Pierre Guillaume, the master perfumer behind the diverse Parfumerie Générale line of fragrances, has revisited three of the scents in the line and reinterpreted their themes to create very different perfumes. The three scents in the new, exclusive Collection Signature are PG 2.1 Cozé Verdé, PG 3.1 Arabian Horse, and PG 6.1 Vétiver Matale, which are companion perfumes to PG 02 Cozé, PG 03 Cuir Venenum, and PG 06 L’Eau Rare Matale respectively. I am fortunate to be able to experience these new perfumes alongside their original interpretations, and offer some contrasts and comparisons.

Figs by Charlie Baird

PG 02 Cozé, released in 2002, is one of the most popular fragrances in the Parfumerie Générale line. Its name is a contraction of “C’est Osé”, which means “daring”. It is spicy, redolent of cocoa and pepper, with a true patchouli used as a top note instead of in the base. Sweetened with tobacco and Bourbon vanilla, with a touch of earth in the drydown, it is warm and sexy, and I am shocked that I don’t own it. PG 2.1 Cozé Verdé has traded the tobacco for greenery. It opens with a prominent fig note, which is delicious and milky, and full of leaf. A bit of citrus fruit creates a little buzz in the nose. After a time, the relationship to Cozé becomes clearer, as the heart does have some spice notes. But instead of pepper, there is licorice, along with a much more subtle cocoa. The perfume as a whole is drier, greener, and less intense. Fig perfume devotees will want to experience it, as it is quite lovely.

Notes for Cozé: Indian hemp, patchouli, cocoa, pimento, pepper, nutmeg, precious woods, blond tobacco, Bourbon vanilla pods infusion.

Notes for Cozé Verdé: lime, fig tree sap, spicy notes, liquorice, cocoa salicylates, pactchouli, dry woods

Running Horses by Vae Hamilton

The inspiration for PG 03 Cuir Venenum was the scent on a model’s skin left by a leather dress. The perfume is a stunning combination of heady orange blossom and subtle leather. It is a sensuous, seductive scent that reminds us that leather was once living skin. I am an orange blossom fanatic, and am very glad I have gotten to smell this. PG 3.1 Arabian Horse takes a completely different tactic to reveal the scent of an animal we can adorn ourselves with. Meant to evoke a horse racing through wet fields, green, grassy, and wild floral notes are blended with an accord of horse’s mane. I used to go to a racetrack that had a park in the center of the oval, and races run on grass were separated from us by only a hedge. We could feel the thundering hooves to our core, hear the snap of the quirt, almost smell the hot gusts of breath of the sweating thoroughbreds. In my imagination, this perfume is what the scent trail would be of that racing pack. Arabian Horse is a very interesting perfume; it feels more avant-garde than most of M. Guillaume’s creations in my experience of the line. In Chinese Astrology, 2014 is the Year of the Horse, and I am a Horse. Perhaps this should be my perfume for the year.

Notes for Cuir Venenum: Absolute of Nabeul orange blossom, leather “skin”, tamanu oil, Moroccan cedar, honey, musk, myrrh

Notes for Arabian Horse: wet grass, wild flowers, narcissus absolute, leather, “horse’s mane” accord, cypriol coeur, musk, amber

Green Tea by Jennifer Lommer

Matale is a black tea grown in Ceylon, and is the basis for PG 06 L’Eau Rare Matale. The perfume begins like a classic cologne, with a fresh, bright bergamot opening. Within moments it takes an unexpected twist to a smokey place from the black tea and an interesting scorched wood note. Despite its smoked aromas, it is lightweight and easy, like the lingering scent of a fire after it is long gone. The smoke recedes in the drydown, leaving a hint of the tea note on the skin. PG 6.1 Vetiver Matale substitutes a green tea for the black, giving the perfume a brighter aroma. The vetiver note is intriguing. Rich and earthy, it is caressed by the softness of the cashmeran in the base so as not to overpower the composition. It has a bit of a feeling of leaves underfoot, of the scent of a wooded place, but not a pine forest. This is a place where the leaves turn, and that is also what the perfume smells like. As it dries down, it becomes greener and sweeter, as if new leaves are appearing.  I would gladly wear either of these in the spring or summer.

Notes for L’Eau Rare Matale: sage, bergamot, Matale black tea, vetiver, scorched wood, musk

Notes for Vetiver Matale: aromatic notes, green tea, Bourbon vetiver, blond tobacco, heliotrope, cashmeran, miel resinoid

It has been a great pleasure to experience these reworkings on specific themes, and reinforces my belief that perfumery is an art. Just as a painter can paint the same subject many times with different results, so can a perfumer revisit inspirations and create very different fragrances. I hope that M. Guillaume is further moved to revisit some of his work to expand this new Collection Signature in the Parfumerie Générale line.

My samples were generously provided by Parfumerie Générale. The fragrances are exclusive to the Parfumerie Générale website.

Tama Blough, Deputy Editor