J’s Image of Malbrum Paradiso Super, Here Comes the Son and Godspeed

Malbrum Act of Faith, Paradiso Super, Here Comes the Son and Godspeed are a trio of perfumes that have been in development since 2018 where perfumer Cristiano Canali and Malbrum’s Bjorn Kristian Hilberg explore the importance of determination, self-belief and the power of imagination. Beneath the surface, a subtle irony lingers, provoking contemplation on the extent to which the art of perfumery has succumbed to the manipulative clutches of marketing, overshadowing its true purpose as a medium of self-expression.

Malbrum’s  Bjorn Kristian Hilberg and perfumer Cristiano Canali courtesy of the brand

Norwegian writer and playwright Jon Fosse in Septology said “…what’s beautiful in life turns out bad in a painting because it’s like there’s too much beauty, a good picture needs something bad in it in order to shine the way it should, it needs darkness in it…”

Writer Jon Fosse and his book Septology

Each of the perfumes in Malbrum’s  Act of Faith Volume III have this darkness to make the light shine as they present three different moods, cleverly using contemporary aroma molecules.

J’s Image of Malbrum Paradiso Super

There’s a cosy minimal fruity summer fun for Gen Z, a gender bending fougère playing soft yet tough and finally a powerful wakeup call that gives you beast mode and then some. Capturing our current times with an almost playful postmodern feel. Malbrum Paradiso Super wears like a half-forgotten dream of cosy summers past, with its soft fruity abstract florals that blur into a fuzzy haze of sunny vibes, like heat rising from cotton sheets on a hot summer’s day. These peach tinted sunglasses are packed with a creamy figgy greenness almost like sunscreen rubbed into cedar making a soft powdery hazy musk that purrs with dreams of past summer loves. Paradiso Super wraps you in this cosy musky dream, feeling like cashmere as subtle soapy clean aroma blur with more impassioned musks, warm peach skin teased by Jasmine as tonka brings a coumarin dry feel and hint of sweetness.

It’s beautifully abstract feeling, like a dream or half forgotten memory. Capturing that Gen Z clean girl gone bad feel, as its soft freesias are corrupted by jasmine and a slight animalic musk. It’s a lovely hint of darkness to make the peach and sweet shine more making me think of warm bodies at the end of a summers day, where sunscreen and perfumes blurs with peachy desire as the cost embrace of ambroxan wraps its body around you. Paradiso Super is a dream of eternal summer and wears like a soft sweater that glides over your warm skin. Sweet peachy summer blurring with summer loves.

Notes: Paradiso Super; Fig milk, Saturn peach accord, Freesia, Cedar Crystals, Jasmine Sambac Abs., Solar Accord, Tonka Abs.

J’s Image of Malbrum Here Comes the Son

Malbrum Here Comes the Son is reminiscent of a classic Fougère recreated for our contemporary times. Houbigant’s Fougère Royal was the first to use coumarin to create the first barber shop perfume, which was then abstracted by Guerlain with Jicky, it feels like Here Comes the Son brings it further into the now with the use of Javanol and Muscenone abstracting it further into this warm powdery woody fougère that feels soft and cosy, yet its aroma chemical backbone gives it this quiet power & deep presence.  Here Comes the Son has a beautiful sweet fruity muskiness as it opens with a gentle gaze of benzoin, like your looking through a soft veil of silk so the image isn’t clear rather cast in a soft focus. A musky coumarin like dryness gives you this warm fougère like sensation with a soft array of florals, some slight narcotic orange blossom, hinting at the classic bitter greens of a fougère, yet Here Comes the Sun has a more musky abstract feel. There’s powdery heliotrope almond like facets with the diffusive sandalwood giving its this rather classic aroma, yet its feel is very contemporary being light yet impactful.

Here Comes the Son Notes: Ambrette CO2, Bergamot, Benzoin, Sandalwood E.O., Orange flower Abs., Iris butter, Labdanum Abs., Tobacco Abs.

Albrecht Dürer – Praying Hands, 1508

Here Comes the Son feels almost like a soft sandalwood incense smoke it’s dry down, iris facets give it a lush powdery texture softening the edge of the already creamy sandalwood with just a hint of dry white florals. There some sweet notes that feel abstract, lighting the creamy woods and musky warm aromas give Here Comes the Son a soft warm glow. The praying hands image on the bottle is a very common tattoo based of Albrecht Durer’s pen and ink study from 1508. For me, Here Comes the Son feels like it holds meaning for both perfumer Cristiano Canali and Kristian Hilberg’s love for perfumery and materials. It’s their take on the classic fougère for the future, one that light and airy with a warm woody feel.

J’s Image of Malbrum Godspeed

The rocket on the bottle of Malbrum Godspeed gives you a hint at the power of this perfume. It launches with a huge blast of peppers with a lovely berry floral facets that’s shimmer & sharp full of nose tickling spices. Vulcanized Incense is a new material I’ve only experienced in one other perfume and here in Godspeed it gives a dark charred charcoal like feel to the spices, with a soft smokiness that makes the peppers feel like sparks flickering in the darkness. Godspeed has the power of the rocket with Norlimbanol giving it a huge boost of dry woody ambers as a back bone for the pink, black and Timur pepper to shimmer over, with an almost metallic feel at the edges, where it fades into a dank mossy cotton cashmere feel.

There’s a clever counterpoint to all this power, with musky floral bringing a soft creamy powdery feel to the harder spicy amber woods. A dark carnation bloom with an intense spice making its petals feel velvety as your nose embraces this rather intense sensuality. It’s like the carnation has been made from linen that’s been smoked with a soft darkness of incense. Fresh pine and citrus notes also shine here from the darkness with a hint of camphor and frankincense giving an earthy refreshing rose feel to the intense spices and delicious dark smoke.

I love how these elements play of each other making this a rather intense experience. Malbrum Godspeed is incredibly powerful, it’s overdose of peppers and ambers fugues it’s a huge presence, it’s like a wake up call that makes you face it’s power in order to wear it. The florals give a soft elegance to the rougher pepper amber woods, giving a suave feel to Godspeed when you wear it. This is beast mode, pushing synthetic materials to the max with the spices and incense keeping you grounded.

Godspeed Notes: Black Pepper, Timur Pepper CO2, Pink Pepper CO2, Black Carnation accord, Cedarwood Virginia, Turkish Rose abs, Vulcanized Incense, Nagarmotha E.O.; OakMoss abs.

Malbrum Volume III Act of Faith captures something of the “now” that’s hard to pin point as we are too close, but in a few years looking back we will see more clearly how Cristiano Canali and Bjorn Kristian Hilberg have bottled a time in culture through this trio of perfumes.

J Wearescentient, Editor, artist and olfactive writer.

Disclosure: Testers were kindly sent by Malbrum tusen takk! Nose and thoughts as always my own.

J Wearescentient Malbrum Paradiso Super, Here Comes The Son and Godspeed

Thanks to the generosity of the brand we have a giveaway for a reader’s choice of one of the three perfumes (testers) for a registered reader in the EU or USA only (please don’t forget to register or your comment is ineligible). Please leave a comment with what you enjoyed about J’s reviews of Malbrum Paradiso Super, Here Comes the Son and Godspeed, where you live, your choice should you win and why. Draw closes 5/2/2024

You can purchase the perfumes of Malbrum Vol III Act of Faith direct from Artistic Fragrances and Perfumology in the USA

Please read Michelyn’s wonderful Esxence Report 2024 and when she met Bjorn Kristian Hilberg at Esxence 2015

Check out our reviews of Malbrum Psychotrope and Tigre du Bengale

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