Rachel K. Ng fragrant awakening is Everlasting by The Zoo®
My first olfactive memory is running through the Blackland Tallgrass Prairie of Texas. This sea of waist-high grasses was a magical forest of flowers for a 5-year-old. I remember hearing the grass shake in the sun with its fierce necessity, smelling the endless veridian variations of switchgrass, buffalograss, bluestem, and gamagrass. Sedges, wildrye, clover, sea oats, and vine-mesquite added more layers of woody and herbaceous complexity to this emerald palette. Wildflowers were almost as plentiful as the grasses themselves, with black-eyed susans, winecups, butterfly weed, clasping coneflowers, and cutleaf daisies growing in marvelous floral structures biting at the sky with wild teeth. There was never any let-up to the wind, which is not the grassland’s only connection to the sea. Piles of loam held the bones of ancient seafloor beneath tangles of roots. I spent my earliest memories inside horizons of flat things filled with the most alive and embodied scents one can imagine. I had the best of luck to find the Texas Blackland Prairie my backyard growing up. Today, tallgrass prairies, including my former backyard, are North America’s most endangered ecosystem. We’ve lost all but 1% of these awe-inspiring places.
Rachel K. Ng as a young girl
Love of greens and florals grew with me as we moved to the Ozark mountains in Northwest Arkansas. My first fragrance was a gifted bottle of Anais Anais by Cacharel. This fragrance was innocent yet bursting with florals on a verdant green base. As I grew and was able to select my own scent, Safari by Ralph Lauren became my go-to. While my friends were all wearing Armani White for Her and other white musks, I was still spell-bound by wild green scent. The full forest of green shades is what I loved about Ralph Lauren Safari, along with its sense of adventure and elegance. My bottle of Safari was a perfect accompaniment to those days of mountain living and learning.
During college, I studied at La Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris IV. On a gloriously rainy, grey Parisian day, I chased a woman down the street to put a name to her marvelous sillage. It turned out to be the original Maurice Roucel formulation of 24 Faubourg by Hermès. Here was a truly sophisticated floral heart & plush chypre base. The fragrance has since been streamlined and made to fit into the Jean-Claude Ellena minimalism of today, but that original Maurice Roucel formulation was my signature scent for over a decade.
“This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends.” Journalist Edward R. Murrow said this about the first broadcast of television news in human history. It holds true, in my opinion, for all journeys of importance.
Christophe Laudamiel Photo © Grace Agency/R. Lugassy
The turn to illumination, inspiration, and learning in my fragrance journey came with the discovery of ÇaFleureBon in 2020 and, thanks to ÇaFleureBon, the discovery of the work of Master Perfumer Christophe Laudamiel. The fragrances I found on ÇaFleureBon were unique and had something new to express. Even better, the extraordinary journalists and fragrance devotees who write for this treasured community truly care. They care about the history of fine fragrance, about the cultural sensoria of all peoples, about the quality of our experiences in the fragrance community, and about the future of our beloved Art. Through my fragrance journey, I found a place where people are excited by what is happening now, where innovations are articulated clearly with the public and not hidden behind the closed doors of a PR firm. I remember being impressed and obsessed with reading articles by Michelyn, Ida and Lauryn as well as all the editors and contributors since the spring of 2020. I’ve been a daily reader ever since. Gifted and purchased samples as well as purchased bottles quickly followed.
Elizabeth Gaynes, Helena Christensen and Christophe Laudamiel photo courtesy of Strangelove
Several niche fragrances were utterly heart-stopping. These fragrances bewitched and moved me in ways only Great Art can achieve. As I sampled and sprayed, the word that flooded my mind was: Articulate. There was grammar to the movement of their structure, space given to the materials, and genius of expression at their core. I was astonished both intellectually and viscerally, overcome with enchanted delight as much as cerebral provocation. Strangelove NYC led me to The Zoo® for my most recent perfumed fragrant awakening. It wasn’t long before I figured out that they were all the work of the same Master Perfumer, Christophe Laudamiel.
photo courtesy of Strangelove
Each of Strangelove NYC’s parfums (and EdP versions) are glorious masterpieces of Fragrance Art. My first (and still deepest) love from this house is the often-misunderstood parfum, SilenceTheSea. I open this bottle of parfum with the same reverence as my copies of Beowulf or the Iliad.
Rachel’s personal collection of The Zoo ® perfumes
The Zoo® is Maître Laudamiel’s own brand where he has produced, since 2017, several of my all-time favorite fragrances. The Zoo ® is a creative workshop connecting academics, scientists, artists, fashion designers, performers, students, and many others with the future of perfumery. There is more of interest and innovation going on here than anywhere else because its resident Genius, Master Perfumer Christophe Laudamiel, has bold and exciting ideas for enlivening and improving what comes next in perfumery. A perfume critic calls Christophe Laudamiel “the greatest inventor of novel perfume structures working today.”
Everlasting by The Zoo®
The first fragrance I experienced by Maître Laudamiel and the one I wear most often (the discovery of which was the inspiration for my first post on my Instagram Account devoted to fragrance @rachel.k.ng) is called Everlasting by the Zoo®. This stunningly gorgeous chypre takes me back to those precious tallgrass prairies of my youth. The perfection of the narcissus absolute in this fragrance is breathtaking! How the green and leathery aspects of the flower reach for and connect to the labdanum amazes. I love the living forest floor and ambergris-like glisten of Everlasting by The Zoo® Christophe Laudamiel is among the leading voices taking action and calling for ethics in perfumery, including protecting our natural materials palette. The precious tallgrass prairie is another part of our natural heritage worthy of protection. Finding an artist who understands and respects the importance of this natural and creative heritage is an especially important part of my fragrant awakening. It was meant to be.
Notes: Narcissus, Labdanum, Amber, Musk, Woods.
Bottles my own, opinions my own.
~ Rachel K. Ng, Guest Contributor and ÇaFleureBon reader
All photos by Rachel K. Ng unless otherwise noted.
photo of Everlasting by The Zoo® courtesy of Christophe
Thanks to Master Perfumer Christophe Laudamiel we have a 60 ml bottle of Everlasting by The Zoo® for a registered ÇaFleureBon reader worldwide with the exception of Brazil, Russia, and China, (if you are not sure if you are registered click here – you must register on our site or your entry will be invalid). To be eligible please leave a comment on this site with what strikes you about Rachel’s Fragrant Awakening, where you live, and what your favorite The Zoo® fragrance is or Christophe Laudamiel perfume. Draw Closes 2/27/2023.
Please also spend time with Editor Emeritus Robert Herrmann (RIP) 2017 reviews of The Zoo® Spacewood and Rhubarb My Love Here
Former Senior Editor Despina Veneti’s review of Everlasting by The Zoo®
Editor-in-Chief Michelyn Camen named Christophe Laudamiel to the CaFleureBon Hall of Fame 2021
Senior contributor and NYC Brand Ambassador Hernando Courtright’s article RUBEN MUSUEM SCENT EXPERIENCES with Christophe Laudamiel
Enjoy: Elizabeth Gaynes of Strange Love NYC Profiles in American Perfumery
Rachel was invaluable in her contributions to Elise’s article Perfume and the MetaVerse and more recently Happy Lunar New Year: Year of The Water Rabbit by Karl Topham
Christophe Laudamiel is a master perfumer for DreamAir studios in New York City and Bélair Lab in Tokyo
Follow us on Instagram @cafleurebonofficial @rachel.k.ng @christophelaudameil @strangeloveny
This is our Privacy and Draw Rules Policy
We announce the winners only on our site and on our Facebook page, so “like” ÇaFleureBon and use our blog feed…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.