Bust of Nefertiti, Neues Museum, Berlin
More than 1,300 years before Cleopatra set her sights on Caesar and Mark Antony, Nefertiti was Queen of the Nile. Nefertiti, whose name translates to “the beautiful woman has come,” was more than the swanlike beauty whose large eyes gaze enigmatically into the middle distance. Many scholars believe she ruled alongside her husband, Akhenaten, and then as pharaoh in her own right after his death. She is the inspiration behind jazz great Miles Davis’ last acoustic album of the same name. Chatillon Lux’s Nefertiti pays homage to both the jazz and historical legends, twining music and muse around key notes of honey and incense.
Shawn Maher of Chatillon Lux photo credit Gelle/Leon Marketing Communications
Chatillon Lux’s Nefertiti is immensely powerful at first spray, dominated by a blast of kyphi – an ancient, complex amalgam of dried fruit, spices, woods, grasses and myrrh, with camphorous undertones. But then, the drowsy drip of honey note filters in, mimicking the sexy ooze of Davis’ trumpet in the first part of his Nefertiti. Creative director and perfumer Sean Maher explains, “First and foremost, a particular type of honey note was essential for three reasons: it was an important component of Nefertiti’s perfume, it is also an important component of kyphi incense, and simply how it would evoke the silky, warm trumpet tone of the song’s sweet melody.”
Miles Davis, photo by Jan Persson
The honey and kyphi mingle and wrap around each other sinuously. A flowery smell hums by, sweet, fresh white blossom tangling around the honey, and jasmine tricks me for a moment into thinking I am smelling honeysuckle. As time progresses in the perfume and in Davis’ composition, there is a marked shift in tone. Davis’ Nefertiti explodes from its melodic, twilit opening with improvised, kinetic notes bouncing sideways and forward like a Kandinsky painting. In complement, Maher’s fragrance gets alternately darker and brighter, taking unexpected turns. A basso profundo note of dry, woody oud thrums, accented by the muddy greenness of cannabis. Immortelle grabs hold of the honey, imbuing the honey with a thin glaze of maple syrup. But then bright green aromas pop out unexpectedly like brassy horn notes; vegetal, citric and mulchy.
Miles Davis, Nefertiti album cover, 1967
Just as Davis’ trumpet stays at the center of his music, the honey-kyphi accord beats at the heart of Chatillon Lux’s Nefertiti, providing a sensual cohesion. When augmented by thick notes like vetiver, immortelle and oud, the fragrance is brooding, dark-cornered, full of nighttime. But as jasmine and soapy kaffir lime float through, and the mood lightens like a change in tempo.
Rihanna as Nefertiti, photo by Greg Kadel for Vogue, Oct. 2017
The animalic purr of musk, spice and brittle tobacco lead Nefertiti to its dry-down. The final chords are deliberate, plangent, warm. Nefertiti is a sloe-eyed seductive scent, a sexual chameleon that veers between lushly female and drily masculine with no warning. It is as complex, fascinating and unconventional as its alluring namesake – in all her incarnations.
Notes: Honey, orchid leaf, jasmine, kyphi incense, jazz cigarette, immortelle absolute, oud, vetiver, musk.
Disclaimer: Sample of Nefertiti kindly provided by Chatillon Lux. My opinions are my own.
Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor
Chatillon Lux Nefertiti via Shawn Maher
Thanks to the generosity of Chatillon Lux, we have a full 30 ml bottle of Chatillon Lux Nefertiti (a parfum extrait) for one registered reader in the U.S. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what appeals to you about Nefertiti based on Lauryn’s review, whether you have tried any Chatillon Lux perfumes, and what person from the ancient world you think should inspire a perfume. Draw closes 8/28/2019.
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