Masque Milano Love Kills and more at Perfumariē (photo Hernando©)
Masque Milano‘s newest release, Love Kills featured prominently among the remarkable rose we smelt at Esxence Milano 2019. True to form, Creative Directors Alessandro Brun and Riccardo Tedeschi continue to seek the olfactory evocative – how best to convey an operatic oeuvre via perfume. Love Kills concludes Masque Milano’s tale of anticipatory love (L’Attesa), its blossoming (Romanza), betrayal (Tango) and inevitable demise.
Perfumer Caroline Dumur of IFF photo by by Grégoire Mähler
The perfumer is rising star Caroline Dumur of IFF, known for her recent signed work: Étienne Aigner Icon (2018), Lolita Lempicka So Sweet (2016), Paco Rabanne Pure XS (2017) and Pure XS Night (2019).
Romeo and Juliet Coco Rocha and Roberto Bolle by Annie Leibovitz©
That which blooms unexpectedly – effusively, passion-filled – may well fade as swiftly. “Tonight she is Imogen…and tomorrow night she will be Juliet”, notes Alessandro Brun ascerbically, referring first to Shakespeare’s ‘most tender and most artless’ daughter of King Cymbeline and in the same breath, literature’s immortal ill-fated heroine. If one is to observe correctly, his intimation might be interpreted as playing to a youthful audience (both heroines are extremely young, but only one dies tragically); Love Kills, however – is not a fatal fragrance, nor is it purely for younger perfumisti. I feel it as the fullness of rose arcing from éblouissant (dazzling) to fanée (faded). Surely this amatory occurrence is a universal one. Masque Milano Love Kills is a versatile fragrance which connotes shared experience and wears beautifully over time, running the gamut from fresh and dewy to the woody rose powder of a cashmere shawl long sequestered in a venerable patchouli-redolent traveling trunk.
Alessandro Brun at Perfumariē holding Masque Milano Love Kills (photo Hernando)
Masque Milano Love Kills shares facets with other beloved rose/patchouli perfumes while managing to retain its own character. In the drydown I’m reminded of Frederic Malle (Dominique Ropion) Portrait of a Lady, certain vestiges of Mendittorosa Le Mat. The former is drier and more powdery, the latter moist and inclining towards immortelle, which in Le Mat imparts a syrupy herb-tinged quality. This sweet herbalcy is present in Love Kills and mingles affectionately with Ambrarome for a lightly leathery effect dusted with tobacco. Etat Libre d’Orange Rossy de Palma Eau de Protection shares common bone structure: its metallic-edged thorns hint at something rose oxide-like: herbal, spicy, earthy and very wet indeed. Rose oxide is triumphant in Love Kills’ top notes, a touch sharp-edged and fruity as well. Notes alone never reveal the full histoire d’amour: one can utilize many of the same materials with astoundingly varied results. Diversity in terroir, source, climate – multiple factors exist which distinguish the scent of materials bearing the same nomenclature. Rarely is a rose is a rose is a rose, despite Mme. Gertrude Stein’s good intentions.
Maria Callas late 1950s
In Love Kills new love is hopeful, garden-fresh, bursting with promise – the green loveliness, tenderly musky ambrette as counterpart, a litchi-like juicy quality. We have rose and more rose: hailing from Turkey both in absolute and rose oil, they sing of the complexity for which rose is renowned, love’s full flush, open-throated and luscious.
L’Abbandano by Felice Casorati
From soaring to descent: rose plummets into a velvety divan swathed in softest patchouli, resinous amber and immortelle rubbed with cedar and musk. Here she lies until the last embers are extinguished and all that remains of a love which burned too ardently is powdered petals, rose dust and regret. Even in dust Masque Milano Love Kills clings to misted memory, for it was never an arid affair…
Notes: litchi, rose oxide, ambrette, Egyptian geranium, Turkish rose oil and absolute, green notes, molecular patchouli distillation, Ambrarome, immortelle, cedar, musk
Sample provided by Masque Milano and Perfumariē – many thanks! My nose is my own…
~ Ida Meister, Senior Editor and Natural Perfumery Editor
~ Art Direction: Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief (with photos from Sr, Events Contributor Hernando Patrick Courtright) – thank you!
ÇaFleureBon Editor Ermano Picco was the Evaluator for Love Kills. He also chose the painting L’Abbandano for this piece.
Photo by Hernando ©
Thanks to the largesse of Alessandro Brun of Masque Milano we have two 2 ml. samples of Masque Milano Love Kills for two registered readers worldwide. You must register here or your comment will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what you enjoyed most about Ida’s review, where you live, and if you have a favorite Masque Milano fragrance. Draw closes 7/13/2019
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