Unsplash image via Andyadcon with Christèle Jacquemin Meandering Soul bottle, collage by Nicoleta
Having quite a compartmentalized way of processing emotion, I usually try to have a system in place when approaching art, to prevent my analytical self from taking control over the experience. Yes, I am fully aware of the irony of having a system that sabotages my need of (always) having a system, but let me quote Bjork on that: “ I thought I could organize freedom/ How Scandinavian of me”. Fortunately, when it comes to trying new perfumes, I have reached a simple equation: I wear and I talk about the things that speak to me, and I try to “blind-test” as much as I can: picking up a sample from my sample trunk (I wonder how many of us have a pet-name for our sample purgatory?) in the morning, putting it aside without looking at the label, and test-driving it on my skin for a full day, to keep my mind free of any automatic associations and preconceptions regarding the house, the perfumer, its story, etc. Only after I have internalized the emotional experience of the perfume, I start to look at details and process the information. But sometimes, there are those rare magical “whoa!” moments that overwrite this here hobbit ‘s inner meanderings, triggered by perfumes that broadcast to a deeply personal frequency that I immediately recognize and can connect to. Recently I had that experience in the 4 days I wore Christèle Jacquemin’s creations. They all spoke to me, loud and clear, with intelligence, raw emotion, and an authentic unfiltered voice. The easiest way to explain the “whoa” more articulately, and the immediate and visceral connection that I felt, is that I experience some version of an olfactive “breaking of the fourth wall”*
* “The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imagined wall separates actors from the audience, and while the audience can see through this “wall”, the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. The wall is “broken” when the convention is temporarily suspended through various techniques, the most used being that of directly addressing to the audience”. (via wiki)
Christèle Jacquemin, via Facebook
Christèle Jacquemin is a traveler (having visited over 50 countries to this date, with no plans to stop any time soon), an award-winning photographer, and a gifted artisanal perfumer, as a finalist in the Art & Olfaction Awards of 2020. Her four fragrances are an invitation to unfold a scented memory map, where we will encounter places, memories, and, if we look closely, mirrors:
Impermeance – feels like a deep breathing guided meditation, feeling the spiritual and physical connection to the green herbal lung of nature: inspired by Jin Ze, a village in the suburbs of Shanghai (this perfume was shortlisted as finalist in the Art and Olfaction Awards 2020, in the artisan category).
Memory Lane – a Proustian madeleine with alternating contrasting layers between the light-as cloud meringue vanilla and the dark oud and chypriol. Complex, complicated, bittersweet, and ambivalent, like any return home – inspired by Valliguières, a village in Southern France.
Underworld – the interplay between shadow and light, hope and fear. Made me think of one of my favorite Anais Nin quotes: “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. Perfume inspired by Barcelona.
As I found it almost impossible to pick a scent out of the four to focus on, I turned for help to the series of photographs that accompany each perfume. Then my choice came naturally: Meandering Soul.
A note from the official site:
“I spent a month in Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan. It was a chaotic month seeking to escape the noise and frantic pace of this Asian New York. My respite: going out at night, wandering in peace according to my inspiration, and reconnecting with nature that I missed so much. Walking as night fell, a gentle night breeze led me to the gates of my sleeping dreams. In this city that screams during the day, my imagination is eagerly awaiting the night to finally be free to create a real-world where to live in complete serenity. Back from Taiwan, I worked to translate into scent the calm felt during these nocturnal walks.”
Christèle Jacquemin photography, Meandering Soul series© and poem fragment by Jorge Luis Borges, collage by Nicoleta ©
There is a special time when night falls, at the very threshold of darkness, when the blue hour has just melted its ink into the night, leaving traces of blurry haze over the tree branches. Christèle’s meandering path recreates this subtle pulsating nuance with the olfactive spectrum of the tree branches, painted with imponderable, lighter than air woods, pulsating green, with the marrow sublimated out of their fragile backbones. Fennel – green, tingly, and mouth-wateringly familiar, here manages to be atmospheric, not like a smell, per-se, but more of the reconstructed memory of a smell. Know the satisfaction of stepping on a big pile of crunchy, rusty autumn leaves? Here’s to that feeling translated – the light, herbaceous and sappy crunch and bite of the first spray, together with the subtle warmth and rust texture for the first exhilarating moments.
Christèle Jacquemin Meandering Soul series© and poem fragment by Jorge Luis Borges, collage by Nicoleta©
Christèle Jacquemin Meandering Soul doesn’t follow a linear path, small alleyways divide in front of us – one tempts you with milky woody lights that make you feel like you are slowly dissolving into a cup of hot, steaming tea, other leads to a shadowy caramel back alley filled with the smell of brazed tobacco, and there, just in front, there is the promise of flowers. There is this feeling of immediacy and immersiveness, just like in a lucid dream, where you feel you are not just a spectator but can control the dream plot with your willpower.
Walking the path, the presence of an old river becomes apparent, swilled through the roots of the trees and released in the night air, in a mixture of sweetened citrus peel, old rain, salty driftwoods, old moist cardboard, and stirred up mossy green river beds.
Christèle Jacquemin Meandering Soul photography, Meandering Soul series© and poem fragment by Jorge Luis Borges, collage by Nicoleta©
On my skin, the flowers don’t open up (as they did when I tested the perfume on the paper blotter), and the fragrance veers to the sweet and dark base notes without taking the scenic flowery route. Blooming on my skin, just the honeyed warmth of the ylang is sweeping its yellow illusion through the roasted caramel, and the edges of the tobacco leaves dry up and curl in smoke. The presence becomes eerily familiar, like the sound of pieces of bread covered in cinnamon sugar, roasting on the stove, mixing in with the sounds of little silver spoons hitting the edge of the paisley printed teacups. It feels like pressing your ear to a door and smelling a half-forgotten childhood memory becoming real. Except it’s not your memory but the nostalgia feels like a knot of unspoken heavy words in your stomach. And that makes it equally beautiful and -almost – scary. Just like that break of the fourth wall that I began my story with.
Meandering Soul is composed of more than 90% of ingredients of natural origin.
Notes: Essential oils: Cinnamon, Hinoki wood, Sweet fennel, Ylang-ylang; Absolute: Narcissus; Accord: Caramel, Tobacco leaves
Christèle Jacquemin Meandering Soul debuted in 2019
Nicoleta Tomsa, Senior Editor
Disclosure: Samples kindly provided by Christèle Jacquemin, opinions are my own
Christèle Jacquemin Meandering Soul official brand photo
Thanks to the generosity of Christèle Jacquemin, we have a 50 ml bottle of Meandering Soul for one registered reader in the in the EU, USA, and UK. You must register or your entry will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what sparks your interest based on Nicoleta’s review and where you live. Draw closes October 24/2021
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