Anne Hathaway, photo by Alexi Lubomirski, Harper's Bazaar, Nov 2014 

“You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss …” goes As Time Goes By. But which kiss? The tentative fumbling of that first teenage swoon? The passionate lock of lovers’ mouths? The tender nuzzle of a mother on her baby’s neck? Yael, from the wonderful Swiss perfume house Sammarco, is all of them – from tenderness to lust – gathered into a warm, sexy floral with a playful fruit pastille heart.

Beatrice Baccon via Sammarco

Yael is the master’s thesis of Beatrice Baccon, founder and creative director Giovanni Sammarco’s talented apprentice. Baccon displays a willingness to take measured risks in  Yael’s startlingly green rose opening – the most vegetal blossom I’ve ever smelled.

Reese Witherspoon in Man in the Moon, 1991 Getty Images

This serpentine plant note slinks through Yael’s opening, wrapping itself around the dominant rose and iris notes like wild vines. The plant note jumps out from behind the rose with an in-your-face forcefulness like the unexpected grab of a hormonally-charged first kiss.

Detail from the Three Ages of Woman by Gustav Klimt, 1905©

After the bitter green of the top subsides, Yael’s mood moves from overgrown garden to playroom. Yael’s peppery-ginger take on innocence begins to colour in the background, and a bright red berry note pops out, adding a larky zing, followed quickly by the purple candy-cordial smell of cassis. I am reminded of those French fruit pastilles my grandmother kept for polite company in silver chargers from Tiffany’s when I was a girl, that I would have to ask special permission for.  And it is here in the children’s nursery, that Sammarco Yael shifts slightly again. as the pillowy softness of pink rose unfolds into maternal territory – the crayon-rose smell of lipstick joining the berries. A smudgy, pastry Iris comes forward with a dollop of vanilla, and Yael softens and rounds, losing her early edginess.

Sensual Kiss by OnlyPrincess, DeviantArt©

While the bigger notes tend to dominate Sammarco Yael for quite some time, there is a long enough progression that the more subtle and sensual aspects come out well before the dry down. As the flowers take over from the fruit, an enveloping warmth starts to seep through, and an animalic quality emerges that raises Yael to womanly sensuality. If the early parts of the fragrance suggest exuberance, as Yael grows up, the brasher, bouncier notes subside, and she becomes subtler, ruddier, spicier. The candy sweetness of the middle calms down into an amber and sandalwood dry-down that is as caressing as a brush of lips on as lover’s neck.

The famous kissing scene between Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, Notorious, 1946

A first perfume from a promising talent, Yael is a spirited, enticing take on what Ingrid Bergman called “a secret told to the mouth instead of the ear.”

Notes: Rose, cassis, raspberry, pink pepper, ginger, orris, vanilla, sandalwood, amber

Disclaimer: Sample of Yael kindly provided by Sammarco at Esxence 2018. My opinions are my own.

–  Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor

Sammarco Yael courtesy of Sammarco

Thanks to the generosity of Giovanni Sammarco, we have a sample set of Sammarco Yael and the other five perfumes in the collection: Naias, Alter, Vitrum, Ariel and Bond-T for one registered reader in the U.S, Canada or Europe. If you haven’t had the chance to try Sammarco, which is rapidly becoming one of my favourite independent perfume houses, now’s your chance. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what appeals to you about Yael based on Lauryn’s review and what a kiss might smell like to you. Draw closes 6/23/.2018.

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like ÇaFleureBon and use our blog feed … or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.