Sarah McCartney of 4160Tuesdays
It is no secret that I happen to be enamored of Sarah McCartney’s work for her London perfume house 4160Tuesdays. Her range is just chock-a-block full of beautiful and thoughtfully considered fragrances. A while back Sarah announced the pre-release of a new Eau De Parfum called Truth Beauty Freedom Love. Produced via a Kickstarter campaign, the perfume would be a tribute named for the rallying cry of the 19th Century Bohemian movement of artists, writers and free thinkers.
Julian Sands in A Room With A View Truth! Beauty! Joy!
Sarah also found inspiration in the beautifully realized film version of E.M. Forster’s novel “A Room With A View”, a lush and luminous watercolor washed story of class distinction that takes place in both gentrified pre-Raphaelite era England, and a Baedeker-infused chiaroscuro of 19th century Florence Italy, then a pivotal stop on the “Grand Tour” of the continent. Sarah specifically remembered the scene where actor Julian Sands as the love-struck free-spirited George Emerson climbs an olive tree to proclaim his personal credo to the Italian countryside; “Truth! Beauty! Joy! The eternal YES…”.
Ltd. Edit. Scarves in navy and pink by Dalliance & Noble
Calling upon James Skinner, renowned scarf designer for the British company Dalliance & Noble, Sarah and James collaborated to make both a scarf and a fragrance which were then financed through their Kickstarter campaign. They met in the 4160Tuesdays studio in West London to smell different natural and synthetic materials. The result was a collection of aromas which ultimately became 4160Tuesdays Truth Beauty Freedom Love, and a stunning silk scarf to match. James created the scarf design using the plants that the materials came from, and the wildlife they support. In the corners of the scarf he placed the aroma molecules which cast a perfumer’s spell on the blend to transform it from just a mixture of materials into an elegant, wearable fragrance.
Julian Sands & Helena Bonham Carter in A Room With a View
And elegant and wearable it is, in spades. 4160Tuesdays Truth Beauty Freedom Love presents primarily as an iris and wood centric fragrance, but it takes a winding and circuitous path through an 18th Century Italian field and forest floral dreamscape to get there. This is a path both full of dry hay and wheat stalks, then you’re amongst shade-dappled trees ripe with low-hanging fruit; fecund and aromatic. The hot sun on your neck and the ever-present drone of honeybees and wasps gorging themselves on the dripping juices.
Alexander McQueen, apped with frangipani by MC
The honey note is present, and frankly very few perfumers treat honey as reverently and unforgettably as Sarah McCartney. (If it’s proof you need, just try her extraordinary Centrepiece Extrait, one of my all-time top ten which I described in a Cafleurebon review as “…the star of my collection, a pure parfum that’s like being dipped in wild honey lashed with tea, vanilla, musk, and the beautiful floral scent of frangipani…”) Just when you feel like might be overjoyed to drown in the sublime opening, the iris appears, earthy, rooty, and shot through with exquisite wood notes that are deep and polished to a high sheen with a slightly sweet violet oil.
Helena Bonham Carter – A Room with a View (1985)
The feeling is one of a fine silk charmeuse scarf, cool and sophisticated, reflecting light and shadow, and creating a vintage vibe that serves to remind us once again of the iconic and unforgettable fragrances of the past. As they say: “Everything old is new again”, but rarely has a scent been created that can uphold, and dare I say surpass the beauty of the old. 4160Tuesdays Truth Beauty Freedom Love is nothing short of breathtaking.
Note: Both the perfume and the limited edition scarf (in different colored backgrounds) are available for purchase on the 4160Tuesdays website. Shipping from London is restricted (30 ml. or less) so make sure to check with Sarah at 4160Tuesdays for availability.
Notes: Honey, bergamot, tobacco, vanilla, hay, iris, apricot, musk, violet tinted woods.
Disclosure: Thanks to Sarah McCartney and 4160Tuesdays for the sample. The opinions are my own.
-Robert Herrmann, Senior Editor
-Art Direction: Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief
4160Tuesdays Truth Beauty Freedom Love
Thanks to Sarah McCartney, we have TWO 30 ml. bottles of 4160Tuesdays Truth Beauty Freedom Love for registered reader in either the UK and EU, and 1 for anyone anywhere else in the world, so be sure to register if you have not done so. To be eligible please let us know what you thought of Robert’s review of 4160Tuesdays Truth Beauty Freedom Love, what movie could inspire a perfume and if you have seen a Room With A View. Also please let us know where you live. Draw closes on 6/28/2018
We announce the winners only on our website and on Facebook so like Cafleurebon and use our Blog feed…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.