Bertrand Duchaufour at Profumi del Forte

The afternoon of my first day at Esxence was quite full. I attended a couple of events as well as making my way around to visit with more people and sniff myself silly. One very unexpected surprise was an impromptu chat with Bertrand Duchaufour, which is kind of the perfume equivalent of running into Bono in the elevator. He was there to promote his new fragrance for Profumi Del Forte called Prima Rugiada. I complimented him on the fragrance, which is quite lovely, and then told him that his MDCI Chypre Palatin had been the perfume that transformed me as a reviewer because it brought up so much imagery and emotion. He was pleased to hear that, and we agreed that the best perfumes are the ones that are evocative and take you someplace else.

New Creed collection

I wandered into the Creed booth because I noticed some unfamiliar bottles. There is a new collection coming soon called Acqua Originale (Asian Green Tea, Cedre Blanche, Aberdeen Lavandar, Geranium Vetiver, and Iris Tuberose), which has a whole new look. I need to smell them again, because as the name suggests, the scents are quite light, and my nose was getting tired. They were promising on first sniff, though.

Concetta Arcerto and Chiara Foroni of Calé

A lovely woman named Chiara Foroni, who works for Silvio Levi's company Calé, showed me not only the new Acqua Originale collection from Creed, but also took me around to several other companies she works with, one of which was Humecki and Graef, which has two interesting new scents, Nouveau-nu and Abîme. Nouveau-nu represents hope, and smells of honey and hay. Âbime, which represents a state of agony, which is as much a part of life as hope, contains a deep black narcissus note combined with balsam, juniper, and eucalyptus. They are both by Christophe Laudamiel and Christoph Hometz (Les Christophes). I also smelled the Calé Fragranze d'Autore line, which John Reasinger wrote about not long ago, and it is a wonderful collection.

Another collection I need to smell when I'm fresh is the Eau D'Italie line. I was thrilled to see them all lined up in a row. Camilla Daniele showed me their latest, Graine de Joie, which is truly a happy, joyful perfume, full of fun aromas like pomegranate, freesia and a hint of praline. We all know that a fruity floral done right can be a wonderful thing. I can't wait to delve deeper tomorrow.

Madalina Stoia-Blanchard and Julien Blanchard

I don't know if there is a cuter couple in the world than Julien Blanchard and Madalina Stoica-Blanchard of Jul et Mad. Their perfume line tells different chapters in their own love story. Their latest, Aqua Sextius, by Cécile Zarokian, is inspired by Aix-en-Provence, where they have spent a lot of time together, and smells of herbs and flowers in the sun. Just watching them interact is a joy, and you know that love story is true.

Étienne de Swardt

Etat Libre D'Orange is always full of surprises, and their new release is just that. After a reputation of unabashed, in-your-face, sexed-up perfumery, the tagline for their new fragrance is "We've given you decadent, we've given you outrageous, and now we give you nice. Cologne, a Nice Scent." Founder Étienne de Swardt gave me a sniff before I knew anything about it, and I said, "Ooooh, nice!". He then told me that was exactly the appropriate response, and showed me the poster, which is just splashing water and text. I am always happy for a good cologne, and this one is classic. They have also made a new version of Rien for the Middle Eastern market, called Rien Intense Incense, which is a 30% concentration, and quite bold.

Photo by Mustapha Sabbagh

I attended a interview of photographer Mustapha Sabbagh by Ermano Picco entitled "Conversation About Images: Mustafa Sabbagh and the narrative space of the perfume as a meeting place". Mr. Sabbagh does evocative and often sexually charged work, and has a definite sense of how scent is a part of all human interaction and does not have to smell pleasant to be visceral, that beautiful smells are plentiful in nature but that's not all there is. I was listening to a translator through headphones, which got a little confusing, and the talk touched on many aspects of scent and art. My favorite quote was "skin is the microchip that records everything", all of our experience can be found on our skin, including the scents we produce in different emotional states. It was interesting, but hard to boil down into a paragraph.

Patricia de Nicolai and Marika Vecchiatini

Last, but far from least, was a presentation of cocktails inspired by the work of Edmund Roudnitska, one of the finest perfumers in history. Three of his iconic perfumes were chosen: Rochas Femme (1943) Eau D'Hermés (1951), and Dior Diorella (1970). I am not a drinker, but fortunately there were non-alcoholic versions of Femme, made with peach juice, vanilla and rose, and Diorella, which was some kind of very bitter soda. The cocktails were fun, and a bit hit-or-miss as far as their relations to the perfumes, but the high point was being able to smell the Osmothèque recreations of these scents made from the original formulas. Patricia de Nicolai, the president of Osmothèque, and  the first lady of niche fragrance, was on hand to provide some background, like the tidbit about Femme being sold in a subscription before it was launched to build excitement. Femme was sweet, loaded with fruit, and had incredible depth. Eau D'Hermés was the perfect blend of a fresh, crisp top with animal sexuality lurking underneath, full of cumin and cardamom. Diorella was a perfect floral chypre, bold and sensual, with a wonderful jasmine heart. I love that the Osmothèque has been able to preserve so many historic perfumes by painstakingly recreating them so they smell as pristine as the day they came off the bottling line.

Femme cocktails

All in all it was a full day of fun, meeting lots of new people, seeing a few online friends face-to-face at last, getting a bit overwhelmed, regrouping, and having lots of fun in the long run. As a side note, I may never eat pasta again that wasn't made in Italy. Sigh. Tomorrow is another day, see you for the next report.

Tama Blough, Deputy Editor