’I believe that perfume should crown your day, it should be a source of pure joy, something ceremonial, something exceptional’. Viktoria Minya
Back in early 2013 I received a small vial of scent in the post from a young Hungarian perfumer called Viktoria Minya. She had read my blog and wondered if I would be interested in sampling and perhaps reviewing her debut perfume called Hedonist. As soon as I inhaled the opening salvo of rum CO2, peach and a sexy boom of vintage style tobacco I knew I had to write. Hedonist has become one the biggest niche success stories of recent years, the reviews were overwhelmingly wonderful and Viktoria’s precious labour of love, awash with Swarovski crystals started selling out. It is a stunning scent; I wrote at the time that Hedonist’s ‘…smoked jazz fruity opening is sublime. If you can imagine the soft fuzz of ripe peach skin and breaking the tension of this ever so carefully with a nail, letting the juice ooze out and roll down the flesh……This drips into the smoke and ashes of a carefully arranged tobacco effect.’
Woman at Dusk Painting by Art Deco painter Alphonse Maria Mucha
Hedonism is a school of thought that advocates the singular pursuit of pleasure or devotion to pleasure of the senses. In other words, pleasure is the only good; an apt title then for a perfume of such assembled beauty. I wondered what Viktoria would do next. Now we have our answer. Three new fragrances. Two lovely companions for her peachy motherlode, Hedonist Rose and Hedonist Iris, same bottle design and the glitter of scent washed crystals. Then something rather unexpected: Eau de Hongrie, Viktoria’s delicious homage to the near mythical Eau de la Reine de Hongrie, a perfumed water from the 14th century, made variously from distilled wine, lavender, sage, rosemary, orange blossom and rose. With alleged healing and anti-aging powers, this legendary elixir was one of the first great perfumes.
Hungarian Tokaji Azsu
Viktoria Minya’s Eau de Hongrie was never going to be a simple, herbal remedy and her modern day interpretation is indeed radically different, an ambrosial melange of honeyed floral notes, immortelle and the clever addition of Tokaji Azsu wine, the decadent topaz-toned dessert wine from the Tokaj area of Hungary. I LOVE this fragrance, I don’t drink anymore, gave up years ago, but when I did I had a huge weakness for sweet dessert tipples, especially the Muscat-rich Baumes de Venise wines and Hungarian Tokaji Azsu. Only six varieties of grape are recognised in the production and appellation of this wine and interestingly the wine is made from botryised grapes, vine fruits affected by the so-called noble rot.
Alphonse Maria Mucha Fruit 1897
Eau de Hongrie is a gourmand, the honeyed vanilla character dominates the scent; you could argue for an oriental definition, but it feels and develops like an imaginative and sophisticated gourmand. This much-derided family is now a force to be reckoned with in perfumery and while often responsible for some truly heinous scents at the lower end of the spectrum, the use of sugared fruits, caramel, dulche de leche, coconut, popcorn, whisky lactones, brown sugar etc have defiantly enriched the modern perfumer’s lexicography.
This is delicacy incarnate, the notes vaporising in a blissful diaphanous veil soon after application, but the subtlety and malleable beauty of the formulation is designed to stay close and intoxicate. The honey note is quite noticeable at first, like warm mead, swirling in a golden cup. Boozy white chocolate aromas break through as the vanilla and wine coalesce on skin.
It is of course the distinctive and luscious Tokaji Azsu wine accord that really sets this scent apart from other vanillic playthings. The lacquered stickiness of dessert wines and their heady aromas of peach and grassy sueded apricot are mouth-watering and alluring. The last word in Eau de Hongrie is left to fumy tonka, wrapping itself hypnotically around the base notes, drawing out the satin soft drydown and laying down a discreet trail of shimmering dust as the lovely sweet wine note fades to skin and an echo of aurous lees.
Disclosure – Sample of Eau de Hongrie kindly supplied by Viktoria Minya
–The Silver Fox, Senior Editor and Editor of The Silver Fox
Editor's Note: Viktoria is often inspired by Alphonse Mucha and so was I
Thanks to Viktoria Minya we have a draw for a sample set of Eau de Hongrie, Hedonist Rose and Hedonist Iris for a reader anywhere in the world. To be eligible please leave a comment with what appeals to you about Eau de Hongrie from TSF review and where you live. Draw ends 12/5/2014