Girl Before a Mirror-Pablo Picasso (1932)
I have always been fascinated with identity and class. Not too many years ago I found myself going through months of documents trying to make sense of my family history. After years of research it all culminated one day at the Italian Consulate on Park Avenue. It was there that I realized that all I really wanted was to unite the names, faces and places with the stories I was told or overheard as a child. I wanted to preserve and reclaim three generations.
When I met the lovely Valentine Pozzo di Borgo at Elements Showcase in August her story resonated with me, and I was intrigued that she too had found connection to her heritage through perfume. Two birth dates inspire and define her distinct fragrances spanning three generations. Valentine wanted to use dates instead of names for the perfumes to evoke a specific time in history that invites our imagination to tell our own story through hers.
8 Mars 1764 tells the olfactive journey of Valentine’s great-great-grand uncle Carl Andrea Pozzo di Borgo, from Corsican nobleman to court of Czar Alexander the First. 1764 comes out of the bottle the way I imagined it would. At first the opening is brisk and neat and behaves like a perfect gentleman, the classic Fougere kind. Bright Mandarin and Bergamot meet balsamic peppery Elemi to create a bit of an edge. Warm tones of Coriander, Cognac and Labdanum ultimately slow down the initial thrust and rhythm, allowing the fragrance to expand and linger in its smoky woodiness. 1764 seems initially to nod at tradition but as it develops it gathers a modern stance that keeps getting better. Base Notes of Styrax, Vetiver, and Benzoin spark through its center creating a near perfect sweet, resinous, and dry baritone ending.
23 Janvier 1984 is Valentine's olfactive self-portrait. 23 Janvier 1984 is a strikingly bright fragrance that finds itself resting in a higher register from beginning to end. It brings me to the sunny terrain of the Mediterranean. Its opening is playful, green and citrusy. These notes easily open up to notes of Fig and Coriander. Then Janvier1984 slowly begins to change and we are presented with a delicate Coeur that is almost nude. Iris is deliberately spun to blend its powdery haze to meet white musk notes to create a clean buoyancy and roundness that is unique to this fragrance. Bezoin gives body, textureand a twiggy Vetiver works to support its crystalline clarity. This offering remains distinctly fresh and understated till the end.
–Valerie Vitale, Contributing Editor