Photo: Extrait.it
When Managing Editor Mark Behnke met with the team behind the niche brand nu_be at Esxence 2013, as an organic chemist he was fascinated by the inaugral four fragrances Helium, Lithium, Carbon and Hydrogen as he wondered what the mad scientists would introduce next. When Alberto Borri revealed the next two elemental scents in the nu_be line would be Mercury and Sulphur he was sworn to secrecy. It turns out alchemy was more on their mind than chemistry.
Since ancient times, man has sought the key to immortality and the transmutation of base metals into gold. In Western culture the predecessors to modern scientists were known as Alchemists, who believed sulfur and mercury were two of the three elements (salt is the third) essential to uncovering not only riches but the secrets of life itself.
Perfumer Antoine Lie is back and we invite you into the lab for a sneal preview.
Sulphur (16s) evokes the dark side of Alchemy – "an elixir satanic. Nothing is pure, a fragrance that evokes hellish potions".
Top notes: allspice, grapefruit, cinnamon, angelica and rosemary
Heart notes: castoreum, myrrh and opoponax
Base Notes: patchouli, vetiver, oak moss, cedar and guaiac wood.
Mercury (80g) "is smooth and bright with gleaming metallic accents, dynamic and evokes modernity and technology. This fragrance is extremely dynamic, modern and bright as the liquid metal that gives it its name".
Top notes: lemon, mandarin, aldehydes, oxide, rhubarb and blackcurrant
Heart: geranium and violet
Base: patchouli, wood of cedar, sandalwood and balsam of Tolu
Mercury and Sulfur will be making their debut at Pitti Fragranze September 13-15, 2013
-Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief
source: nu_be, extrait.it.