CurioNoir Diaphanous, photo Ann Bouterse, owner of Indigo Perfumery©
A billow of tulle, a gleam of white satin slippers; slender, attenuated arms reaching for lost embraces; the willis of Giselle, spirits of the lovelorn, glissade across a forest stage, ethereal and sad. Twirling in white light like mournful will-o’-the-wisps, they drift and sway and dip, long hair streaming like a thousand tears behind them. “Diaphanous” – to let be seen through – is a word for such graceful, earthbound ghosts. In CurioNoir’s swooning fragrance of the same name, jasmine and narcissus glimmer over a warm center of saffron and pepper in a dance of earthly and spritely.
KC Ballet, image via Wikimedia Commons
Despite its moniker, CurioNoir Diaphanous is not Jean-Claude Ellena-esque; there is no minimalist transparency here but rather layers of drippy, juicy fruit and luminous white flowers that peel away like Salome’s veils to reveal a spice-laden heart. In this sense, the fragrance lives up to its name. The scents of the first stages of Diaphanous are dewy, juicy, misty; every note feels something that is just beginning.The fragrance starts with a vibrant glow of sweet-tart mandarin juice mixed with young jasmine blossoms. In a few minutes, I begin to smell under ripe melon and Chablis grape. There’s plenty of greenery, too, viney and astringent like crushed new leaves. Diaphanous jetés from its radiant opening and then seems to suspend in mid-air for some time before descending slowly into embers of spice dominated by saffron. Saffron is a note I either love or loathe in perfumery; it can smell of cough medicine and dirty blankets to me, or, as here, like something ancient I came across in a dusty apothecary bottle; sandy, earthy, exotic and plaintive. It is joined by the saucy, tomato pinch of cayenne.
Dragonfly, image via Wikimedia Commons
The floral and spice notes, rather than mixing and melding, initially dance a pas de deux: one moment, I smell the flowers and fruit, then, a moment later, Diaphanous is all peppery saffron. Amber filters in quietly until I am aware of the addition of density and mellowness near the dry-down. The overall effect is enticing and strange. Whenever the flowers and mandarin bow forward, the warmth of the spices envelops them; then, when I smell most spice, I can almost hear green vines curl and wrap around the saffron.
Solveig Dommartin as Marion in Wings of Desire (1987) still© apped
In CurioNoir Diaphanous, the flowers and spice leap and exchange with each other like trapeze artists for a long while, swaying between the spot lit incandescence of white blooms and the heated sensuality of saffron and amber. I think of Marion, the lovely, wistful aerialist of Wings of Desire – a terrestrial woman who can fly through the air like a seraph, so much of earth and sky that an angel leaves his heavenly perch to join her. Diaphanous could have been her fragrance.
Notes: Mandarin, sambac jasmine, saffron, narcissus absolute, cayenne pepper, amber.
Disclaimer: Sample of CurioNoir Diaphanous kindly provided by Indigo Perfumery. My opinions, as always, are my own.
Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor
Bottle of CurioNoir Diaphanous, photo courtesy of CurioNoir
Thanks to the generosity of Indigo Perfumery, US stockist for CurioNoir, we have a 50 ml bottle of CurioNoir Diaphanous extrait ($265)for one registered reader in the U.S. ONLY. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what appeals to you about Diaphanous based on Lauryn’s review and whether you are familiar with the movie Wings of Desire and or CurioNoir. Draw closes 6/16/2021.
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