Black(er) Sails Mouillettes via For the Scent of It for this Flankers article
It was undeniably a flanker that got me addicted to perfumery. I was looking for a new signature scent. I had sprayed dry my bottle of the modern classic, Acqua di Gio (Giorgio Armani, 1996). I decided that it was time for something new and began a steady descent into the wild & wonderful world of perfumery. It was during this initial descent that I came across the glowing reviews of La Nuit De L’Homme (Yves Saint Laurent, 2009). I decided to make a trip to the fragrance counter and smell this beloved fragrance for myself. I sprayed the tester on the back of my hand and was blown away! Prior to this, I had never smelled a perfume marketed “for men” that smelled so intoxicating. The modern spice and voluminous woods over that timeless Fougère accord of tonka and lavender. I bought a bottle and never looked back. As a matter of fact, I have a 6.7oz bottle of the 2012 batch. 12 years later and it’s clear to see why I and so many others love it. I actually get a little emotional smelling it as it hurls me back in time…the power of scent.
Michael’s bottle of Yves Saint Laurent La Nuit De L’Homme©
Little did I know I had fallen for another of perfume’s flankers. The word meant nothing to me at the time. For those who may not know, a flanker is the label given to a perfume created around the DNA, name, or packaging of another perfume. They arrive on the side, or flank, of an existing perfume on the market, like a ship flanking another ship or a person coming up on someone’s flank in a surprise attack. If you can find the first use of the word flanker as it relates to perfumery, let us know. We do know the first flankers” started to show up in the 70’s. Some people believe the first one to be Signoricci 2 (1975, Nina Ricci). Some flankers are “concentration changes”, i.e. EDT to EDP to …Elixir? You might see the word “Intense”, “Extreme” or an endless array of other descriptive words, colors, places. Some of these are only minor changes that alter the original scent in some way. Some flankers are so like their predecessor, they may come off as a bit redundant. Others smell as though they have zero in common. In some cases, they smell so different they should have stood alone rather than flanking an existing one. You see that word, redundant, a lot when people talk about flankers, especially when brands reach the 4th, 5th, or even 10th! Then you start to see “flankers of flankers”. Let’s be honest, we all know many of these fragrances are just riding hard on the coattails of a bestselling perfume’s popularity. But. And that’s a hard but. There are some outstanding flankers that rise above. The best ones? Those that are true creative endeavors that take the original scent and catapult it into a new realm.
Michael’s Collection of Flankers
What even makes flankers worth creating? I personally believe it’s about the story that can unfold. I look at flankers as being sequels or spin-offs. You know when you watch a movie, and you hope they make a follow-up, eagerly awaiting to see what happens? Flankers in perfumery can be a lot like that. The sequel isn’t the same movie, but you recognize much of the original cast, in a whole new milieu. Look at the story of the perfume I mentioned earlier, La Nuit De L’Homme (YSL, 2009). The story continued from the original L’Homme (YSL, 2006) story of “a man with style, sensuality, and sheer magnetism”. To take this story and expand upon it into “The Night of the Man”, as the name suggests, may sound like a somewhat simple brief, but it was so well-executed. A sequel that, in my opinion, never steered too far away from the original, but captured that “style” and “magnetism” in an entirely different, intoxicating light.
Michael Schrammel of For the Scent of It
It’s really on the perfumer’s shoulders to be able to take an original fragrance and transform it from a simple flanker brief and idea, like “Night” or “Red”, and make it something special. This is what I was hoping to accomplish when it came time to create my own flanker, Blacker Sails. The flanker to Black Sails.
Black Sails Bottle via For the Scent of It
Black Sails was released at For the Scent of It back in 2021. The idea for the perfume came from a scene in a 1991 movie where the main character is pulled up by a giant clam and overlooks this long-lost land; a pirate ship docked to the left, the mountains in the distance. I intended to capture this scene with a focus on the pirate ship in the lagoon. To capture that, I created a pirate’s gin accord surrounded by a sea breeze blowing over the ship’s wooden deck. As the dusk falls, the sunset over the lagoon creates shades of incense and amber. People kept telling me after its release, “I would love to smell a flanker to Black Sails”. I always found that intriguing and kept the thought in mind, occasionally playing with different ideas for a sequel. I wanted it to be a worthwhile creative endeavor that kept the tale of Black Sails going. Let’s just say, I wanted the jus to be worth the squeeze.
Pirate Ship in the Moonlight via For the Scent of It
When I first started thinking about a concept, I decided early on that I wanted it to be a more intense, “Late Night” version of Black Sails. I love the story and imagery of Black Sails with the pirate ship and the sun falling over this lost lagoon. I thought it would be fun for that story to continue into the evening. The name “Blacker Sails” followed soon after. I liked it because without blatantly saying so, you get the idea it’s a darker variation of Black Sails. So, with both name and idea in hand, I climbed aboard the ship and began to watch the scene unfold.
Cannon Blast via For the Scent of It
Like all my scent ideas, I find it best to ask myself simple questions. I began asking questions like, “What happens on deck when the captain’s fast asleep? What does the sea look like now under the moonlight? Did they dive hard into those barrels of gin? Are they three sheets to the wind?” These seemingly simple questions help a lot to align the vision into a cohesive story. From this story, I create an outline. From this outline, a fragrance can begin to take shape. With the black brushstrokes of night surrounding the ship, the pirates, now well-oiled and tuned up from knocking back gin all night, decide to fire off a cannon.
Blacker Sails and Black Sails, For The Scent of It
So, now we have our scene and setting. The next step was translating this scene into something new, without losing that Black Sails identity. To do so, I kept a lot of the same materials from Black Sails, changing the quantities and rebalancing the entire structure. It might sound easy, but it can be harder than just creating something completely new. I began by choosing what aspects from the original formula I wanted to remain. These would be the pirate’s gin, ship and sea. The pirate’s gin accord stayed mostly as is, based around juniper berry and citrus. The wood of the ship would become more pronounced with more body. The fresh sea breeze from Black Sails would instead become the briny sea, saltier and less transparent. For the cannon blast, I envisioned a cannonball of herbs and spices. To create this, I chose to accentuate the original’s cardamom note, employing cardamom CO2 (superior to the distilled essential oil in every way) and adding a blast of herbal, musky angelica. To capture the night, the musk, incense, and amber were all enhanced to not just be deeper, but darker, blacker. Creating a unique scent signature that recalled Black Sails while still standing on its own was the biggest challenge. Too much change, and it’s lost. Too little, and it’s redundant.
So, tharrrgh be the tale of Blacker Sails and how it came to be. Yes, it is one of those FLANKERS, and that word can sometimes leave a bad taste. But, as a few people so wonderfully told me, “It’s a flanker done right”. So, in the end, I can say I’m happy I decided to create Blacker Sails.
As far as other flankers go, there will never be an end to them in perfumery. All Fragrant Folks can hope for is that when they’re created, they’re creative. And not just another flanker, after flanker, after flanker *deep breathe* after flanker, after…
Black Sails Notes: Lemon, Lavender, Cardamom, Pirate’s Gin; Cedar, Oak, Sea Breeze; Incense, Amber, Black Musk
Blacker Sails Notes: Angelica, Cardamom CO2, Pirate’s Gin, Lemon, Cedar, Oak Barrel, Briny Sea; Black Incense, Blacker Musk, Amber
Michael Schrammel, Contributor and Perfumer, founder and everything in between for the scent of it
All photos are owned by For the Scent of It perfumes, unless otherwise stated.
Blacker Sails, For the Scent of It
As a thank you for enjoying Michael’s and ÇaFleureBon’s “Notes from the Lab” series, For the Scent of It is offering a 30ml bottle of Blacker Sails for one registered reader in the USA or Canada. You must register or your entry will not count. To be eligible please leave a comment telling us what you enjoyed most about Michael’s notes from the lab the Flankers editions. Also, what flankers do you like as much or better than the original? Winner must have an address in the USA or Canada. Draw closes 6/11/2024
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Editor’s Note: Many years ago a well-known perfumer told me about a flanker of his original, and said “they really changed it. it has so many sticky notes.”-Michelyn
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