As I was sniffing Nuit Etoilee, I came to think about fragrance names. How they belong in different groups to attract different audiences, how the name has to keep what it promises, and sometimes even live up to the expectations that it invariably sets. So has van Gogh’s painting got anything to do with how Goutal’s Nuit Etoilee smells?
In Santal Majuscule the cocoa is that dusty powdery smell of fine desiccated sweet. It dusts the heart of sandalwood in Santal Majuscule and then the typical Oriental beats of a Serge Lutens perfume arrive on the back of a Turkish rose. This is just a perfectly balanced sandalwood perfume.
Australia has spawned many superb perfume Houses; a couple of years before the last millennium turned, two very visionary individuals (Dianna Burmas & Deon St. Mor) began MOR in a small shop in Melbourne. Their love of travel, art, fashion and food eventually resulted in their release of lines of aromatherapy products and fine fragrances. Their process of blending old time ingredients with modern technologies has promoted what they call “an awakening of the senses with an innovative twist” in the creation of each new product line.
When I went to the San Francisco Artisan Fragrance Salon, one of the vendors that interested me was a brand new line launching that very day called Cognoscenti. The Scent Artist, as her business card title proclaims, is painter, architect, and designer Dannielle Sergent, who was encouraged to explore her unique, intuitive take on perfume creation.
I am coming to appreciate how much harder it is for a perfumer to have depth and contour when only using a very few notes, The Exclusive Collection is an example of what the skill of a Maitre Parfumeur, like Maria candida Gentile, can do with just a few notes.
I like a perfumer who brings raw materials to the table…. literally. Ineke Ruhland is this kind of perfumer. Names of synthetic and natural raw materials roll off her tongue in the most self-assured, yet generous way. Ineke shared her two newest fragrances Sweet William for Anthropologie and Hothouse Flower with me.
