I received a letter that told me to come to the dark alley I found myself in. At the end there was a door covered in metal. It was the appointed time so I knocked on the door and almost immediately a slot opened and a pair of eyes looked me over and a voice beneath the eyes asked, “Password?” I was flummoxed I didn’t know the password so thinking quickly I guessed and said, more affirmatively than I felt, “Frapin”. The bolts slid, the heavy door opened inward, and there was the place where Marc-Antoine Corticchiato of Parfum D’Empire was busily working on something new, something that he was pouring into a familiar shaped bottle that was not a Parfum D’Empire bottle but a Frapin bottle. As I walked towards him he looked up and put a finger to his lips and said, “Shhhh! Nobody knows about this new fragrance, yet. Speak easy until we are ready to release it.”

Marc-Antoine Corticchiato

Okay that whole story is just made up but some of it is true. Marc-Antoine Corticchiato is the perfumer behind the latest release from Frapin and it is called Speakeasy. Soon everyone will know about it and they won’t have to go to a dark alley to find it, just their local vendor of fine fragrance.

Photo courtesy of Life Magazine

by Margaret Bourke-White

Frapin is one of my favorite overlooked perfume houses as there are a number of their releases which are very high up on my personal list of favorites. I was able to get my first sniff of Speakeasy at the Frapin presentation at the recent Elements Showcase in New York City. That first sniff had me wanting more so like a Prohibition-era guy looking for a good time I had to find a sample so I could wear this. Thanks to MiN New York I was able to get a sample and M. Corticchiato has made a fragrance in Speakeasy which is very Frapin but also has much of the aesthetic you find in the Parfum D’Empire line, as well.

For those unfamiliar with the term Speakeasy that refers to the illegal clubs which served alcohol during the Prohibition, in the early Twentieth Century, in the US. The name came because the patrons were asked to speak easy so as not to attract attention. The speakeasies were often located behind or beneath a more reputable business so the people coming and going would not look unusual. To obtain entry one had to know the password to get past the door. The fragrance created by M. Corticchiato is inspired by this time and place as Frapin Speakeasy is a mix of leather, tobacco, and rum; and as much fun as that mix would portend.

Speakeasy starts you off at the bar as you get a glass of rum with a lime on the rim. Then you light up a cigarette and amble over to the leather banquette and sit down. You might even casually give a sniff of the geranium in your lapel. Then you sit back and have a conversation sotto voce while your fragrance does all the talking for you, this is M. Corticchiato’s creation and it is as good a fragrance as exists in both lines.

Courtesy of Boston Public Library Leslie Jones Collection

The early going of Speakeasy is that wonderful boozy quality of rum which M. Corticchiato then uses some orange and davana wood to partner but mostly what you get is lime in conjunction with the rum. I don’t think they served mojitos in the speakeasies of the day but if you’re looking for a drink to compare the early stages of Speakeasy to, a mojito would be closest. Then an exquisitely constructed tobacco accord dominates the heart of Speakeasy. To accentuate the sweet aspect of the tobacco he uses a battery of coumarin containing notes in tonka and liatrix as they add the hay aspect that coumarin in overdose gives. The final brilliant touch is to add immortelle to it all as the deeply sweet maple syrup quality of immortelle ages the tobacco note making it more concentrated and focused. The base is the leather accord and here M. Corticchiato uses a traditional trio of ingredients to create it in styrax, cistus, and labdanum. They create a rich leather which is the best way to finish off your trip to the Speakeasy.

Speakeasy has average longevity and average sillage.

Frapin is the fragrance house I turn to for my boozy favorites and I realized through my time wearing Speakeasy that Frapin is a little like my olfactory speakeasy. Not many people have tried them and people tend to talk softly about them. Well let me speak a little louder here, if you are a fan of Frapin, boozy fragrances, or Marc-Antoine Corticchiato head to the fragrance counter and whisper “Speakeasy” to the salesperson. Tell them Mark sent you.

Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by MiN New York.

–Mark Behnke, Managing Editor