Masque Milano Sleight of Fern courtesy of Masque Milano
Masque Milano’s penultimate act brings Sleight of Fern, the brand’s nod to old school fougeres. But, of course, this is Masque Milano, so Sleight of Fern is no run-of-the-mill barbershop splash, but an emerald potion that dances between breezy green chypre and classical, hay-like fougere. This is fougere with a clever, chic twist. Think what it might smell like if Houbigant Fougere Royal and Coty Chypre moved in together and then brought Gobin-Daude Sous le Buis home for a bit of t’other. With its upbeat tempo and clever, chic riffs on classical fougere and chypre structure, Masque Milano Sleight of Fern combines timeless elegance with verdant friskiness. It is at once as classic and modern as Isabella Rossellini in a menswear suit and just as stunning.
Alessandro Brun and Riccardo Tedeschi of Masque Milano
Masque Milano co-founder Alessandro Brun has a personal affection for “Italian old-style fougeres” because they strongly remind him of his grandfather. The beauty of such fragrances, he says, “lies in their simplicity. Exactly like the people of the generation of our grandparents. A silent generation that passed through WWII and helped re-build our country. A homage was due, yet at the same time too simple a fragrance, or in any case something quite classic, wouldn’t fit well in our Masque Milano collection. Needing an “artist of fougeres,” Brun called upon Grasse-based perfumer Stephanie Bakouche, creator of the much-loved fougere Invasion Barbare for MDCI.
Stephanie Bakouche of Sensaba courtesy of Masque Milano
“But we needed more than just dexterity in perfumery,” says Brun. “We needed some magic.
That’s why we asked Stephanie to perform a sleight of hand. A magic trick in which what you seem to see is not what you really see – a sort of an illusion. A fougere construction that looks classic at first, yet so perfectly modern.”
via Fine Art America
And Stephanie Bakouche achieved just that, a hat trick of clever chic riffs on fougere that is delightfully spritely and lush in turns. Masque Milano Sleight of Fern starts off with the most gorgeous green opening this side of Houbigant’s Royal Fougere. She pulls off a brilliant deep verdancy so crunchy I swear I could add it to salad. There’s plenty of bergamot and lavender, as one would find in a classic fougere, but they are overlaid with piney lentisque and a generous pinch of thyme, providing an immediate leafy contrast to the classic fougere top notes without a trace of galbanum. But perhaps the most stunning aspect of Masque Milano Sleight of Fern is the fig sap note that stands in for the fougere’s coumarin. It adds the saturated, off-sweetness needed to balance all that elegant greenery.
Menswear image via the brand
A floral middle of fresh, young tuberose and narcissus fleshes out the fragrance with a gentle voluptuousness that reminds me a bit of Rogue Perfumery’s brilliant Chypre Siam. But before long, Sleight of Fern dances off back to its green underpinnings. Throughout its wearing, Masque Milano Sleight of Fern weaves in between a fougere and green chypre. On second spray, I notice this more prominently. Coty Chypre’s characteristic soapiness washes through the head notes, followed by a devil-may-care splash of oakmoss. But just as my nose attunes to “chypre,” I find that lavender-sap medley humming along, turning and giving a big herbal wink in old-time fougere style. As it wears, the fragrance shifts back again to chypre, as the woody base and patchouli colour in the drydown.
Act IV.III
Despite being the next to last fragrance in the Opera collection, Masque Milano Sleight of Fern has no regrets. It is one beaming smile of a fragrance, upbeat in tempo and classical in its elegance, and completely genderless. If I am ever taken with the desire to skip down Corso Venezia, this is what I want to be wearing.
Notes: Bergamot Italy (Calabria), lavender France, Fig sap accord, lentisk EO Morocco, red thyme Spain, tuberose abs India, geranium EO Egypt, narcissus abs France (Auvergne), sandalwood, birchwood EO, patchouli, oakmoss, tonka bean abs.
-Lauryn Beer, Sr Editor
Masque Milano Sleight of Fern courtesy of the brand
Thanks to the generosity of Masque Milano, we have a bottle of Masque Milano Sleight of Fern for one registered reader in the EU, U.S. or UK. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what strikes you about Masque Milano Sleight of Fern, whether you have a favorite Masque Milano fragrance, and where you live. Draw ends 6/1/2022.
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My review of White Whale is here
Please read Michelyn’s introduction to Masque Milano White Whale and Sleight of Fern here.
Editor Ermano Picco was the Evaluator
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