Editor-in-Chief Michelyn Camen and I were positively gleeful when the news arrived from Maison Mona Di Orio: a luxe new collection of eaux de parfum intense entitled Mona Di Orio Alinea was being released. Its focus is a new direction, a very personal collaboration between Creative Director Jeroen Oude Sogtoen and in-house perfumer Fredrik Dalman. They refer to the Mona Di Orio Alinea collection as “the beginning of a new train of thought” and a ‘re-definition of niche’. Their mantra? “True luxury is the ability to change something into emotions”.

Jeroen Oude Sogtoen and Fredrik Dalman

 

I think they’ve accomplished this brilliantly. When the sample sets arrived I sat undisturbed for hours and hammered out all my impressions, emotions, observations. Eight perfumes in all – ambitious as this is, it was a pleasure and a privilege because each eau de parfum possesses its own atmosphere and is unique. Each Mona Di Orio Alinea parfum is superbly, skillfully executed from commencement to finish. With your indulgence, I’d like to acquaint you with each one.

Mona Di Orio Alinea Sainte Blanche

White flowers swirled in a mist: the naturally animalic loveliness of jasmin de Grasse entwined with crackling fraîcheur of rain-drenched environs, urbane and compelling. Sophistication enfolding artlessness. Near the city of Grasse Edmond Roudnitska engraved this in stone at the Domaine Sainte Blanche: “Je ferai fleurir les pierres et chanter les oiseaux” – “I shall make the stones flower and the birds sing”.

Sainte Blanche Notes: jasmin de Grasse, honeysuckle, orange blossom, petrichor accord

  Mona Di Orio Alinea Semper Augustus

Forever August. Fantasy tulip runs riot; everything but soil. Sweet freshness which retains a salty veneer, a dollop of introductory acetone. Bouquet in a silver vase, it scents the room. Joyful and unselfish, it opens like the soul to kindness, illuminating every corner with grace.

Semper Augustus Notes: flower, stalk, leaves, water

Mona Di Orio Alinea Rose Concrete

Exquisite rose inhabits the cathedral sans incense. If a rose might arise from the rock, this would be the result. An unusual soliflore which never disappoints. Monastery bloom. The friar’s flower which perfumes vespers. It conjures the circa 1500 Christmas text: “Es ist ein Rose entsprungen” set by Michael Praetorius. “A rose has sprung up from a tender root, as the old ones have sung to us; its strain came from Jesse and it has brought a floweret in the cold midwinter when the night was half-spent.” Sacred rose.

Rose Concrete Notes: Grasseoise rose de Mai, stone accord

Mona Di Orio Alinea Four Thieves

 

Medieval medicinal redux. According to legend, four thieves (one of whom was an herbalist) robbed the homes of Bubonic Plague victims and concocted vinegar intended to keep the virulent miasma at bay. Of course I adore it; how could anyone who embroils themselves in medieval lore NOT? Spicy, inviting, ever-green and balsamic, it gladdens my hippie heart. There is tenderness in it, and generosity of spirit.

Four Thieves Notes: marjoram, green lavender absolute, tolu balsam, narcisse absolute, orris butter, raspberry leaf absolute

 Mona Di Orio Alinea Mellifera

Buzz, buzz.  Beautiful beeswax and lavender, pollen-laden, green/woody/herbaceous, humming underbelly of amber animalic tinged with wood. One might imagine a viscous, syrupy aroma, but they’d be mistaken: Mellifera is beguilingly complex if you are paying attention. Unconventional honey. The longer it sits, the woodier it gets with a wisp of smoke thrown in for good measure.

Mellifera Notes: lavender absolute, heather, dark honey, beeswax absolute

Mona Di Orio Alinea Vermilion Wood

Extraordinary Oriental zings in all the best places. Compote-like components are incorporated artfully so that stewed fruit is not the sum of efforts. Geranium has multiple faces: herbal, floral, even minty – which complement fruity booziness. Laotian oud has a distinct tang, a mulchy fruit facet as well; opoponax’s resinous warmth is both arid and welcoming. The jus in my sample may not be red, but the fragrance is fiery. It has a fascinating edge to it, very chic.

Vermilion Wood Notes: pomegranate, black prune, geranium absolute, Laotian oud, opoponax

Mona Di Orio Alinea Tabaceau

Lilting pipe tobacco, devilishly airy, diffusive, earthy and weightless. White thyme is distinctly herbal, bursting with terpenic/phenolic goodness; it’s spicy as well. Marrying it to tobacco is a real coup, while the addition of oak feels intuitive, with its dulcet and dry rum raisin tones and balsamic nature. Liatrix is known as deertongue, a material I frequently suggest to perfumers for its very coumarinic, balsamic aroma profile: haylike, herbal with a faint whisper of vanilla and cinnamon. Fredrik Dalman achieved a very very fine thing here: wistfully alcohol-tinged tobacco that floats.

Tabaceau Notes: white thyme, tobacco absolute, vanilla CO2, liatrix absolute, oak absolute

Mona di Orio Alinea Café Simien

Coffee skews gourmand in an entirely different direction. Even avowed non-coffee acolytes will very likely adore Café Simien; it’s the richest, roundest plummy wine-dark potable you might encounter this season. Plum and prune are among favorite notes, with their tendency to wax boozy and fulsome: bosomy! (that’s a compliment, by the way). Coffee is suavely handled – you’ll not be bombarded with burnt beans or anything like them. As for patchouli, I like it OLD and aged – and liken it to Homer’s wine-dark sea (for which someone will soon be exasperated, as I’m forever banging on about it). Perhaps we’re in Warsaw, my darlings – and the lady of the house has slipped a little homemade nalewka ślikową (Polish plum liqueur) in our postprandial coffee… so delicious.

Café Simien Notes: plum, coffee CO2, aged patchouly

One feels like King Solomon of old threatening to cleave the proverbial infant in two: how does one choose a favorite? Much as I love them all, it would have to be first Mona di Orio Alinea Four Thieves, then Tabaceau, with Rose Concrete a very close third. 

Samples provided to Michelyn and to me by Jeroen Oude Sogtoen and Henricke Meuleman of Maison Mona Di Orio –  We are so very grateful!  My nose is my own…

~ Ida Meister, Senior and Natural Perfumery Editor

Thanks to the magnanimity of Maison Mona Di Orio, we have three samples for one registered reader in the EU, USA or Canada. You must register here or your comment will not count. To be eligible, please let us know what you enjoyed most about Ida’s reviews of Mona Di Orio Alinea Collection, which three appeal to you should win (and name them) and where you live. Draw closes 12/26/2019

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Edito-in-Chief’s Note:  all photos used with the permission of Mona Di Orio. Mona di Orio Alinea parfums are made in limited quantities with no restrictions on cost of materials. The retail is € 420,00 for 50 ml. To watch the videos and learn more or if you will be in Amsterdam you can set up an appointment after January 6, 2020 with Fredrik Dalman please go to their site here. 

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