I think many perfumistas feel the words “fresh and clean”, to describe a fragrance, are synonymous with “wan and boring”. I mostly agree with that but that is also because that is where the majority of the masstige and lower end fragrances tend to ply their wares. The question I’ve often asked myself is what would happen if one of the perfumers responsible for many of those fresh and clean fragrances found on the department store counter was given the chance to take that style and refocus it through a niche lens. With the new fragrance from Olfactive Studio, Flashback, I think I have my answer.
Celine Verleure
For those who have not experienced an Olfactive Studio fragrance before, Creative Director Celine Verleure uses a photograph as her brief to a perfumer. For Flashback the photographer was Laurent Segretier who digitally manipulates his photographs so they seem recognizable but there is just enough distortion to perhaps doubt you know what you are looking at. Perfumer Olivier Cresp does the same thing with the common fresh and clean fragrance. By using a different palette of notes and allowing their character to extend into areas where they aren’t so very fresh and very clean he has also distorted what we think we know and has created something recognizable but refreshingly different.
The Photographic Brief for Flashback by Laurent Segretier
Flashback behaves much like an olfactory version of M. Segretier’s inspiration. From the first moments you recognize a familiar citrus freshness but it is then distorted with rhubarb. With a tart fruity transition which carries you to a familiar woody cleanliness but that is also made into something less delineated and softened by the presence of some less clean notes.
Olivier Cresp
The opening of Flashback is a very familiar grapefruit and orange pairing the tart and sweet which are found in many fragrances. M. Cresp’s choice of rhubarb as his distorting element is perfect as in the early going the tart quality of the rhubarb complements the citrus duo. As the rhubarb lingers, and develops, the greener more vegetal character begins to blur the lines around the citrus and now the rind is more evident than the fruit inside. The whole opening becomes something wonderfully different. It gets better as the heart notes are deceptively simple as green apple and pink pepper turn the rhubarb into that sweetened tart rhubarb you find in a harvest time pie. I became particularly fond of this transition as it is so fresh and never boring. Eventually, but not too quickly, vetiver and cedar try to return you to familiar clean woody ground. Just as in the top notes M. Cresp is ready with amber and musk to keep the clean a little dirty. The amber in particular adds a rich warmth while the musk adds a drop of humanity.
Flashback has average longevity and average sillage.
Laurent Segretier
Flashback is the fifth fragrance from Olfactive Studio and I have to commend Mme Verleure for her vision and for how varied the five fragrances under this brand are. Flashback smells like nothing else in the line but it shares a creativity and quality with the others which is becoming imprinted into the Olfactive Studio DNA. M. Cresp interprets M. Segretier’s ability of looking at the mundane, and by stretching one’s experiential frame, transforming it into something magically different. Flashback is fresh and clean for anyone who wants to have their idea of what that means stretched in a fascinating way.
Disclosure: This review was based on a preview bottle provided by Olfactive Studio.
–Mark Behnke, Managing Editor
UPDATED: Celine Verleure has kindly offered to giveaway a 100mL bottle of Flashback to one reader. To be eligible leave a comment on your favorite Olfactive Studio fragrance or your favroite piece of photographic art. The draw ends March 18, 2013.
We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.