Terre d'Hermes

As many have said before me, Terre d'Hermés is a fragrance triumph. Voted 'Best Fragrance of the Year' by FiFi in 2007 in the 'Men's Luxe' category, my love affair with this scent began whilst visiting Greece that same summer. Given the sweltering heat at the time, I was enamoured with the way it blossomed on my skin.

Its opening accords of fresh green/orange citruses are much akin to those found in Eau d'Orange Verte - another of my Hermés faves. However, it quickly shifts into an unusual chocolatey/jaffa note, before some rich earthy and elemental accords come to the fore. 

It is the scent of a long-forgotten orange orchard that is overgrown and untameable... one that can only be reached by cutting through thick, tangled undergrowth that has flourished over several centuries through abandon and neglect. There is almost a sense of an "electrical storm" hanging overhead... a threatening heaviness, accompanied by the sharp spike of ozone in the air that declares when clouds, swollen with precipitation, are set to burst. One can detect the aroma of dusty, turned earth as it is speckled with fat raindrops... soil that is littered with over-ripe, mouldering oranges that have fallen from the green canopy above. 

Terre d'Hermes is an elaborate synthesis of accords, but one that ultimately captures just a brief moment in time... a snapshot, which clearly records every detail and impression in vivid colour. It is basic, welcoming and familiar.

Jean Claude Ellena once again has approached its construction with great sensitivity, and the result speaks for itself.  Its projection is perhaps not the best, however it is worn close to the skin, and in doing so, allows the wearer this wonderful personal luxury.

Nature's Nexus Academy of Perfuming Arts

Last weekend I was thrilled to learn that I was successful in securing one of only 10 very limited places offered to study with the NNAPA. 

Nature's Nexus Academy of Perfuming Arts was founded to provide education to aspiring perfumers, and the course will be focusing purely on the use of natural materials. They offer a year long course of study in natural perfumery that will enable students to create their own perfumes and perfumed products. I am extremely enthusiastic and excited to participate in this program, and hope at some point down the track, to be able to present to you, some of my very own perfume innovations.

Costume National 21

Previously, I've blogged about the uber-chic Italian design house Costume National, and the exquisitely crafted Scent Intense.

In 2007, Costume National celebrated 21 years in the biz, and to celebrate the milestone, they created 21 - a new, bewitching eau de parfum created for both men and women. I have been waiting for many months to try this, and was thrilled when a sample recently appeared in my mailbox.

CN fragrances to me, are like a sheep in wolf's clothing. Their minimalistic shiny flacons and stark, monochromatic advertising campaigns suggest that the scents themselves should follow suit: clean, linear, unembellished. But if the truth be known, 21 is yet another perfume in the CN portfolio that challenges this very notion. It contains 21 components that run the gamut from cold milk and fragrant saffron, through royal jelly and creamy tonka bean, to spicy cumin and smokey oud. Though there appears to be a striking diversity in its individual components, a rare sense of balance and harmony has been masterfully achieved. 21 intoxicates the senses and captures the imagination.

This scent opens with a crisp scattering of orange blossoms that are cushioned by a comforting lactic milk accord skimming just beneath the surface. It transitions rapidly into something warm and really rather profound... saffron, pepper, cashmere wood, musks and amber all lend their radiant heat to the mix. Curling wisps of labdanum and olibanum and oud contribute a balsamic richness... the effect here akin to something of a smoky tobacco accord. I can also detect dark earthy pits of patchouli (similar to Tom Ford's interpretation in White Patchouli) and bushels of fragrant vetiver. But there is also an ever-present softness - vanilla, sandalwood and smooth tonka bean that allow this scent to last for hours and hours on the skin. This being said, 21 is not a "sweet" scent by any stretch of the imagination; Ennio Capasa's perfume innovation is a clever marriage between white purity and veiled complexity. A fragrance that again epitomises the Costume National ideal of modern sophistication melding with timeless elegance.

I will definitely be adding 21 to my Christmas list this year, and dropping all the right hints in all the right places. Roll on December...!

Maxim's de Paris Pour Homme

In 1981, when designer Pierre Cardin purchased the famous Maxim's restaurant on the Rue Royale in Paris, he was already dreaming of opening several more across the planet - each one with cuisine every bit as lavish as the Art Nouveau ornamentation and furniture within. With branches now in New York, London and Beijing, the Maxim's empire has become a string of culinary institutions, a hotel and a museum.

In 1988, Cardin teamed up with bottle designer Pierre Dinard, and created the wonderful Maxim's Pour Homme - a lush floral fougere that embraced the Art Nouveau design ethic of highly stylised flowing organic lines and forms. The scent itself can, in hindsight, be characterised as being very 80's in style... full-bodied and excessive, much like other colognes of its time. But this fragrance, now regrettably discontinued, can still hold its own alongside other 80's greats such as Chanel's Antaeus and YSL's Kouros, when pitted against many modern mainstream releases.

A exuberant opening of wet lavender and lush fruits blossom on the skin over a mildly indolic heart of jasmine, sharp muguet and peppery carnation. There is also an unmistakable core of mossy cedarwood and sandalwood that act as the framework for this scent. The basenotes are characterised by dark patchouli and musk accords that dip and dive between the ornate leathery pillars that hold the roof of this composition aloft. On paper, the individual elements might appear to be an erratic assortment, but after 20 or 30 minutes on the skin, there is a wonderful synthesis of these accords that work phenomenally well together. If I were to find fault in it, perhaps its only short-coming is in its longevity, which is approximately 4 hours on my skin.

I am in raptures over Maxim's composition, but have to keep reminding myself that this scent is no longer in production. Fortunately, for the time being at least, I have secured a source where I can buy it extraordinarily cheap (ie: less than $3 for 120mls), so phenomenal deals on this fragrance can still be found. But I am left wondering what will happen when the reserves have all but disappeared, and this scent is lost to the halls of time...

... I can only hope that it too is resurrected on some distant day, and celebrated in the same way the Art Nouveau themes have been, in Cardin's opulent eateries.

Musk Ghazelle: bringing sexy back!

After my recent study of a number of Middle Eastern oils, I feel I have chanced upon a phenomenal find: the treacle-coloured elixir named Musk Ghazelle -reportedly produced by the manufacturer Ajmal (though I do not see this scent listed in their portfolio of perfumes).

From the very first moment Musk Ghazelle reached my nose, it flicked a switch within. It was as if a child leaning between the bars of a sleeping lion's den, prodding the slumbering beast repeatedly with a stick; finally roused the raging carnivore within me. Something had triggered a natural behavioural response in me that effected my human physiology... evoking a desire to hunt, to consume and to propagate.

Simply put, this potent blend wreaks havoc with my pheromones. It awakens a primordial instinct that has been buried deep in the recesses of  the human psyche for millennia... one of a pack-hunting, flesh-eating predatory race that copulate shamelessly on thick animal hides in dark caves lit with flaming torches.

Musk Ghazelle opens with a fine ribbon of sun-ripened fruits that give the impression of having laid around a little too long... perhaps already undergoing the early stages of fermentation into a sugary alcohol. Somewhere beneath, there lies a fleecy musk accord that is not sharp and acrid as with most musks; but organic and somehow fatty. This musk swells and grows as the oil warms on the skin... one can quite clearly imagine their face pressed into the warm, powdery hide of an animal, conscious of the oils in the hair and dried sweat on the beasts skin. It is a very sexy, vulnerable scent... and every bit as appealing to the hungry predator as the limping impala that has strayed away from the main herd.

This is a spirited potion that reaches far into the recesses of the human subconscious. Whilst many mainstream perfumers falsely claim to create scents that render you irresistible to those around you; Musk Ghazelle is the first perfume I've encountered that appears to do so on a biological and psychological level. A few drops of this potent oil shared between couples, is bound to make the earth move! 

Musk Ghazelle is sold by the quarter tola (3ml) for approximately $35, through strictly limited distribution.

Juliette Has a Gun: Citizen Queen

When creating the third women's scent under his exclusive "Juliette Has a Gun" brand, Romano Ricci had a vast history in perfumery to draw upon. With family ties rooted firmly to the French perfume/cosmetics powerhouse Nina Ricci, the architecture of Citizen Queen demonstrates that Romano is indeed of excellent stock. Juliette Has a Gun is a brand that celebrates dominant femininity, where Shakespeare's heroine Juliette has been used as a muse; only she has been reinterpreted and refashioned for the 21st century.

Teaming up with renowned nose Francis Kurkdjian, Ricci has created a modern day chypre for contemporary femme fatales. The composition is based around sumptuous rose and animalic leather, and its plentiful use of shimmering aldehydes liken it in many ways to vintage French creations such as Chanel No.5. But whilst Citizen Queen lifts her pistol to tip her hat to the perfume traditions of yesteryear, she stands firmly with her stockinged foot planted in the here and now. The scent opens with wonderful florals and luminous aldehydes that rush to fill the back of the nose. Iris, immortal flower and bulgarian rose engage in a three-way tango across the floor of this perfume, whilst warm amber and soft leather smoke silently in the shadows. There is a wonderful transitory period where this leather accord features... slightly bitter and animalic in nature, it delicately suggests the odours of tanneries from whence the leather has been sourced. Here one can detect something dirty and intriguing beneath the surface... perhaps if Chanel No.5 and Agent Provocateur were to produce an illegitimate lovechild, Citizen Queen would be it.

She displays all the characteristics of being a conservative little Daddy's girl by day, and a pistol-packing coquette by night.

This scent, marketed toward women, could also be worn by a man looking for something avante garde, straddling the line between the masculine and the feminine; the old and the new. In terms of persistence, it will offer 8-10 hours of wear... and, much like the modern day gun-toting heroine herself, Citizen Queen will demand your attention and your respect.

Keiko Mecheri - Loukhoum

As a child, I had an incredible sweet-tooth and it would appear now as an adult, very little has changed. But there are only a handful of sugary treats that I am seldom able to stomach. One is liquorice, and the other; Turkish delight.

From its beginnings in Persia as ahbisa, and then Turkey as rahat loukhoum, this jelly-like confection scented with rosewater and dusted in sugar has survived the centuries. But I was never a big fan of its sticky texture and inordinate sweetness.

This is not to say, however, that I'm not visually and olfactorily excited by these powdered pink morsels that have been romanticised and popularised throughout the ages. Whenever I'm offered a piece of this candied jelly, I will usually politely decline, but stop to take a moment to inhale its wonderful aroma. To me, the scent of turkish delight is far more arresting than the taste.

So it was with some trepidation that I recently sampled Keiko Mecheri's Loukhoum... I was fearful that perhaps I would be exposed to the olfactory equivalent of the saccharine taste of loukhoum, as opposed to its exquisite perfume. But my concerns were unfounded. What I experienced when applying this to my skin was a beautifully radiant rose (which I had expected), but also the wonderful snowy powder of dry dusting sugar. A puff of silken florals emerged over a swirl of soft vanilla and fragrant candied almonds. After some time, I detected a comforting 'milkiness' which was both 'opaque' and 'white' in nature. Loukhoum has been well devised so that it imbues the air around you with an aromatic aura. It is not outlandishly cloying, but it does have incredible sillage and persistence.

I am pleased to have tried this eau de parfum, because it given me a new appreciation of the confectionary. And though I doubt any time soon I will be scoffing boxes of turkish delight like young Edmund in Narnia, I do like the idea that I can enjoy the best part of what this sweet has to offer - without the cavities, of course.

S.T. Dupont Noir

In fragrance circles, there is little known or spoken of with regard to the history of S.T Dupont. Perhaps best known nowadays for their iconic lighters, the French luxury house S.T Dupont was founded in 1872 when Simon Tissot-Dupont opened a prestigious leather goods workshop in Paris. His luxurious leather accessories saw his company rapidly become successful amongst the Parisian high society, and later his sons André and Lucien Dupont went on to produce items for the cream of international society: Cartier, Aspreys of London, the Maharaja of Patiala and the British Royal Family. New innovations came during the highly creative Arts Deco period, and later, with the scarcity of raw materials available during the second world war, the Dupont brothers turned their attention to producing the first pocket petrol lighter. The move was a spectacular success, and to this day, their meticulously crafted metallic, enamelled lighters remain a symbol of status and good taste. In the 70s, the company shifted focus and added bejewelled writing instruments, watches and men's accessories to their portfolio.

It was only in 2003, the brand experienced somewhat of a revival where they sought to produce luxury items that stood at the crossroads between tradition and innovation. A new era saw them apply its values and graphic language to contemporary products such as laptop cases and USB keyrings - all of which carry the S.T Dupont emblematic pattern: the Diamond Head. 

In a marriage between tradition and glamour, in 2006 S.T Dupont launched S.T Dupont Noir - a masculine scent, packaged in a striking obsidian-black glass flacon carrying the faceted Diamond head motif. It is a wonderful object to hold in the hand... both monolithic and cold, its high-shine surface captures and reflects the light beautifully.

Im my humble view, the scents in the S.T Dupont portfolio are vastly underrated. Noir is a fragrance that I wish was awarded the attention it deserves. Its a heavyweight amongst the lightweights... meaning that, for a scent created for the designer market, it is remarkably robust. Created by perfumer Michael Girard, Noir is a scent full of contrasts... it opens with a wonderfully cool jet of mint and soft butterfly lavender which lull the wearer into believing this fragrance is anything but "Black", but then it takes an exotic, spicy turn with cardamom, mace, fragrant clove, and precious woods. It is this warm, piquant heart that prickles with embers of allspice, and, when warmed on the skin, it radiates magnificently. Application in warm weather will allow these accords to truly blossom and captivate! Vetyver, fragrant woods and sensuous cashmeran all dominate on the drydown. 

Noir is an above-average scent, with above-average persistence. I feel it is very fitting as a smart office fragrance, or for evening excursions. 

It is as vivid and lively as the night itself: dark shadows, pounced with light, and brimming with promise.

Tom Ford White Patchouli

As far as I'm concerned, Tom Ford is an apostle of modernity. For a number of years now, he (and his creative entourage) have managed to accurately predict and lead new movements in fashion, design, and beauty. His monosyllabic first and last name has become a phenomenal global brand, associated with self-indulgent style and contemporary elegance. Though the man himself is rumoured to be a fastidious workhorse, he has the rare capacity to make it all seem so effortless. He is also a man who possesses the uncanny ability to envisage upcoming shifts in trends and tastes; and the savvy to act upon it.

When Black Orchid, (his first commercial scent to emerge from beneath the Ford Beauty umbrella) hit the open market, I was wowed. Not only was it launched at a time when 'Hollywood glam' was making a comeback in fashion and beauty, it actually led the charge. Ford had foreseen the trend, and produced an opulent elixir full of drama and elegance to bring to the masses. Now, in 2008, Tom Ford has peered into his crystal ball once again and proclaimed an imminent return to retro-classic influences, and bohemian chic. And therein lies the justification for White Patchouli... Ford's new scent, launching this month.

Patchouli oil was worn to excess in the 70s, in an age where free love and psychedelic 'counterculturalism' was the norm. Now some 30 years later, Ford has borrowed from this revolutionary time, and reworked patchouli into something very different. Just as the hippies were known to explore different states of consciousness, White Patchouli can also be viewed with a sense of 'altered reality'... a modern-day patchouli done through a swirling smokescreen of white flowers and blonde woods.

When first applied, I am struck with a stab of clean bergamot which recedes almost instantly, making way for a very sharp collection of florals. My initial observation is that there is a likeness to the opening spritz of Narciso Rodriguez For Her... it is much like the sensation of drawing a thick silk ribbon across the back of one's neck... icy cool, yet 'humming' with warmth. Rose absolute and jasmine pirouette across the topnotes, but then a 'dirtiness' emerges from below as the famed patchouli ascends to the throne at the heart of this scent. And there it stays, drawing in the satellite accords around it like minions. Whilst patchouli is 'king' here, I find White Patchouli a rather linear fragrance... perhaps after an hour or so, I detect a small shift towards a puff of birchwood and incense, but both are rather lightweight and superficial. I am surprised to find that this perfume's persistence is rather poor - at least on my skin. Whilst I'd strongly advise that it be tried and worn by both men and women (despite it being marketed as a women's fragrance), I do wonder if other users will also have longevity issues that may prevent them from a making full-bottle purchase. If it weren't for this simple flaw, I feel I might have been won over completely. 

There is no denying this is a beautiful perfume, executed well, with a tip of the hat to the 70s. At the same time it is strikingly contemporary. This can be said of much that emerges from the house of Tom Ford. 

Will White Patchouli be a success? I think you can bank on it.

Olivier Durbano: Black Tourmaline

In my book, French jeweller/perfumer Olivier Durbano can do no wrong. Of his three stone poems released to date, I have been entirely enchanted by them all. I perhaps might have baulked at the idea that I would one day come to admire and appreciate every fragrance offering launched by any single 'niche' house; but, here I am with Black Tourmaline in hand, and I have been won over. Again.

In nature, black tourmalines grow in wand-like columns, and are characterised by their raven-black colour and parallel ridges that span the length of the stone. As far as semi-precious stones are concerned, the black tourmaline is dark, raw and mysterious... all qualities of which have been appended and cleverly applied to the perfume.

This scent immediately unfurls with a swelling cloud of sharp black pepper and thick smoked wood... the sensation is intense and palpable; somewhat akin to inhaling the hot, heavy air inside a sauna. All the while, a rich bouquet garni of fragrant spices - cardamom, coriander and cumin - simmer beneath the surface and imbue the air with their dry, aromatic piquancy. A hiss of oudh lends an opulent richness to the composition, and it snakes its way across the glorious frankincense that I have come to recognise as the starring accord in all of Durbano's perfume creations. It is this wonderful incense/resin that is also common to Amethyste and Rock Crystal, and here, it contributes a profound 'otherworldly' appeal. As the fragrance evolves, these accords shift and interweave with dark patchouli, amber and dry woods. 

Black Tourmaline is a hauntingly beautiful eau de parfum. It has phenomenal sillage and remarkable persistence, and can be enjoyed by both men and women. 

Much in the same way black tourmalines were once worn by the ancients for their protection against evil; one might also wear this scent as somewhat of a 'perfume talisman'... one that strikes a curious balance between the earthbound, and the ethereal.

Olivier Durbano is currently working on Jade: the fourth in his series of seven stone poems.