J’s image of Agarthi Burning Core

Agarthi’ Burning Core was one of those perfumes that took me by surprise. After reading Nicoleta’s wonderful introduction to Agarthi’s four perfumes and creative history, I’m in full agreement with her that their clever combination of concept and the stunning way its been translated into the aesthetics of the house. All has been woven into the perfumes by owner, manufacturer, founder and distributor of Agarthi Scent Core Barbara Loddo and a diverse group of creatives including editor Ermano Picco, that have been collaborating in the areas of marketing, design, and artistic perfumery for many years, with each member contributing their unique style and expertise to the project. Agarthi means “inaccessible”, but I’m wondering if this is a rather clever play on words at describing a new kind of luxury with their logo pulling us into the core and more literally in Burning Core.

Agarthi Logo courtesy of the brand.

Agarthi Burning Core stole my heart from the first sniff. I’m very picky when it comes to gourmand perfumes. Perfumer Mathieu Nardin must have sprinkled some stardust on this, as a rich darkness beams with starlight from a delicious smoky vanilla adorned with a dash of aromatics.

Perfumer Mathieu Nardin of Mane @Mathieu Dortomb  image via CaFleureBon

Burning Core blooms from its elegant mystical Alien-esque bottle into a soft milky light, buzzing with a spiced ginger haze as a smooth smokiness from cade turns the milk into this luxurious creamy cloud feeling silky and velvety. Ginger’s spice makes it radiate warmth, like the feel of sunlight in your skin on a cold dark day. You can feel this warmth expand and thickened up as soft cosy resins making Burning Core drip with delicious aromas. Ginger’s warm spice gives a whisper of darkness, giving Burning Core a char, letting some subtle green aromatic tease out more edges of this perfumed space while making the sweeter elements shine like a star.

Agarthi Burning Core image courtesy of the brand.

There’s a rather beautiful feel of darkness and light in the perfume, like the light is pulling in the darkness towards its core, stretching the edges into the smooth tunnel of light kind of like a black hole where time, space and light stretch into infinity or to whatever is on the other side of the black hole, things we can only dream of. Where density and gravity become infinite and space-time curves infinitely, and the laws of physics as we know them cease to operate. Burning Core feels like a loop of delicious darkness cycling back on itself drawing those near into its darkly sweet core, as its beams of mouth watering light radiate a dark vanilla creamy milky musk that’s impossible to resist.

A moderately realistic, gravitationally lensed accretion disc around a black hole, created by Double Negative artists. (Courtesy: Classical and Quantum Gravity)

Agarthi Burning Core interweaves the flow of dark and light materials takes me to Christopher Nolan’s film, Interstellar, from 2014, especially (Spoiler Alert) the part where Cooper, Matthew McConaughey, enters the “tesseract” after having travelled into the black hole. In there he’s able to manipulate the strings of time communicate with Murphy Cooper, Jessica Chastain, in various time periods, presenting time itself as a physical dimension rather than linear. Cooper realizes that he was in fact Murph’s “ghost” all along, and that while the bulk beings can perceive five dimensions, they cannot locate a point of reference in time; however, he can due to his connection and love for his daughter, drawing him to her much like gravity draws things to itself give her the information she needs to solve the equation to save humanity.

Burning Core’s combination of vanillas creates this heart with a loving cosy embrace rich creamy woody facets while abstract savoury notes haunt the middle, slowly drying out into a woody soft leather, enriched by the cade’s dark velvet smoke. These darker richer aromas almost feel like the endlessness of space as the sweeter lights of stars shine forth. Rich dark leathers give Burning Core an elegance and class with the ginger making its purr in a sunned skin way. The ginger’s gentle char also cleverly conjures the rather realistic Crème Brûlée caramelised top as it cracks melting into creamy rich dessert warmth. This paired with the leather has a rather beautiful feeling of silk moving over a rich buttery suede, while keeping the sweetness balanced beautifully, radiating its amazing energy. Agarthi Burning Core is delicious to smell and wear with some rather unique materials used. Both the Ginger and Vanilla are a Pure Jungle Essence TM; materials that I’d love to smell in isolation as they really star here along with the smooth leather, making Burning Core a stunning and delicious wear. The way Burning Core’s creamy textures play off the rougher leather feels magic, a time loop of darkness and light flowing endlessly into the night, pulling us towards a new bright adventure.

Notes: Ginger Pure Jungle EssenceTM, Solar Note, Milky Accord, Benzoin, Vanilla Pure Jungle EssenceTM, Vanilla Absolute, Cade Essence, Leather, Savoury Notes, Crème Brûlée.

Disclosure: Burning Core was offered by Agarthi for review purposes. Opinions and nose are always my own.

 

J Wearescentient ,Senior Editor, artist and olfactive writer.

J’s image of Agarthi Burning Core.

Thanks to the generosity of Agarthi we have a bottle of Agarthi Burning Core for one registered reader in the EU OR IF YOU HAVE AN ADDRESS WHERE IT CAN BE SHIPPED TO IN THE EU. You must register or your entry will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what sparks your interest based on J’s review, and where you live.  Draw closes 8/5/2024

Please read Nicoleta’s review of Waterways Spell along with her great introduction of Agarthi here and Michelyn’s Esxence Report 2024 naming Agarthi best concept.

Read more about Mane perfumer Mathieu Nardin in his interview with Michelyn here

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