Timothy Han of Edition Perfumes (polaroid photos Agnieszka Trzoch)
Speaking with Ann Onusko of Indigo Perfumery about how she selects and curates fragrances for her perfume boutique in Cleveland and the even greater task of importing fragrances from around the world, including the ever increasingly restrictive UK- our conversation finally turned from politics to art and she spoke highly of a new British natural perfumer and conspired to send me a sample. Let me share what Ann's curating nose has discovered for you: East London's Timothy Han is the founder of Edition Perfumes. A natural artisan perfumery house based on the existential quandary: can a natural perfume every be made twice outside the same batch of raw materials? When the batch of rose oil from 1992 is gone, is the perfume made with that oil the same when rose oil from 2002 is used? Unlike synthetic counterparts, botanical ingredients carry the scent of the season in which they were grown. “Natural ingredients vary from season to season and crop to crop. This can affect the fragrance in minute ways. It's the reason why some perfume aficionados seek out specific years of a perfume's production. Thus the concept of Edition Perfumes was born.”
Simone de Beauvoir wrote She Came To Stay in 1943; Edition Perfumes bottle
She Came to Stay, the debut fragrance based on the novel by Simone de Beauvoir (1943), is a unisex, woody fougere fragrance which “…tells the story about our perceptions of a world on the edge of change and the evolving nature of our relationships with those close to us.” A muted cedar wood briefly announces the clove and patchouli accord, almost floral with the addition of nutmeg. When basil herbed lemon and geranium start to lift the heady and healthy dosing of oakmoss, there is the fern or barber shop aroma (depending on who you ask)- hallmark of a classic fougere. The combination of astringent geranium and tart lemon keep the fougere fresh and clean- a maneuver away from men's stand-bys and the powdery Victorian places the aroma family can be directed. The green accord has longevity far beyond what is typically expects of a natural perfume and will eventually burn off to a labdanum and vetiver layer, at least on my skin… at this moment in time.
Top: (L) Courteneh,Polly
Bottom: Kim, Paulina, Rosario
As much a story about knowing yourself as it is about knowing others- She Came to Stay is a perfume about knowing the subtleties of your own skin. About what is absorbed, what is projected- in heat, in cold and in the transitions of the environment around you. Used as standard or daring discovery of the fougere aroma family or as suggested by Edition Perfumes- this could be the adaptive base from which you layer your own personal scent story. (Inviting their sophomore offering to be perfectly layered upon the first Edition Perfume.)
notes: top notes of geranium, basil and lemon, a heart of Indonesian clove, nutmeg and cedar wood and a base of patchouli, vetiver, labdanum and oakmoss.
–Einsof, Natural Perfume Editor
(disclosure: my sample was provided by Indigo Perfumery for review.)
Writer's Note: The First Edition of this perfume is limited to only 500 bottles. Kirtland Ash, an artist from Oregon for the packaging uses primarily collage, fusing text and images on paper to explore the human form. For this First Edition, #001, Ash produced only five different print designs, Courteneh, Kim, Paulina, Polly and on vinyl with a run of only 100 each for a total of 500 perfumes.
Although She Came to Stay is only available in the UK through Edition Perfumes website, Brown's of London and Content of London. Thanks to Ann at Indigo Perfumery, and her desire to share hard to find perfume with ÇaFleureBon readers, we have one rare sample for a US reader. To be eligible please leave a comment with what intrigues you about Einsof's review, Edition Perfumes and why you would want to win She Came To Stay. Draw closes 2/25/2015
We announce the winners on our site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize wil be just spilled perfume