Photo of Naomi Goodsir by Glen Proebstel

The connective tissue of the internet allows distance and geography to be something much less of an impediment as you can get your story all the way to the other side of the world at a keystroke. I am reminded of this as a new perfume collection from Australia made it to my desk. Naomi Goodsir is an Australian milliner known for her hats and handbags and now she has expanded into fragrance. Her first two releases are called Bois d’Ascese and Cuir Velours. They were created by perfumer Julien Rasquinet. M. Rasquinet according to his website trained under Pierre Bourdon and Christine Nagel before starting his own business. These two fragrances for Naomi Goodsir show his ability to encapsulate a single accord to be examined at one’s leisure. Both fragrances can stand up to the scrutiny.

Bonfire by Jennifer Walton

Bois d’Ascese is described as an “incense woody” and that is not what I experienced when wearing it. If I needed to describe it in a word it would be “woodsmoke!” The exclamation point is not superfluous as Bois d’Ascese is a strong punctuation mark of a perfume. Bois d’Ascese reminds me of the smell of my flannel shirt the morning after standing around a campfire. The smoke is prominent but there is a remnant of the wood, now ashes in the firepit, lurking underneath the smoke. M. Rasquinet uses smoked cade wood as his core note and to this he adds oakmoss, incense, tobacco, and labdanum. These latter notes set the cade wood ablaze and puffs of smoke swirl all around me. The smokiness is really perfect for these late fall days.

If Bois d’Ascese is the roughhewn outdoors Cuir Velours is the opposite. It is elegant refinement encased in a soft leather gloved hand. Cuir Velours is described as an “Oriental leather” and this time that description matches my experience. One of the things I enjoy about a leather accord is it seems each perfumer’s recipe for it is as varied as those for your mother’s apple pie. The best leather accords come together in such a way so that it is difficult to pick the strands of the illusion apart. M. Rasquinet chooses rum, labdanum, tobacco, and immortelle as his components. When I saw the note list I expected to especially be able to notice the immortelle and its distinctive character. M. Rasquinet uses that expectation to build his accord as it is immortelle which imparts that sweetness the finest leather has to offer. Just when I expect the sweet to turn syrupy the labdanum and tobacco close the deal and the leather is alive and kicking. The rum adds a fascinating contrast and, the more I wore Cuir Velours, a finishing depth to the leather accord although the rum is the one note which is recognizable throughout once I noticed it. For those who enjoy a different take on leather Cuir Velours will provide an interesting diversion.

Julien Rasquinet

Bois d’Ascese and Cuir Velours have average longevity. Bois d’Ascese has above average sillage while Cuir Velours has below average sillage.

Both Bois d’Ascese and Cuir Velours are “soliflores” of smoke and leather, respectively, and they capture their subject as if frozen in olfactory time. That kind of perfumery is extremely hard to pull off credibly and M. Rasquinet has done it twice.

Disclosure: This review was based on samples provided by Fragrance & Art.

Thanks to our friends at Fragrance & Art we have a sample set of both Naomi Goodsir fragrances to giveaway. To be eligible leave a comment on which one of these fragrances you think you would like best. We will draw one winner on November 12, 2012.

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

-Mark Behnke, Managing Editor