Mona di Orio is a perfumer for whom I have not had the pleasure to have experienced all of her fragrances. Of the ones I had tried previously Amyitis, and its exquisitely balanced heart of iris and violet, had me wanting to try more. It was why I was so pleased to find her latest collection Le Nombres D’Or getting a wider distribution and it also gave me the opportunity I had wanted, to try more by Mme. di Orio. Les Nombres d’Or translates to the “Golden Ratio” and whatever one might think of Mme. di Orio’s fragrances catering to the lowest common denominator is not an apt description. For Les Nombres d’Or she chose to explore what I would characterize as three very masculine notes; Ambre, Cuir (Leather), and Musc and create three singular fragrances featuring that note at its axis. What I found after wearing these three fragrances was that all of them had a similar intensity and architecture which allowed Mme. di Orio to show of each of these notes like a diamond solitaire set above everything else but enclosed in the titular D’Or to enhance the quality of the central note.

 

Les Nombres D’Or Ambre

When one tries to describe ambre it can often be like the parable of the three blind men describing an elephant, depending on what amber you’re dealing with it can feel very different from fragrance to fragrance. Ambre, in this case, is that spicy mélange I have found in Middle Eastern perfumery. It is that Middle Eastern level of intensity that Mme. di Orio attains in her perfume but she also gives an almost Bauhaus flourish to that classicism with the addition of clean lines throughout the development. The one common thread to all of the Le Nombres D’Or is they arrive with a bang. There is no gentle build up here as right from the atomizer, on to my skin, spicy amber is infusing my space. As the intensity dies down I get to see the underpinning which is creating this intensity. In the case of Ambre it is a skillful mix of ylang-ylang, benzoin, cedar, and vanilla which combine to create the Ambre accord. If you just let Ambre wash over you it will feel almost linear but if you stop to smell the Ambre you will be able to pick apart the strands and as you focus on those strands they tend to tease themselves away and allow you to appreciate them individually. That ability makes Ambre feel as if it is an olfactory illusion but make no mistake the reality is Ambre is a subtly complex creation by Mme. di Orio.

 

Le Nombres D’Or Cuir

When it comes to leather fragrances I fear I’ve become a bit of a snob. My personal journey has kept exposing me to richer and deeper leather fragrances and as I’ve fallen in love with Chanel Cuir de Russie and Serge Lutens Daim Blond, to name two of many, run of the mill leather just doesn’t hold my interest. Mme. di Orio clearly also has no interest in being run of the mill as Cuir is one of the best pure leather fragrances I’ve tried in some time. As with Ambre right from the opening spritz there is a raw unfinished leather at play. It is kept on the rougher side as first absinthe adds its alcoholic sweetness as contrast; followed by opoponax before castoreum takes Cuir into deeply animalic territory where it lingers for hours. The ending of Cuir has a lovely depth to it that I have not experienced in a recent leather fragrance. It feels like Mme. di Orio is trying to remind us that while leather can be suede smooth there is real beauty to be found in leather’s rougher edges and in Cuir she has elegantly displayed the beauty in that rough beast.

 

Le Nombres D’Or Musc

For Musc , Mme. di Orio chose to dial back the initial intensity found in Ambre and Cuir. While Musc still springs to life in full musky glory right away this doesn’t contain the same amplification that Ambre and Cuir carry. Instead Musc builds on the opening to arrive at the same intensity of its cohorts by the end. In the early stages Musc feels like a sheer white musc as a floral fanfare breezes across it consisting of neroli, rose and heliotrope. Angelica and its botanical muskiness deepen Musc as it takes the musk accord a level deeper. Tonka adds its sweet and hay-like duality before Musc dives deep into the pool of sensuality that is musk. As with Cuir the final stages carry a lovely concentrated blast of the titular note and lingers there for the duration. Musc displays Mme. di Orio at her best and show why she has become so highly regarded as a perfumer.

Le Nombres d’Or have extended longevity, almost 24 hrs. of it on my skin. The sillage starts off quite above average but I found it became much closer wearing over time.

Many times a collection by a perfumer has the ability to show where they have some weaknesses. In Le Nombres D’Or Mme. di Orio goes from strength to strength with gusto and has created three fragrances that while they seem somewhat different in the end really do constitute three of a kind, three aces.

 

Disclosure: This review was based on samples purchased from Luckyscent.

-Mark Behnke, Managing Editor