Darren Alan Perfumes Vintage Novel courtesy of the brand

 “There are two perfumes to a book. If a book is new, it smells great. If a book is old, it smells even better. It smells like ancient Egypt. A book has got to smell. You have to hold it in your hands and pray to it. You put it in your pocket and you walk with it. And it stays with you forever.” – Ray Bradbury

Darren Alan Perfumes Vintage Novel,  image by Rachel K. Ng

 My favorite place to spend time is in our home library. The dark wood and focused light create my preferred room in the house and my shelter from the storm of life. This is no doubt due to happy memories with my mother and sharing in her vocation as a special collections librarian at our local university. The quiet stacks and cool air of contemplation found in a library are a perfect backdrop for the steady work of the life of the mind.

11^th Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, photo by Rachel K. Ng

 Among our family’s vintage treasures is a rare printing of the 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. This special edition is prized because Britannica went out of their way to have individual articles written by each subject area’s best-known scholars of the field at that time. The 1911 edition is an All Stars of knowledge, a time capsule of the best minds in scientific and historical thinking. It is with the same scholarly pursuit of excellence that Darren Alan approaches perfumery. His scents are deeply researched and often contain hand-tinctured and enfleurage materials. Darren Alan Perfumes Vintage Novel encapsulates both the environment of a library where deep learning occurs, but also Darren’s own intellectual rigor and attention to detail.

Scent of Old Books by Rachel K. Ng

Darren Alan Perfumes Vintage Novel opens with a rose that is rich in complexity and depth. Bergamot and lemon frame the rose accord’s citrus facet. The first few hours of Vintage Novel are centered on the sweet yet spicy Taif rose, which blooms with hints of honey and jammy tea. Flushed cerise and carmine shades pop with a surprisingly peppery-spicy slant to the perfume’s development. This is a rose that commands attention and respect. A pinch of saffron adds a touch of balancing sweetness and musk.

Darren Alan of Darren Alan Perfumes 

After a few hours, hints of the rose’s environs take shape. Linseed oil gives one the almost unconscious memory of dark polished wood from days spent in college libraries studying for exams. Patchouli hexanol leaves a fine layer of dusty shelves. Darren uses both vanilla bean and tonka bean tinctures in this fragrance. He explains, “the vanilla & Tonka are tinctures that I make from vanilla beans and Tonka beans; they help contribute to the old paper smell. As the pages in books age, the lignin degrades and is converted to vanillin, the volatile compound which is responsible for the odor & flavor of vanilla. Coumarin, the molecule responsible for the aroma of Tonka beans contributes to the dry, grassy note found in many old books.” This atmosphere of the library enters slowly as the background of the rose and the scent of vintage paper books develops as the hours go by, well into the 6-8 hour timeframe.

Library of the Imagination, by Rachel K. Ng

Darren Alan Perfumes Vintage Novel has a tremendously satisfying dry down (which is rare today and worth seeking out). Sandalwood, Egyptian white musk, and white ambergris create a long-lasting base as cozy as the old wood floors in a historic building. Darren’s hand-made Indonesian agarwood tincture brings a lifelike generative feeling to the extended dry down at around 8-14 hours. I feel as though I am back at the University of Chicago Harper Memorial Library, deep in translation of an ancient Chinese text. Darren Alan Perfumes Vintage Novel will inspire your intellectual side as you snuggle up with a cozy book this fall.

Notes: bergamot, lemon, Taif rose EO, Taif rose absolute, saffron, spices, patchouli hexanol, linseed oil, tobacco, vanilla bean tincture, tonka bean tincture, white ambergris, sandalwood, Egyptian white musk, Indonesian agarwood tincture

Disclaimer: sample my own, opinions my own.

~ Rachel K. Ng, Editor

Vintage Novel courtesy of Darren Alan

Thanks to Darren Alan we have a 50 ml bottle of Vintage Novel for a registered ÇaFleureBon reader USA ONLY, (if you are not sure if you are registered click here – you must register on our site or your entry will be invalid). To be eligible please leave a quality comment on this site with what strikes you about Rachel’s review and where you live.  Have you ever been to a library? Draw Closes 10/6/2024

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