The Museum of Art and Design in New York City announced an upcoming exhibition for November 2011. It is called “The Art of Scent 1889-2011”. The man who is choosing the fragrances on display is NY Times fragrance critic and author of The Emperor of Scent, Chandler Burr.
It had never occurred to me that M. Duchaufour worked with a central duality with which he then adds in the rest. His fragrances like L’Artisan Parfumeur Timbuktu always seemed like olfactory travelogues capturing a place. In the two latest releases by M. Duchaufour, Penhaligon’s Sartorial and L’Artisan Parfumeur Traversee du Bosphore, it is very clear what the central duality at play is and both of these are good examples of M. Duchaufour’s duality design aesthetic.
I have been looking forward to trying Ineke Ruhland’s seventh fragrance, Ineke Gilded Lily, since she told me about it last April. Ms. Ruhland chose to create a fruity chypre with a heart consisting of the Japanese Goldband Lily. One of the things that I am impressed with time and again is the dedication of the best artisanal perfumers and Ms. Ruhland is one of those. To truly understand the Goldband Lily Ms. Ruhland planted some in her Bay Area garden and took the time to experience the Goldband Lily as a living thing before converting it to an accord.
“Timbuktu is probably the first true masterpiece of what, by analogy with nouvelle cuisine, I would call nouvelle parfumerie”… characterized by complete transparency, an unusually high proportion of high-quality naturals… vetiver, sandalwood, and incense that seems quiet until you realize that, like modern sound systems that can pipe music into every room, one spritz fills a house with an odd, distinctly perceptible, but almost infrared shimmer of woody freshness.” The winner is
From the very intense description of Amouage Memoir. My expectations were for an Amouage journey into the darkside. The note list which contained a central axis of absinth, frankincense, and vetiver made me think this journey into hell was going to be a real pleasure. Instead Karine Vinchon must believe one of the circles of hell is landscaped in pine trees because Memoir Man comes off as an intense study in heady camphoraceous conifers.
How can we not love Cyrano? Although he is far from handsome (alas, the famous nose!), Cyrano possesses beauty of intelligence and an indefatigable spirit. And we, and eventually Roxane, fall in love with him. In the final heartbreaking act, the very last word spoken by Cyrano is panache. Co-creator Yann Vasnier describes Panache as a “coup de threatre! ambrette seed absolute and rum extract provides a dashing entrance to the flamboyant jasmine Sambac absolute and the vetyver and musk add a stylish and rich confidence.”
