Welcome to Day 1 of Esxence- The Scent of Excellence 2011 I'm going to be updating this throughout the day as I go.

1000– The doors have opened for this year's version of Esxence. My neighbors for the weekend will be Clive Christian which is not a bad neighborhood. They are having a gala dinner this evening which I have been invited to. I expect it to be a posh evening but there is much to happen between now and then.

This display was the display in Harrod's window last fall and was transported, very carefully, to Esxence. Under the glass are the crystal flacon versions of No. 1

 

1030– Just finished visiting with Xerjoff and getting a preview of 1861.  It is named after the date of the unification of Italy and as you can see in the pictures the predominant colors in the packaging reflect the green, white, and red of the Italian flag.

 

 

The predominant note in the top of 1861 is a beautifully clean and crisp bergamot. This already feels like another excellent example of the Xerjoff aesthetic.

1140– Just did a turn around through Carthusia. I tried Corallium for the first time and it is going to be a great summer scent. Carthusia also debuted Carthusia Lady it seems to be a more refined floral than others from the line I've tried.

 

 

Nasomatto Pardon is the new release and it is oud and probably magnolia. It feels kindred to Duro and if you are a fan of that fragrance it is likely Pardon will be for you, too. The chemist in me loves the periodic table on the cravat in the picture above.

 

 

Agonist is completely re-doing their line. They have six all natural fragrances called the Art and Sculpture Line No. 1-6. The two things Agonist are nor re-doing are their gorgeous Kosta Boda Bottles and their weird but wonderful aesthetic. Previews of all six fragrances show me that these are going to be for those of us, like me, who are looking for unique in their fragrance choices. If you are like me the new that Agonist is going to also release these in more traditional bottles at a lower price point is also great news.

 

 

I also stopped at Nez a Nez and tried Hiroshima, Mon Amour and got a preview of this fall's new release in Europe, Immortelle Marilyn. From the picture you can tell it is that Marilyn and while that excites me it is the immortelle in this fragrance that really thrilled me. The immortelle is kept as sheer as Marilyn's iconic white dress. 

 

1330– Visited Eau D'Italie and tried the new Bertrand Duchaufour fragrance Jardin du Poete. There is a lovely stong herbal component to this that I think is going to be quite refreshing to wear as the weather warms up. It is the immortelle in the base that is going to make this something I am really going to enjoy, I think.

 

 

Humiecki & Graef presented their brand-new fragrance Blask. Tobias and Sebastian were here to debut it and Tobias and I spoke for awhile on how this is a return to the edgy innovation that people look to the line to produce. It has a strong bay leaf note paired with a number of floral components. There is a moment during it on the strip where this coalesces to become oud-like but there is no oud. If you were afraid Bosque signaled a more corporate mindset at H&G, Blask is proof that it is back to business as usual. 

 

1445– Just spent the last hour with Sylvie Ganter of Atelier Cologne. They are just now launching the original five fragrances in the line in Europe and this is their coming out party. It was a great deal of fun watching people finding this line for the first time. Just like I did back about a year ago when these were released in the US.

 

 

The news they shared is we have a new fragrance to look for every season. Vanille Insensee was the Spring 2011 release. Ralf Schweiger will again be the perfumer for the next three planned fragrances and they are all in various states of construction. Sylvie was very tight-lipped on what was coming for Fall the only hint she gave me was it was more like Vanille Insensee than the original five. That sounds good to me.

 

1655– Tomorrow I chair a roundtable on Artistic Perfumery in the US and I've just spent the last couple of hours talking about that with the members of my panel. I think tomorrow's round table will be livley if these one-on-one conversations are any indication. I will be visiting the traveling Osmotheque exhibit tomorrow as well as more of the artistic perfumers exhibiting. Come back and I will do more of what I did today. Until then Arrivederci CaFleureBon-istas!!

 

–Mark Behnke, Managing Editor