Olfactive Studio Chypre Shot via Olfactive Studio
If you’re a regular visitor to the pages of ÇaFleureBon, chances are the words “chypre” and “Bertrand Duchaufour” are enough to pique your attention. If you’ve smelled Duchaufour’s masterful and complex Chypre Palatin for MDCI Parfums you’ll be able to attest to the intricacy and originality that the celebrated perfumer brought to the concept of the ‘chypre’ – which is ostensibly a perfume made with a bergamot top, a cistus/labdanum midriff and an oakmoss base – making it thick, ripe, fruity and really rather raunchy with the animalic tones of styrax, costus and castoreum.
Chypre Shot, Duchaufour’s 2018 for Celine Verleure’s Olfactive Studio, isn’t a rerun or a rehashing of the same idea; at all, it’s a completely different scent. I bring up Chypre Palatin purely because I wanted to impress upon you, dear reader, just how good Chypre Shot is; in my bumptious opinion, it deserves to be spoken about in the same kind of hushed, glassy eyed, reverential tones.
© Martin Hill photograph for Olfactive Studio Chypre Shot Mount Taranaki
As is Olfactive Studio’s process, each perfumer is given a visual/ photograph rather than a ‘traditional’ perfume brief and in this case, it was the above photograph by renowned landscape photographer Martin Hall. As one might infer from the scene, the perfume that encapsulates it is dense and served with dramatic scale in a decidedly earthy accent.
Like the hillscape that inspires it, Olfactive Studio’s Chypre Shot isn’t subtle nor shy. Presented at extrait strength it’s an instant, potent wall of scent that feels as if it’s been secretly maturing for years in some far flung, remote location. The cool spicing of the cardamom, saffron and black pepper is reinforced by extracts of coffee and additional amber tones but – what I find to be the most baffling thing – is how this aromatic combination hangs above the core of labdanum and moss, as if it’s purposely refusing to merge properly. How does one do that? Like how do you create an actual olfactory mist that exists in suspension? Honestly, mate… how?
Bertrand Duchaufour via Instagram, Celine Verleure of Olfactive Studio.
“Chypre Shot was love at first sniff when Bertrand presented it to me,” Mme. Verleure tells us Michelyn and Oli via a recent email. “It is so brilliant, so complex and so modern that I didn’t ask for any changes or balances of ingredients. I love it.”
Perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour’s work is widely held in such high regard because he consistently manages to do things like this, things that are delightfully unexpected; artfully contrasting or stereo-widening things in a way that always feels seamless.
Olfactive Studio Chypre Shot Mood Photo
Chypre Shot isn’t an exception in his portfolio – it’s a wonderfully creative composition that elaborates on the core components of a traditional chypre. There aren’t any jagged edges even though he’s using heavy ingredients like labdanum, patchouli and oakmoss which, by their very nature, constantly jostle for position. The peony accord somehow serves as the air in the middle of the composition lifting the spices above the earthen mosses below creating a perfume that, despite the distinct lack of an out and out grassy note, really does smell as big, as grand and as elemental as the photograph it portrays.
Notes: Cardamom, saffron, bergamot, peony accord, black pepper, coffee, black tea, oakmoss, patchouli, labdanum, ambery notes.
Disclaimer: samples of Chypre Shot were provided by Jovoy Mayfair
–Oli Marlow, Contributor
Olfactive Studio Chypre Shot via Olfactive Studio
Thanks to the generosity of Olfactive Studio we have a 100ml bottle of Chypre Shot available for Worldwide giveaway. You must register or your entry will not count. To be eligible, please leave a quality comment saying what sparks your interest based on Oli’s review and where you live. Draw closes 5/10/2025
A note from the brand: Chypre Shot Extrait de Parfum is part of the Sepia collection and each features a raw material or an accord. The first trio created by perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour and inspired by the Land Art landscapes by photographer Martin Hill showcases Vanilla, Leather and a Chypre accord with Vanilla Shot, Leather Shot and Chypre Shot.
Available at Olfactive Studio, Jovoy Paris, Jovoy Mayfair and Fine Stockists Worldwide
Read Celine Verleure’s Creative Director’s Essay here. Olfactive Studio Panorama is a CaFleureBon Modern Masterpiece.
Leather Shot-Lauryn’s review here. Rose and Violet Shot review by Ida Meister here.
Olfactive Studio has received numerous ÇaFleureBon Best of Scent awards from Michelyn, 2011 for Lumiere Blanche and 2015 Olfactive Studio Panorama was one of Michelyn’s top 10 fragrances of 2015
Michelyn’s note: Celine Verleure was so ahead of the times and her call for independent creative perfumery. Be sure to check out Le Blog Qui N’Existe Pas Encore on Facebook
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