With a flourish Silvio Levi welcomed all of the attendees to the fifth version of Esxence. In his opening remarks he mentioned how important this expo is to bring together all of those who have a stake in the success of artistic perfumery. With that as our mission we all entered the exhibition hall.

The first thing that caught my eye was a collection of collars sticking out of the wall that turned out to be the booth for Naomi Goodsir Parfums. Ms. Goodsir’s experience in fashion has led her to collect ties and collars; all of these are vintage Geoffrey Beene collars. I spoke with Ms. Goodsir about her first two fragrances Bois D’Ascese and Cuirs Velours. I am happy to tell you a third will be appearing and the perfumer behind it is Isabelle Doyen. Ms. Goodsir and I are both fans of the Turtle Vetiver series and I’m hoping that Mme Doyen turns out something equally fascinating for Naomi Goodsir.

I spent most of the day saying hello to friends and next was stopping by to visit with Marina Sersale and Sebastian Alvarez Murena of Eau D’italie. They have their brand new Acqua Decima on display. Acqua Decima is the first citrus-based fragrance in the Eau D’Italie line and perfumer Alberto Morillas has fashioned a focused laser beam of lemon that is bright and bracing.

Anais Biguine and I worked through our language barrier, she speaks French and I sadly do not. Even so her English is better than my French and she told me of the literary inspiration of the next fragrance to come from her Jardins D’Ecrivains line; Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. She promises a fragrance as gender bending as the source of her inspiration. There is no one I would rather have trying to accomplish this than Mme Biguine.

I also visited with the olfactory chemists behind Nu_Be and their collection of elemental perfumes. I met the entire creative team and while they aren’t quite ready to let the public know what the next two elements are to come they gave me a clue. I was told to think of elements that were important to alchemy. No matter what it turns out to be I am very excited after meeting the creative team behind Nu_Be.

As I made my way up stairs I was stopped in my tracks be the display of the new bottles for Keiko Mecheri Loukhoum collection. These bottles are a big change but they have a tactile elegance and weight to them that seems to fit. I also sniffed the two new releases coming in April; Sedona Blue which reminded me of the American desert in bloom and Savile inspired by a Savile Row tailor with leather and linen in ascendance.

My final stop for the day was the lecture on English Perfumers by Lila Das Gupta of Basenotes.net. In an hour she covered all the way from Floris to Roja Dove. It was a very interactive display with Ms. Das Gupta exploring the historical underpinnings of many of the fragrances we tried. By the end it felt more like a collection of perfumistas talking about fragrance than a lecture. That sense of drawing all of us into her world is credit to Ms. Das Gupta’s charm.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a sniff at the new Robert Piguets including Knightsbridge and Neela Vermeire tells me she has a surprise for me. If it is a chance to smell her new fragrance I’ll be a very happy guy. I’ll also start discovering what is new and letting you know what my favorites off the floor are.

Until tomorrow, Ciao Perfumistas!

–Mark Behnke, Managing Editor