group who live in urbanised towns in the south west of Western Australia, and are the spiritual custodians of the land. In recent years, there has been considerable interest in re-focusing on Noongar culture and Noongar visual arts... a 'reawakening' of our indigenous cultural heritage.

Nomad Two Worlds is a company founded by fashion photographer Russel James, that serves to elevate public understanding and respect for the world's indigenous and marginalised cultures through art and commercial product collaborations. These cooperations are intended to cast light on indigenous craftsmanship, and assist in creating economic opportunities for their communities. In 2012, Nomad Two Worlds conjured the concept of "meaningful luxury" and developed the first of several socially-conscious perfumes that offer indigenous enlightenment. Raw Spirit - Fire Tree is a limited edition perfume oil using materials sourced from Western Australia, and whose key component of fire tree oil has been held in high regard by the Noongar people, much in the same way Oud is revered in the East.

Fire tree, aka Grass tree or Balga (Xanthorrhoea preissi) is native to Western Australia, and has been used by aboriginal people primarily for the resin it produces when exposed to fire or extreme heat. The resin is very tacky and is used chiefly as glue. It was harvested by early European settlers to make varnishes and lacquers, and the nectar-rich flowers were gathered to sweeten and scent water. But beyond the physical, Fire tree is an ancient symbol of rebirth. When the oil is worn as a fragrance, it is believed in aboriginal lore to possesses the unique ability to amplify the wearer's energy and attract like minds.
Fire tree oil has a very unique and complex odour profile, and it's one that is a little difficult to describe. It is somewhat saccharine and almost floral to start off with... but rich, sappy, honeyed resin notes shift forward in this constantly revolving carousel of accords. There is a slightly smokey, woody aspect which dances between dryness and dampness, and an almost urinous (think: castoreum) quality that is deeply sensuous. A 'clean-sweat' tangy bitterness feels almost leather-like and proffers a musky, animalic facet.
In perfume legend, oud oil and fire tree oil both share a certain DNA... both are regarded by their own cultures as a bridge between the physical and the metaphysical, the earthbound and the esoteric. Both have complex, multi-faceted aromas, and both can be somewhat polarising/challenging to an untrained nose.

Luca Turin has commented "In terms of natural ingredients, I find the Australian Fire Tree amazing - it's practically a perfume in itself".

In addition to the fire tree oil, Raw Spirit - Fire Tree incorporates capric / caprilic triglyceride (an oil derived from coconuts), and an exquisite natural Australian sandalwood oil which lingers well into the drydown.

Fire Tree is a genderless perfume and is the first of several that Nomad Two Worlds plan to release through its fragrance partnership with World Senses and Atlas South Sea Pearl in 2013.

It is presented as a 7.5ml roll-on parfum and retails for $95.
It is available exclusively through:

Atlas Pearls and Perfume - Bayview Tce in Claremont, Perth (+618 9284 4249), and
ABC Carpet & Home - 888 Broadway in New York (+1 212 473 3000).

See also: www.rawspirit.com.au

A portion of sales will be reinvested into Noongar community initiatives.

An Italian Renaissance - GUCCI MUSEO Forever Now

Ever since creative kingpin Tom Ford stepped down from his role as Creative Director of Gucci in 2004, the international fragrance community felt they were witnessing the slow death of the brand's perfume portfolio. Ford's tireless efforts in creating new, unconventional perfumes for Gucci went begging once current Creative Director Frida Giannini stepped into the limelight and - over the ensuing years - retired every last one of them. With the rolling launch of a number of commercial Gucci scents in the years that followed, it was clear a new fragrant era for the brand was clearly afoot, but the hardline 'perfumisti' were having none of it. They were not warming to Giannini's olfactory oeuvre.

In a fickle market where companies are churning out perfumes at an alarming rate, major fashion brands are now looking to capitalise on the modern predilection for niche fragrances and olfactory exclusivity. Hermès with their Hermessence line, and Chanel and their Les Exclusifs are arguably the forerunners in this market, with unique perfumes and perfumed-products offered solely in their boutiques. In 2013, Gucci have followed suit with a comparable concept, launching the first of their Gucci Museo perfumes, offered exclusively at the Gucci Museo on the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, and at Gucci boutiques worldwide. This week I had the opportunity to visit the Perth boutique and experience Forever Now, a collaboration between Giannini and acclaimed Florentine perfumer, Lorenzo Villoresi.

The name Forever Now is somewhat of a contradiction of terms, however, I suspect - given that Gucci celebrated 90 years of history in 2011 - that it is a reference to the timeless tradition that still lives on today. The perfume itself, is presented in a lovely, weighty smoked glass flacon embellished with a black-brown ribbon and monogrammed cap. The packaging is presented in tidy grey-brown with the Museum facade and logo gilded in gold.

As for the scent - it opens with a sparkle of citrus that dances over a piquant black pepper note. It feels quite breezy and transparent, and then a bouquet of hushed florals emerge: rose, ylang ylang, dusky green lavender and powdery iris. There is also a semi-sweet sprinkling of nutmeg which lends warmth and light spice to the composition. Further in, a beautiful slightly-bitter leather note shifts forward. The marriage of the powdery iris and this velvety suede suddenly transforms this eau de parfum... it's former, slightly diaphanous quality unexpectedly turns opaque. A delicate soapiness swells on the air and spreads laterally across skin... it feels dense and substantial. It is not a cloying soapiness... rather a beautifully fragrant creamy lather, with leather, vetiver and earthy patchouli at its core. The lingering trail is of light, ambery spices, and clean musks. This perfume lasted well over 10 hours on my skin.

Forever Now does feel decidedly Florentine, and with Villoresi's expertise and DNA present, I find it lives up to - and exceeds - my expectations. If it is Giannini's intention to bring on board an acclaimed nose to consult with on potential future releases from the Gucci Museo stable, then there is indeed a glimmer of hope for an olfactory renaissance for the brand.
Perfumisti, you can now breathe out. I haven't been this excited by a Gucci perfume launch, well... since the early noughties.

Forever Now is available in 100ml size only, at varied price points:

In Australian boutiques for $282 AUD
In the USA for $200 USD ($195 AUD equivalent)
In Italy for €170 ($220 AUD equivalent)
In the UK for £130 ($195 AUD equivalent)

O'DRIÙ - Charlatans, Regressions and Perfume Prose.

My first acquaintance with Italian perfume alchemists O'Driu and the work of O'Driu protagonist Angelo Orazio Pregoni came via a friend - one whose perfumed predilections, more often than not, run parallel to mine. He had been the fortunate recipient of a sample of Pregoni's latest creation... a personalised and beautifully-packaged kit comprising an amber vial with dropper, an atomiser, and a funnel. The vial was labelled "avantgarde fetish perfume" which immediately intrigued me. I pondered for a moment, wondering whether the perfume stored in the amber bottle was to be considered avant garde, or if the pink nipple dropper and black plastic funnel somehow fulfilled a role in realizing the fetish claim. The supplementary printed material that he'd received with the perfume paraphernalia appealed to me as a packaging designer - it was printed on a flocked cloth-like material that was tactile to the touch.

"Dear friends", it read, "I'm going to reveal to you a secret."

Good, I thought. We all like secrets.
I swatted at the scuttling spider of consciousness that was telling me not to be drawn into the O'Driu marketing prose.

"Some" (secrets) , it read, are "bound with modesty, ethics and morality".

This was starting to sound saucy.
What modesty, ethics and morals could be corrupted and revealed here? I asked myself. My eyes circumnavigated the page, following the black and yellow illustrations in a clockwise direction, hoping they might reveal a clue.
When I returned to the copy, the final line suddenly made it all very clear.

"To experience this brand new creation, simply add a drop (just one!) of pee-pee..."

Double-take. Excuse me?!


Pee-pee.

Pee-pee.

Pee-pee.

I punched the term "pee-pee" into Google's translation field, rather hoping the results would yield the name of some rustic Italian liqueur.

Unfortunately, no.

Are we *actually* supposed to pee in this?! I baulked. The image of the black plastic funnel and awkward moments in the lavatory made me clench my eyes shut in disdain. I couldn't have been more horrified.
We are supposed to spritz ourselves with urine and wallow like a pig in our own muck?! 
The loathing and contempt was growing.
What if I've eaten a lot of asparagus? Or drank a lot of caffeine? Or if Im seriously dehydrated? 
I became conscious of my moistureless mouth, and my stomach muscles contracted in disgust.
"This is not a perfume, it's a prank! A marketing stunt! Pregoni is nothing more than a media-starved provocatuer!

Despite my friend's diffusive words and keen fondness of the brand, I was having none of it.

That night in the bathroom, as I emptied my bladder before bed, I found myself still irate at a man I'd never met. Over a scent I'd never smelled. For suggesting I do something I would never contemplate doing. Not ever.
In all the years I'd worked with, studied and written about perfume, I had never felt so confronted. Offended even. What madman would ask a person to piddle in their own cologne?

"It's probably no worse than what you might find in some grey-market knock-offs", my subconscious offered.
I brushed away the thought with a wave of a mental hand.
"Madonna pees on her feet", it retorted, defiantly. "And in some cultures they drink it!"
I pressed the flush button firmly, sending the thought down the S-bend.

I switched off the bathroom light and slid into bed. I kissed my wife goodnight, and let out a long sigh in the dark. A part of me knew that one day soon I'd be wearing my own pee-pee.
"Inevitable", I thought.

*  *  *  *  *

Four weeks on, and a package has landed at my door comprising samples of the entire O'Driu line. Prior to opening it, I had been cautioned that Pregoni's creations were not to be approached in the same way one might anticipate more classical styles of perfumery. I'd already gathered that, thanks to a certain avantgarde fetish perfume, but I had promised to keep an open mind. Right off the bat, I make the observation that Angelo Orazio Pregoni has an unorthodox oeuvre. This is evident in the individual packaging of his samples - each presented in a sealed grey envelope which hold trinkets, feathers, torn photos and hand-written memos. There is an intrinsic feeling of voodoo and alchemy - magick through chemistry - and I begin to get a sense of his olfactory aesthetic long before I pop the lid on his vials.
As I release each sample from it's envelope and admire the accompanying memorabilia, I can't help but feel the resolutely personal nature of their arrangement. That the torn sepia photos bare some special meaning for Pregoni... or that the folded pieces of paper and their passages of text, are words he holds dear.

But then there was still the underlying vexation of the pee-pee. After arranging 16 tiny vials on the desk in front of me, it was the final - very conspicuous, very luminous - vitamin B12-coloured envelope that suddenly became the elephant in the room. The funnel was there, the atomiser, and the amber bottle with the pink-nipple. Somehow though, in the context of my home environment, they didn't look nearly as menacing as I'd imagined. They were just objects wrapped in clear cellophane. They looked clinical. Sterile, even... the absolute antithesis of my disturbing daydream that conjured scenes of rancid piss-spattered floors in rat-infested basements. I was home alone at the time, and might easily have slipped into the bathroom to decant a drop of urine if indeed I possessed the nerve. But the fiddly piss-syphoning ordeal could wait. I was adrenalized by the sixteen stoppered vials already laid out before me.

*  *  *  *  *

There is no question in my mind that Pregoni is somewhat of a genius. Here I was, prepared to despise the man... the man who asked me to reach into myself and challenge my very fundamental principals... but frankly, his perfumes are too beautiful... too accomplished to entertain - even for a millisecond - the thought that he must be some kind of charlatan. The very notion that he masterminded such a radical response in me, proves he is every bit as deft and calculated as a fairground magician.

Pregoni's body of work runs the gamut between creations that are demanding and baffling, and those that are remarkable and breathtaking. But none are mundane or pedestrian. As I immerse myself in his fragrant repository, testing samples over the period of a week, my respect for the man as a perfumer and indeed an artist, grows stronger with every day. His perfumes have taken me to a precipice, and flung me over... opening a new door in my olfactory journey that I never new was there...

Let me explain how.

The 2012 release Subcilium is one that moves me monumentally... a "Vetyver Experience", the accompanying material reads. And an experience it is... dank forest greens and fragrant conifer needles spread laterally across a rich brown base of earthy roots and resinous tree sap. But suddenly - in what seems to be a kind of olfactory epiphany - this fragrance ceases to be quantifiable through individual accords and ingredients, but rather, through lucid emotions and situations. Here, I've abruptly awoken in a shallow, moonlit grave in the forest, terrified and disoriented. A silhouette in the trees. A green canvas bag. Fear of dying...

There aren't many perfumes I've passed under my nose where groups of accords evoke such vivid recollections - almost past-life regressions - instances where one is forced to surrender completely to the invisible and the implied. 

Subcilium is not a singular case. It is one of many O'Driu creations that I find has this incredible graphic impact. 

The opening of JMT is an overheated engine. Torn vinyl car seats. Toxic fumes. Suffocation with a dry-cleaning bag. It is all these things and a sumptuous rendering of jasmine, florals and spices.

Pregoni's beautiful Lalfeogrigio, Lalfeorosa and Linfedele 1004 summon similar spectres... their olfactory pyramids recede into the background and their perfume narratives shift to the fore. What magick is at work here? I wonder.

In my eyes, this attribute is what best represents Pregoni's perfume DNA - the olfactory filament that connects his entire body of work. I don't know how he has achieved this, but in doing so he proves he is indeed a master of his craft.

O'Driu perfumes are released in strictly limited runs of between 4 individual units, and just a couple of hundred, and are thus rare and highly covetable objects of desire. I would be hard pressed to suggest a single scent in Pregoni's perfume portfolio that might pose some point of contention. Except, perhaps, for one you're asked to pee into.

*  *  *  *  *

It's 8:15am and I'm desperate for the bathroom. My wife is brewing coffee in the kitchen as I collect a handful of small cellophane parcels from my office desk. As I cross the kitchen I turn them in my hands anxiously and the plastic crackles. My wife looks up and sees what I'm carrying. She gives me The Look.
"Oh, you're not going to, are you?" she says with obvious disapproval.

I study the black funnel, atomiser and amber bottle in my hands.

"I haven't decided yet. But I really need to pee".

.

Puredistance - Opardu

Inspired by the vibrant Parisian nightlife of the turn of the last century, master perfumers Puredistance have recently launched their fourth perfume Opardu, which pays respect to a dynamic age of opulence and romance.

Bringing forth feelings of tenderness and seduction, Opardu is the brainchild of Puredistance Director Jan Edwoud Vos and the creation of New York perfumer, Anne Buzuntian. Inspired by a painting by Dutch Fauvist/painter Kees van Dongen of a bouquet of flowers, Buzuntian set out to create a scent that ushered in a sense of nostalgia and longing... a perfume that evoked memories of love.

Opardu is a bouquet of tranquilizing flowers - a rendering of  blossoms that captivate and inveigle within seconds of being applied to skin.
A bewitching tuberose absolute dances over gardenia, Bulgarian rose and purple lilac... the sum of which feels staunchly French and extremely enchanting. It's heart is a quickstep of carnation and jasmine - spiralling florals which are both heady and commanding, and yet somehow virginal and chaste at the same time. As far as feminine florals are concerned, this is how I would imagine all women should smell... graceful and self-restrained, but with a transfixing gaze of dissoluteness in her eyes.

Puredistance continue to produce exceptional perfume, making it one of my most appreciated independent perfume houses. Their scents are timeless and beautiful.

Opardu is now available in 17.5ml and 100ml sizes in the Puredistance webshop and at select retailers.

Parfums Divine - L'Homme Infini

I don't know how Parfums Divine have managed to slip stealthily beneath my perfume radar until today, but I, for one, am thrilled that their brand new masculine L'Homme Infini created a blip on my monitor.

Their promotional literature reads:

"Simply by word of mouth, DIVINE perfumes have magically entered the lives of women and men all over the world".

And so it has, mine.

Parfums Divine have received much praise, it would seem, for both their masculines and feminines. L'Homme de Coeur and L'Homme Sage are the notable forefathers to L'Homme Infini - their latest offering, earmarked for a November 12th release. Parfums Divine Creator / Perfumer Yvon Mouchel appointed perfume maestro Yann Vasnier to bring to fruition his most recent innovation. Vasnier's impeccable resumé includes the creation of scents for Tom Ford, Comme des Garcons, Arquiste, and many, many more.

L'Homme Infini - conceptually - is a man who has the horizon of life stretching far before him - a man who can invent the future. And whilst this reads somewhat as simple marketing prose, L'Homme Infini the fragrance, does in fact, feel rather optimistic. It has a very engaging opening... lush aromatic greens of coriander leaf and elemi feel abundant and proffer a sense of open space. It is deeply aromatic, with warm oaky tones and a prickle of pepper that meets the nose from the get-go. Whilst not listed amongst the official olfactory notes, there is almost a hint of dried bay leaves present too... the opening synthesis of accords skipping alongside other arresting offerings like Monacle x Comme des Garcons Scent 2: Laurel.

A cozy cedar/vetiver heart lends some staunch masculinity, and a subtle huff of agarwood, a deeper complexity to the nucleus of this perfume. There are ambery, resinous nuances in the trail, furnished by fragrant benzoin.

On skin, and after a time, L'Homme Infini wears very much like a favourite piece of clothing. A comfortable woolen horse-riding jacket, perhaps... one imbued with the smell of the trees, rushing wind, dewy mornings and leafy dales. Somehow, it feels deeply individual... a perfume that essentially becomes bonded with the wearer. A wearer who has the horizon of life stretching far before them - a wearer who can invent the future.

L'Homme Infini launches in Parfums Divine boutiques and in their e-shop  on November 12.
It will be made available in 50ml, 100ml and 150ml sizes.

Olivier Durbano - Héliotrope

This image is the author's own, so please do not use without permission.

French jeweller/perfumer Olivier Durbano has an insatiable approach to his work. His eye-popping collars of semi-precious stones are constructed with both a masterful hand, and a keen consciousness of the raw materials he is working with. In 2012, Durbano chose the stone Heliotrope to feature in his work, and true to his own tradition, it also served as the inspiration behind his latest perfume release, which he revealed at Fragranze in Italy last month.

Heliotrope is known perhaps more commonly as Bloodstone, or Dragonstone; a variety of chalcedony which is chiefly a deep green colour, speckled with rich red jasper. Worn as a talisman to protect against the evil eye, and to aid with blood-related disorders, it has been a stone coveted throughout the ages by both Christians and pagans.

As with all of Durbano's perfumes - one can't help but recognise a hint of antiquity at hand. Not antiquity so much in the sense that his creations are like the classical pillars of perfumery, but rather "antiquity" defined in a primitive sense. Heliotrope is such a scent... one that commands instant reflection... it conjures scenes from archaic ages... of warring empires and primordial battles; of far-flung cities buried in the sand; of the prehistoric asclepions and sanctuaries of healing.

Perhaps more than any other of his accomplished perfume releases, Héliotrope not only memorialises this semi-precious stone, but also tells an ancient narrative.

One does not quite know what to expect when first applying this deep crimson juice, or perhaps if one does, I am almost certain their assumptions would be wrong. Heliotrope opens with a sharp mandarin accord, but it is instantly diminished by a combustable chilli-pepper warmth. A component of many fragrances from the Near East, saffron is a major player here... it is heady and piquant. It's texture is syrupy, almost medicinal in nature, which adds complexity and a sense of luxuriousness. I sense florals - angelica, magnolia, heliotrope - swimming at its heart, but there is also a curious sense of green. 

A damp, sodden woodsy green, like the smell of the forest floor after a deluge. I've not smelled Nagarmotha as an isolated raw ingredient, but it is listed as a component here, and I recognise it from other scents like Amouage's Opus VI and Mona di Orio's Oud, and I feel it contributes to this grassy, woody, slightly astringent aspect. Notes of sandalwood and cedar also bring with them a bountiful sense of comfort.

As it develops, Heliotrope feels multi-tiered with layers of warmth and coolness... a huff of musk lends a luke-warm "organic" feel... like the smell of skin at blood-temperature. I ponder for a moment, wondering if this was a deliberate (and genius) attribute to include. Durbano's remarkable and much loved "house accord" of incense and tree resins makes a firm appearance in Héliotrope's drydown... lavish tendrils of myrrh, oliban and benzoin which furnish each of his perfumes with an exquisite earthy, mineralic quality.

There is something resolutely personal about how this perfume blossoms over time... it feels both intimate and curative. I imagine an ancient spa or asclepion with clay pots full of salves, unguents and balms that are rubbed into tired muscles and anoint the wounds of ancient heroes and heroines. Héliotrope, the perfume, stays true to the stone's metaphysical purpose... is indeed reparative and protective. 

Once again, Monsieur Durbano's incomparable cognizance of stones and their spiritual meaning makes for a compelling and thought-provoking creation.
One of his very best.

Annick Goutal - Eau du Fier

In-house Annick Goutal nose Isabelle Doyen has a resumé of perfumed creations that reads like a shopping list of the rich and rare. Having studied as Goutal's apprentice prior to her passing, Doyen inherited her master's keen intuitiveness and passion, which translate into a portfolio of fine fragrances that are resolutely French in their approach.

In 2000, Goutal launched the polarising masculine Eau du Fier to a mixed reception. A scent that focuses chiefly on the marriage of organic birch tar and black tea, Eau du Fier is quite possibly the blackest, sootiest perfume one might ever encounter. Coming right off the back of a decade of sanitised androgyny in perfume, Eau du Fier proved the absolute antithesis of perfume models that were popular at the time. By 2005, it had been already been retired.

In the years since the early 2000's, appreciation for niche, rare and artisanal perfumery has grown exponentially, thanks in part, to flourishing fragrance communities both online and offline. How peculiar that the scent which was globally rebuked in 2003, is now generally regarded by perfume aficionados in 2012 as a triumph, and arguably Doyen's magnum opus.

Olfactory notes aside, this fragrance launches from the flacon like a flame-thrower - an impenetrable wall of fire and embers, fed by combustable accelerants. On skin, Eau du Fier is equally as uncompromising... I am automatically transported to mechanic's workshop... I smell of a man who has worked under a car for a whole day; hands blackened with grease lying on a floor littered with oily rags. Open jerrycans in one corner reek of evaporating gasoline, whilst in the other, a fire is burning in a barrel that has been lit with small combustable firestarters. This daydream plays out for 6-8 hours, until a final lingering huff of smoke eventually vaporises from my skin.

Black tea and tarry birch are the key components upon which this perfume is built, but one has to turn away from the vivid film playing out in their mind's eye to become cognisant of the individual accords. Doyen's masterful hand has interwoven subtle floral nuances of osmanthus and herbaceous/citrusy facets into this scent, which can only be picked when one knows where to look. Every note is treated like a fine brushstroke, forming a small but integral part of the whole.

Eau du Fier will unquestionably evoke a response in the wearer. Some will fan the air around them and cough and wheeze, and others will sit, silent, and wait for the visions to begin.

If only more perfumes could be as accomplished and profound.

NAOMI GOODSIR PARFUMS - A Tip of the Hat to Consummate Craftsmanship

Australian milliner Naomi Goodsir has been producing unique and fanciful work for well over a decade - her eye for innovation and her love of using non-traditional materials render her exquisite hats highly desirable and collectable works of art. After a rewarding mentorship working with one of Schiaparelli's protégés, and having collaborated with acclaimed fashion designers the world over, Goodsir's name has fast become synonymous with bespoke couture millinery pieces that both shock and surprise. In 2008, Naomi expanded her imaginative oeuvre to fashion a signature collection of handbags and accessories, and now, in 2012 she is set to make a splash in the independent perfume world.

Naomi Goodsir Parfums debuted at Fragranze in Florence just a few short weeks ago, and instantly commanded the attention of the niche perfume community. In bringing this line to market, Goodsir joined forces with Creative Director Renaud Coutaudier and the pair worked hard to combine their creative sensibilities and intuitiveness to see the series come to fruition. Following the vast tradition of unique, artisanal perfume houses that have gone before them, Naomi Goodsir Parfums are created and hand-packed in France; presented in time-honoured glass flacons with black bakelite caps. To date, two fragrances constitute the Goodsir perfume portfolio: Cuir Velours and Bois d'Ascèse... both of which in terms of style and approach, manage to tippy-toe the line between the 'au courant', and the classic perfume pillars of the past.

Cuir Velours is a Leather Oriental - one that opens with a striking 1930's apparition of waxy vermillion-painted lips and powdered faces. It has a delicate felt-like texture, and the steadily growing sensation of an ambery / tobaccoey warmth pressing up from beneath.

A moderately bitter leather accord furnishes the scent with a whimsical sigh, and a scattering of papery immortelle blossoms; a certain spiced piquancy.

There is a comforting rummy syrupiness that grows at the heart of the scent... it intensifies until a rather wonderful transformation takes place: Cuir Velours suddenly shifts into a shower of sugar-dusted blossoms which tumble over a traditional oriental labdanum/vanilla base. The trail is satisfying and lingering, with flashes of bitter leather that re-emerge from time to time to keep the saccharine qualities in check.

Whilst the beautiful floral heart is devoutly feminine in style, Cuir Velours can be worn and enjoyed  by men for its tobacco warmth and deeply satisfying acerbity.

Bois d'Ascèse loosley translates to "Wood of Asceticism"... "asceticism" meaning the practice of severe self-discipline and abstinence. I find this a fitting title to bestow upon this scent, as it is a wonderfully smokey, resinous, woody fragrance which calls to mind the many woods and incenses burned in ascetic rituals that span from the pagan to the ecclesiastical.

Bois d'Ascèse opens, however, with a quality very familiar and quite personal to me and my profession - it conjures memories of hours spent rummaging in art supplies stores; heavy oak shelves lined with papers, the smell of sweet gouaches in tubes, sharpened pencils, and dry conté sticks by the dozen. This indulgent recollection is quite fleeting though, as a fine grey ribbon of smoke meanders its way through the topnotes, imbuing the composition with a dry, coal-like texture. Bois d'Ascèse is a spectacular scent with a an emphasis on charred cade wood, bittersweet tobacco leaves and beautifully unfolding resins. Its glorious oakmoss / frankincense base makes for a fragrance which not demonstrates a cognizance of perfume-making tradition, but also rivals the best I've smelled in a long time.

The nose behind Cuir Velours and Bois d'Ascèse is Julien Rasquinet - trained by perfume royalty, Pierre Bourdon. A third perfume is already in the works, Nuit de Bakélite, and this time it is Isabelle Doyen of Annick Goutal doing the honours.

Naomi Goodsir Parfums excite and enchant every bit as one of her exquisite handbags or made-to-measure chapeaus. Her perfumes are currently being rolled out to select perfume retailers globally.

For more info on Naomi Goodsir's collections, visit: www.naomigoodsir.com