Chatillon Lux Confluence bottle via Shawn
In geography, a confluence is a junction of two rivers or streams. But in its more colloquial usage, it means a coming together or meeting, that point at which separate elements converge and intermingle. In Chatillon Lux founder and perfumer Shawn Maher’s olfactory storytelling, Confluence converges at the foot of a great forest, deep with shadows, where conifers and cedars attend the eternal marriage of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and incense sanctifies their union.
Shawn Maher, artisan perfumer for Chatillon Lux and Maher Olfactive
Shawn explains his inspiration: “Here in Saint Louis, the word “confluence” is used for many reasons. Of course, the easiest connection is the meeting of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers … Additionally, due to its origins as a trading hamlet, many nationalities and backgrounds had to come together to trade, work and merge their cultures to work together.
St Louis Flag via wikipedia
Our city flag represents this, with both rivers represented, along with the colors of the French and Spanish flags, to represent the city’s heritage as a French territory that eventually became a Spanish territory … And it made me think of … the person who I find to be the most enduring character from our history: Henri Chatillon: the man who lived peacefully at the confluence of cultures, of noble French heritage who lived as a member of the Oglala nation. So the idea of incense and coniferous trees together, with their shared trait of terpenic citrus notes as their own confluence.”
Storm Front, Confluence of Missouri and Mississippi Rivers by Michael Anderson©
In its uncanny evocation of a vast outdoors, cool woodsy aromas jutting up against warm resins and smoky incense and sharp citrus, Chatillon Lux Confluence strikes me a particularly American fragrance. The notes are bold and brisk, greeting you in a hearty bearhug. The soaring opening of citrus and juniper calls forth one of those days where everything seems as big as a tall tale: a huge sky of robin’s egg blue puffing its clouds along; cold, sharp aromas of spruce needle, eucalyptus, fir and juniper in vast, unknowable recesses of trees and brush above the rivers’ meeting place; cold air under a brilliant sun steaming the moisture from ground softening underfoot.
As Confluence unwinds from its exuberant opening, the citrus notes expand and fill the air with fresh-cut fruit. Ginger oil bounces off the juniper and piney odors, which are sharpened by grapefruit turpenes and clarycet, an aroma chemical with tinges of clary sage, cedar and plum. Moments later, Chatillon Lux Confluence begins to warm. Palo santo oil, with its cozy hints of bergamot and anise, meanders through the top notes, and the wood notes begin to gather, becoming drier, as a notably rich cedar emerges, paving a road for the incense waiting around its bend.
Missouri River by Thomas Hart Benton©
Shawn Maher uses two types of frankincense: Boswellia serrata, which warm and balsamic, which, along with elemi, anchors the warm/citric-woods; while olibanum serrata, with its minty-evergreen undercurrents, moors the coniferous scents. The mix of these three ingredients results in a complex accord that does not come across like the familiar church-like fume but smells like an incense cone set alight on a distant pile of damp pine and stone. Resinous labdanum brings the composition back towards warmth as Confluence courses to its dry-down, and I get just the slightest touch of benzoin’s chewy sweetness.
Like other of Shawn Maher’s Missouri-rooted creations for Chatillon Lux, Confluence feels like a trip to a specific, beloved place. Where waters that are strangers to each other meet and embrace beneath the quiet watch of the dark trees.
Notes: Frankincense, palo santo, benzoin, elemi, cedar, black spruce, atlas cedar, juniper and fir balsam.
Disclaimer: Sample of Chatillon Lux Confluence kindly given to me by Chatillon Lux. My opinions are my own.
Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor
Chatillon Lux Confluence courtesy of Shawn Meher
Confluence will be available in EdT for Chatillon Lux’s Black Cyber Holiday Event this year on Friday, November 27. But thanks to the generosity of Chatillon Lux, we have a 60ml bottle AVANT PREMIERE of Confluence for one registered reader anywhere in the world (you must register or your comment will not count). To be eligible, please leave a comment describing what strikes you about Confluence in Lauryn’s review, if you have tried any Chatillon Lux fragrances, and where you live. Draw closes 11/27/2020.
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