Strange Invisible Perfumes The Rose With The Broken Neck (2015) + The Return (Reserve Series) Draw

The Rose With A Broken Neck - Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi

Two words every perfumista hates. Limited Edition.  In 2013 a memorable fragrance by the talented botanical perfumer Alexandra Balahoutis  was  introduced for a very short time titled The Rose with a Broken Neck for her Strange Invisible Perfumes line.    The Rose with the Broken Neck was  the second track on an album called Rome, produced by Danger Mouse (you may remember him as the other guy with Cee-Lo from Gnarls Barkely) and Daniele Luppi in collaboration with Jack White and Norah Jones.

Alexandra balahoutissmellingtheroses

Alexandra Balahoutis

It was so exceptional that a few months later I asked Alexandra to write an article In Defense of Natural Perfumery as Olfactory Art.  We awarded The Rose with The Broken Neck Best Natural Perfume, Best name for a Perfume and Best Limited Edition in our CaFleureBon Best and Worst of 2013. I didn't have a broken neck, but I did have a broken heart.  My one wish was that it would be reissued and the good news is that it is for 2015, as the second in the Strange Invisible Perfumes Reserve Series (Emerald Moss was the first in early January 2015, reviewed by Einsof and already a contender for our 2105 awards).

I see that I was not the only one who hoped Alexandra would bring this haunting, boozy gourmand rose back to life.   “Hardly a week has gone by without someone contacting us to ask if we would ever launch the perfume again. It was almost like receiving letters to a lost love, pleading for their return”, she says.  Many of the hydro distilled ingredients that were used in are incredibly rare and challenging to source, but we are finally ready to reunite this natural beauty with many of her old admirers, and we hope some new ones, Alexandra explains.

the rose with the broken neck

Former Managing Editor Mark Behnke, (now of Colognoisseur) wrote the ÇaFleureBon review exactly 2 years ago today. “The olfactory version of The Rose with the Broken Neck uses a set of noted to figuratively break down the rose. From dousing it in cognac, then dredging it in spice before exposing a woody stem this is a perfume which lives up to the potential Ms. Balahoutis has always shown in the botanical perfume discipline where she works. Her ability makes you forget she is using all natural components. The Rose with the Broken Neck is a beautiful perfume….period. It is an example of olfactory art….period…"

Ingredients: Organic nutmeg: sourced from Sri Lanka, distilled on Maui and aged for 11 years; Pure white Cognac: made with grapes from the Cognac region in France, and aged in oak casks;  Palo santo: also known as “holy wood” for its believed mystical properties, is sourced from the forest floors of Peru by indigenous tribes; Hydro-distilled organic rose: obtained only from the first distillation of the flower, the only way to capture the complete aromatic profile of the flower, Tahitian vanilla: the finest quality beans ground and percolated by master distillers in Napa Valley

TheRoseWithTheBrokenNeck

The Rose with The Broken Neck will be available at the Strange Invisible Perfume boutique on Abbot Kinney in Venice, CA and online at siperfumes.com beginning May 4, 2015  $425 for 50ml.

(And for those readers who think the price is hefty…. it is comparable to many luxury and niche brands in department stores, which aren’t hand blended in small batches, but mass produced).

–Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

To celebrate the return of one of our favorite natural perfumes of the past several years, Strange Invisible Perfumes is offering a sample of The Rose with the Broken Neck to  a registered CaFleureBon reader in the US. To be eligible leave a comment with your thoughts on natural perfumery as ART, and if you have a favorite Strange Invisible Perfume Draw closes May 8, 2015

We announce the winner’s only onsite and on our Facebook page, so Like CaFleureBon and use our RSS option…..or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.

 

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16 comments

  • CHARLOTTE says:

    I would never even question whether natural perfumery is ART, of course it is. Does a painter paint a masterpiece, or a musician compose beautiful notes and consider them to be ART? A natural perfumer does exactly the same, it is an expression of their talent <3

  • Nemo says:

    I consider all perfumery as art, and the artist can choose their medium of course!
    I imagine that natural perfumery might be especially challenging to work within, but in the right hands it is all about the seamless whole. I am in the US, and I have no tried any perfumes from Strange Invisible Perfumes.

  • fazalcheema says:

    Natural perfumery is an art if painting is an art. A perfumer plays with ingredients in the same manner a painter plays with colors. Just as colors offer unlimited potential, the combination of ingredients also offer unlimited potential to come up with something new…my favorite SI creation is Fire and Cream. I am in the US

  • Laurels says:

    Of course natural perfumery is art. It seems silly to me to dispute it. Thank you for the chance to try this perfume–both the name and the perfume are intriguing. The only SIP I’ve tried is Musc Botanique, and unfortunately I couldn’t smell the musk. (Stupid uncooperative nose.) I am in the U.S.

  • Connie says:

    I’ve still not tried anything from SIP! Natural perfumery and perfumery in general, is definitely an art in my eyes (maybe not an ART though, that’s a bit excessive 😉 )
    But creating something to please the senses while provoking the mind- that is what art is all about, isn’t it?
    I’m in the US.

  • Maya says:

    I still have not gotten around to trying any SIP yet. In my opinion, all perfumery is art with natural perfumes being the best and finest art. Naturals tap wonderfully into our primeval aspects. It can be an art to create a very synthetic perfume but it’s often soulless (and makes me sneeze. LOL.) USA.

  • luvmarley says:

    I have not tried any Strange Invisible Perfumes yet, although this one may be the first! Sounds quite lovely! I do believe perfumery is an art as it incorporates interpretations of fragrance combinations to appeal to our senses. Thanks for the draw, I’m in the US.

  • Zee says:

    A new rose to obsess over yay! I love SIP’s Musc Botanique but this rose sounds right up my alley. Natural Perfumery is perfumery the art isn’t different the materials are. If anything it’s more authentic in my opinion. Thanks for the draw!

  • Joyce says:

    I love everything I have read about this brand but have never owned one. Looked longingly at them though.Rose is a magnet to me and I’m sure this is a Rose like no other! Natural Perfumery represents the collaboration between the artist and nature, where nature rules and the artist merely obeys by some shaping. That’s how I like to view it.i am in the US

  • doreen says:

    Using the raw essences is like a poet uses words or a musician uses instruments and notes. It is an artistic expression of the olfactory sense. Like music is for auditory, etc. It is a highly personal expression. I would love to sample this rose! I am in the US. Thanks so much

  • Natalie says:

    I’ve been intrigued by Strange Invisible Perfumes for awhile, but never smelled one. I’ve been trying to hunt down Black Rosette, which is also roses… There’s so much you can do with roses.

    Natural perfumery is an art because it appeals to the base sense memory that all scent touches. Using only natural elements ties the perfume of today with its predecessors, tying it to the growth of civilization itself. It is real to our primal selves on a deep, elemental level.

    I am in the US, and would like to enter the draw.

  • Carol W says:

    I would love to try this, it sounds amazing! I think natural perfumery is an art – as much as painting, as much as creating music, as much as my daughter draws amazing pictures and my cousin takes miscellaneous scraps of material and creates amazing pieces of fabric art. Anything you make or do with your hands, is so singular and inventive. It’s absolutely very artistic and should be considered art. I do not have a favorite SIP perfume as I’ve not been able to sample any and I do need to sample prior to purchase.
    I’m in the US, thanks for the draw!

  • Priya says:

    If perfumery is art (and I think it is), then natural perfumery is art. It’s like Balahoutis said in In Defense of Natural Perfumery, that there is a stigma associated to natural perfumery is strange, even absurd — no one would ever cast aspersions on avoiding synthetic materials in the world of food or wine.

    I’d love to experience this olfactory gem. I’m in the US.

  • Donna S says:

    I think that by creating with elements from the source, nature, you are already, by default, an artist. Conceptually, you must have a vision (although i guess that is true with most things one sets out to create), but I find that the journey with naturals seems a bit more creative in a way, because you are taking true nature sources and really stretching limits to achieve ultimate beauty, which as everyone knows, is in the eye of the beholder (or wearer). With oils and flowers and woods and everything the earth has to offer in her glorious bounty, those that follow the art form I think probably become the best at their craft. it is the letting go that gets the most achievement.

    I haven’t experienced any Strange Invisible Perfume yet, so I think I’m probably due. I love this name, and the artwork behind it. I also like the elements that went into it. Healing – I’ll take any day.

    Great article and thank you for the info! Would love the chance, so count me in. 🙂 I’m in the US.

  • Mim says:

    Fire and Cream is my favorite SIP
    That was the simple part so I started with it. Art, however, is trickier. I just went to a museum and thought/talked about art– whether what makes art is aesthetic experience, or intellectual engagement, or conceptual experimentation and innovation, how much these components matter and is something lacking one or more art? How do we define it beyond ‘I’ll know it when I see it”?

    So natural perfume has an aesthetic facet just like all perfume–smell this and enjoy (or not); and an intellectual one–think about what you are consuming, where it comes from, what it does to you– make these connections; and conceptually/innovatively there are naturals which mimic the effects and longevity of synthetics, there are natural isolates, there are new methods of extraction, new ways of interacting with the media and with the ‘audience’.

    I like Ms. Balhoutis’s defense of working with a limited palette because it’s an exercise that frees more than it limits. I think that some critic of natural perfumery as an enterprise are misguidedly criticizing the whole when really they are criticizing the part which engages in “organic aromatherapy” –I don’t know how to describe this approach, meaning ‘think about where this comes from and what effects it will have on you’ without enough attention paid to the pure aesthetic experience. I don’t think any perfumer would criticize SIP or any other naturals on or near that level.

    ok that was long.
    thank you for the reviews and articles and the draw! USA

  • vava says:

    Absolutely elated to know Rose with a Broken Neck is back. joy joy joy. I know I missed the boat on the free sample but thats ok this perfume is worth every last penny. I’d give anything for a customer appreciation sale though!!!! This is about the 6th bottle of Strange Invisible perfumes Ive bought. I also wear Tour d’ivoire (no longer available) and Prima Ballerina. My man wears Black Rosette. Love love LOVE these perfumes and the shop in Venice is perfect! xoxoxox