:Rose with bee© 2011 by Tama Blough (RIP) 

Today is International Fragrance Day (we publish international perfume reviews 365 days a year). It is also the eve of March 22, 2019, ÇaFleureBon’s 9th Anniversary. I have done Anniversary posts before where I have introduced the work of brilliant American artisan perfumers who create a special fragrance to commemorate the occasion, (notably our 1st birthday with Dawn Spencer Hurwitz Lautrec, Amanda Feeley Little Black Dress and Anya McCoyTimeless; our 4th anniversary with Laurie Erickson of Sonoma Scent’s Yin and Ylang and the seven American perfumers Amber Jobin, Angela St. John, Christi Meshell, Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, Ellen Covey, Patrick Kelley and Shelley Waddington who composed the perfumes for Project Talisman our 7th year project). Last year, 2018, I ventured across the pond to enlist Sarah McCartney of 4160 Tuesdays for White Queen.  Sarah McCartney returns with our 9th year celebratory perfume- 4160 Tuesdays Red Queen x CaFleureBon.

Vintage Nahema Ad

Christian Dior famously said “Make me a fragrance that smells like Love”. … Miss Dior was born. My goal was less lofty… I asked Sarah “Make me a rose fragrance I could love, the way I do Guerlain Nahema.” I don’t wear rose perfumes in general. Until 4160Tuesdays Red Queen x CaFleureBon there have been two.  I hoard my dram of 1979  Guerlain Nahema, which is based on the tale of Scheherazade’s fearless princess, the girl on fire. Nahema seems like every rose ever made and like no real rose at all.

Photo of  IX of Pentacles by Gail Gross

Roses are symbolic in Tarot, they are the Queen of the garden. The number 9 takes on many meanings as well… from miscommunication to accomplishment. What Sarah has achieved with Red Queen began as a miscommunication but is indeed an accomplishment, and exactly what I hope it would be!- Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief

 Sarah McCartney of 4160Tuesdays with Brooke Belldon of 4160Tuesdays  creating perfume for Mappin & Webb customers – the “Queen’s” jewelers©

“Michelyn and I talked about making 4160Tuesdays White Queen, our first Alice In Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass fragrance, there was always the counterpart in the background. After we launched White Queen, initially we talked about creating Dark Queen, the opposing chess piece, then naturally it became Red Queen, a fragrance with roses, because Michelyn doesn’t really care for rose perfumes, and because of the books, the game and the Tim Burton film. We talked about creating a fragrance with the same feel as White Queen, but featuring rose instead of the creamy lactones and jasmine. For White Queen, Michelyn’s original masterplan was that I ought to use my favourite signature materials – the ones I always gravitate towards – then to add the “Alice down the rabbit hole” feeling, plus the non-sweet gourmand, creamy lactones, with jasmine and frankincense.

Michelyn envisioned Rose Queen using this photo from Kirsty Mitchell’s Wonderland Series

Oddly, despite it being totally my style (I thought) we got a lot of comments saying that people found it was completely different from anything I’d made before. To me, this is really interesting as it feels very much in my style, but reactions to perfume often surprise me. (Michelyn takes some credit as a Creative Director for this).

RuPaul, as the Queen of Hearts, in a behind-the-scenes snap from 2018 Pirelli Calendar shoot. ©

For 4160Tuesdays Red Queen X CaFleurebon, I kept many of my favourite materials from White Queen as I wanted the earthy rabbit hole feel. Parsnip, patchouli and carrot seed essential oils. There are my absolute favourites: labdanum, raspberry leaf, blackcurrant bud and older style musks, including Ambrettolide and Galaxolide. I used Turkish rose absolute and Egyptian geranium plus a drop of caraway seed and frankincense serrata. When I waa totally happy I made a small edition of 2.5 litres and waited until it was ready to send to New York. Then, Michelyn reminded me what she wanted was for it to smell not unlike vintage Nahema, “but better” !. No pressure then. I had completely forgotten this and totally ignored this instruction. (I choose now to confess this.)

Michelyn behaving like the imperious Red Queen (still from Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland)

Anyway, this is not important because when it got to New York, Michelyn rejected it. She felt it needed an olfactory thread to tie it to its Sister White Queen.

“More frankincense”, she said. 

So I swapped round one of the woods I’d used for Cedramber, because if you use this in quantity it boosts the spiciness, and added a small beakerful of Carterii frankincense too. When I make a fragrance for someone else, I do aim to make what they ask for, but it seems that I had accepted the rose instruction then unintentionally or unconsciously failed to acknowledge that the point of this whole creative project was to take Nahema as an inspiration. Oops. 

4160Tuesdays Rose Queen x CaFleureBon is a rose with a vintage perfume feeling, an earthy base, a heart of jam tarts, and a touch of the illogical as homage to Lewis Carroll’s stroppy, contradictory Red Queen. She’s nothing like me at all. Or is she?”

Notes include: Rose, incense, carrot seed, geranium, woods, pepper, blackcurrant, labdanum, raspberry, patchouli, musk

Sarah McCartney, Founder and Perfumer of 4160 Tuesdays

Photo of Nir Guy of Perfumology© smelling Red Queen

Only a small quantity was made and it is available in the USA exclusively at Perfumology here. However, Sarah is whipping up another batch. 4160Tuesdays Red Queen will sell for $120 for 50ml exclusively in the USA at Perfumology and without any marketing he sold bottle just moments before publishing.

Photo by Sarah McCartney

Thanks to the largesse of Sarah McCartney we have two 50 ml  bottles of 4160 Tuesdays Red Queen x CaFleureBon for two registered readers, one in the USA and one in the EU. Please be sure to register.  To be eligible please leave a comment with what appeals to you about 4160Tuesdays Red Queen  x CafleureBon, how long you have been a ÇaFleureBon reader, and where you live and a message to our very hard working team of 14+ writers and editors. Draw closes 3/24/2019

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