Marc-Antoine Barrois B683 Extrait by Roberto Greco, courtesy of Maison Marc-Antoine Barrois
To consider Marc-Antoine B683 Extrait is to consider almost the inconceivable – the rawer, more perfectly achieved expression of talents almost already at the peak of their art and whose creative unity and union have been rewarded three times last year.
To consider B683 Extrait is to consider the unthinkable sweetness of a Black Saffron accord, a Vanilla, gossamer and wild, a Patchouli that exists between night and drought – a green and juicy Apple and a tenebrous Oud.
Misty way towards Kursheong by Boudhayan Bardan©
To consider Marc-Antoine B683 Extrait is to open one’s mind to a landscape of thicknesses, textures, layers and depth. It is a dare, to bet on a transparency diluted in hushed wood fractals, in sensual repetitions of visceral, certain themes, of the same innate certainty that nature breathes, that is more masterful and artistically perfect. It is to taste the assurance of the shepherd-trees of the forests, virginal and unspoiled, all mysterious in their clouds of mists, those that enshroud the cry of endangered fauna and of flowers still secret.
To consider B683 Extrait is to consider that this moving story, this dazzling artistry shared between two men, has not come to an end – that there is still something to feel, to say, to write about B683.
It is to consider the continuation of a masterpiece – a success.
Marc-Antoine Barrois and Quentin Bisch of Givaudan, July 2020 photo credit Fred Zara© courtesy of Marc-Antoine Barrois
It must be said that Marc-Antoine Barrois and Quentin Bisch did not simply increase the concentration of the first EDP. Indeed, I know from my discussions with Marc-Antoine that the balance of B683, between a somewhat British restraint and resolutely French panache, owes everything to a careful study of as many parameters as maceration, maturation, the perfume itself and its concentration, and we can deduce that a mere overconcentration of B683 would have resulted in a perfume too round, smoothing out its pulverulent leather sheen and silencing the – yet so crucial – dryness of the safraleine and though they did it- the fragrance leaps from 12% to a whopping 40% – it is indeed a real rework that they’re begetting our senses: Quentin Bisch seems to have extracted the essence of B683 to give it here more space, more body, a stronger echo and strong voice.
The impression is one of a dark sweetness, of a daring animality without being untamed.
Marc Antoine Barrois B683 Extrait, courtesy of Marc-Antoine Barrois©
The former transparency is replaced by a gripping note of Green Apple which, accentuated by the Pimento Berry and its clove-like breath, retains its pulp, acidity and juice and avoids any teenage mawkishness. On the contrary, through a perfumer’s trick, it becomes a clear and vivacious support to the transpiring dryness of Cumin seeds which from the get-go heralds the deeper Oud that will reveal itself later on.
The Brucknerian “swelling crescendo”
In the manner of a Brucknerian symphony, B683 Extrait unveils its motifs from the opening, those it will repeat again and again in a swelling crescendo until the apotheotic coda. In the manner of a Guerlain, too, whose art of dilution and substitutions transformed somewhat vulgarly simple formulae into complex perfumes. One cannot fail to feel this synaesthetical impression of feeling, indeed, the celestial vibration of the Adagio of the 7th and its never-ending ascent towards the consumption of time – until it is reaches it. The arrival of the Violet Leaf, a material so dear to Quentin Bisch which we already smelt in Cuir Céleste amplifies this ascent of degrees. Its deep, earthy greenness extends the theme initiated by the Green Apple, giving it more substance, more darkness, prefiguring the arrival of Oud.
This Oud…
A Laotian Oud, one of the few ethically sourced and which beauty doesn’t pale in comparison to the most sought-after attars of the trade. It shines here, majestic, neither ambiguous nor off-tune, each of its facets smoothed by the sum of the Extrait’s ingredients – the resin by the Leaf, the Leather by the Safraleine, the wild animality by the pyre of Patchouli, the roundness by the Vanilla.
Here we are, at last – and the obvious shows. As the landscape reveals itself as soon as one has climbed the cliff, as it unfolds, the panorama, with its horizon hues; as the ascent tastes its meaning as soon as one reaches the summit; as one breathes this liberation of space, this infinity of sight; as the lung expands, as the tears well up in one’s eyes after the ascent – such is Marc-Antoine Barrois B683 Extrait. You have to appreciate this silence, this surprising stillness after the storm. It’s a loving caress, it’s the first kiss after the courting hours which intensity is measured by its simplicity. Time is still, the choir and the brass fly away and stretch out in long measures, on the legato of the violins, of the first and of the second. We witness on our skin the flight of the Oud on its wings of Milky Sandalwood, this Orpur© selected by Givaudan as one of Australia’s most precious, and we let ourselves be carried, dream, carried away – to the place our senses have chosen – until all the chords are resolved, until they are complete, until they are complete in themselves.
Brucknerian indeed, even more so than its predecessor, Marc-Antoine Barrois B683 Extrait tears asunder the veil between heaven and earth – only to close it again, leaving us with its sillage as a souvenir where Santal and Patchouli, like volutes billowing from dying embers, still recall the ardour of the fire. More than a perfume, B683 Extrait is as an experience, a sort of Theresian transverberation applied to scent.
Taken aside from EDP, B683 Extrait bursts and burns with a symphonic audacity, an ecstatic rapture finely orchestrated by Quentin Bisch and brilliantly conducted by Marc-Antoine Barrois. A masterpiece.
Notes: Pimento Berry, Cumin, Green Apple accord, Safraleine, Violet Leaf Absolute, Laotian Oud, Patchouli Heart Orpur, White Sandalwood Orpur, Vanilla
Disclaimers: This review was based on a bottle kindly offered by Marc-Antoine Barrois. All opinions are my own. As of the writing of this review, the perfume is already sold out.
Alexandre Helwani, Contributor and author of The Perfume Chronicles
The B683 family, courtesy of Maison Marc-Antoine Barrois
Thanks to the generosity of Marc-Antoine Barrois Paris, we have very precious samples (one of each) of Marc-Antoine B683 Extrait and of B683 EDP to give away to 1 registered reader worldwide. To be eligible, please leave a comment what appeals to you about B683 Extrait, based on Alexandre’s review, and where you live. Have you ever tried any of Marc-Antoine Barrois’ perfumes, i.e. B683 and Ganymede. Draw closes 1/19/2021
Lauryn’s review of B683 is here. Michelyn’s interview with Quentin Bisch is here
Follow us on Instagram: @cafleurebon @theperfumechronicles @marcantoinebarrois @quentinbischperfumeur
This is our Privacy and Draw Rules Policy
We announce the winners only on our site and on our Facebook page, so like ÇaFleureBon and use our RSS feed … or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume