Scent on Canvas Blanc de Paris: fragrance review

The balance between freshly dried cotton sheets and lived-in warmth is in Blanc de Paris, sweet and sour dancing by the fluency of the language of individual skins. This Eau de Parfum has the potential to be the best-seller in the new niche Scent on Canvas line, not only because it’s perfectly legible (a white musk with all the right buttons pressed—bright opening, segueing to cool and clean, melting into warm and lightly sweet), but also because it’s the most approachable (instantly familiar, immediately likable); in so many words, a fate foretold! Like most good musks Blanc de Paris is surprisingly more complex than given credit for, with a classic, more traditionally feminine rose-sandalwood accord which recalls old favorites and the cool, almost iron-pressed ambience of irones (iris note). Nuzzling, its drydown reminds me of those retro lavender & tonka bean compositions after they have rested on the skin for quite some time. A second epidermis, a “my skin but better” sort of fragrance.

illustration by Kay Nielsen via lifo.gr

To dance in an early spring morning among flowers – this is the aroma Beatrice Aguilar created in a composition that is between intensity and a caress, passion and sweetness, simplicity and sophistication.

The new niche collection "Scent on Canvas" so far includes five perfumes created by an eclectic mix of perfumers: Jórdi Fernandez (for Rose Opéra and Noir de Mars), Shyamala Maisondieu (Ocre Doré) , Alexandra Kosinski (Brun Sicilien) and the founder, Beatrice Aguilar herself (Blanc de Paris). The collection spans five fragrance genres with nuanced olfactory work within them: the starchy, woody musk, a predetermined crowd-pleaser (Blanc de Paris); the dark musty-mossy with guts (Noir de Mars); the mysterious, coppery woody (Ocre Doré); the rosy floral with mysterious, spicy-suede tonalities (Rose Opéra) and the complex hesperidic-leathery (Brun Sicilien). Each fragrance is accompanied by a painting by a well-known painter who is inspired by the aromatics in the composition, then the painting is turned into an engraving which is used for the packaging of the fragrance: the inside of the box holds the engraving ready to be framed and hung on your walls.

Notes for Blanc de Paris by Scent on Canvas:
Top: green mandarin, Murcia citron, Calabrian bergamot
Heart: white flowers, Bulgarian rose, iris
Base: white musk, sandalwood, benzoin

The perfumes are priced at 130 Euros for 100 ml of perfume/eau de parfum (only Blanc de Paris is an Eau de Parfum by design, the rest are extrait de parfum). A great value sample pack of all 5 scents is offered for only 10 euros online at the official e-shop. More information: scentoncanvas.com

Scent on Canvas Noir de Mars: fragrance review

Noir de Mars, named after the iron oxide (PBk11) used in painting, is aptly referenced given the collection of new niche brand Scent on Canvas, hailing from Barcelona, Spain, is inspired by the chromatic nuances of pigments. Much like the pigment, which is a neutral, refined and dense black, blacker than carbon black, the fragrance of Noir de Mars is a thick and complex composition conceived by perfumer Jordi Fernadez, who utilizes note de jour i.e. oud/aoudh in a context that can please lovers of more traditional approaches: namely, it fuses the bitterish and musty nuance of the oud note into the ruggedly handsome bookends of oakmoss and leather. The result? A wonderfully nuanced, deep, individual fragrance that thankfully doesn't recall that cardinal sin of oud scents, "the Band-Aid note".

Pierre Soulages 1963 Huile sur toile, centre Pompidou via

The scent of Noir de Mars leans more masculine than the rest of the Scent on Canvas collection as its name, mythologically laced, would suggest (and is indeed pegged as that by the company), yet offering a transitory unisex for women who do not like traditionally feminine compositions but like to challenge perceived perceptions. Needless to add Noir de Mars is something that most men would feel manly to wear. Its Laotian oud exotic impressions, leather notes and oakmoss bitterness reads as somber, quiet, a person of few words but plenty of charisma. The spicy woody halo speaks on its own. Noir de Mars is modern in the sense that oud scents are very “now”, but at the same time it avoids some of the pitfalls of following a trend too closely, thanks to a cluster of oriental references (cypriol, myrrh, Haitian amyris etc). This one needs more time to open up so the experience of the parfum should be given a leisurely amount of time to unfold its magic.

Notes for Noir de Mars by Scent on Canvas:
Top: Laotian oud, gaiacwood, sandalwood, cyperus sclariosus
Heart: gurjum balsam (dipterocarpus), leather, myrrh
Base: Haitian amyris, amber


Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Scent on Canvas Brun Sicilien

Scent on Canvas Brun Sicilien: fragrance review

Brun Sicilien is brown only in the context of southern landscapes of sienna tiles or nubuck saddles on horses riding into the wilderness: the fragrance by new niche perfume line Scent on Canvas is sunny and free-spirited, with a resinous underlay, cinnamic facets surfacing on the ripe citrus rind of mandarin. The cunning relies on not building on a classic Italian cologne, but offering instead exactly the end of the spectrum of the citrusy notes where they lose their mouthwatering tanginess and retain a bitterish quality, coupled with a leathery note that cuts through the heat, in the same way that leathery scents (such as Etro Gomma or Knize Ten) are incisive. Although the composition of Brun Sicilien is not tightly clustered, allowing for the aromatic and white floral components to peek through, one would be hard pressed to call it merely “refreshing,” also thanks to its mysterious and sensual afterglow; it embodies much more of the mystery and boiling passions of the Mediterranean to be just that. Perfumer Alexandra Kosinski presented the composition to Beatrice Aguilar and she in turn thought of “riding along the unexpected roads of life.”

via designyoucantrust.com

Leather scents are an acquired taste and their individuality and quirkiness needs a bit of practice. In that context Brun Sicilien is not the easiest, being a true leather, instead of a orientalized ersatz suede smothered in vanilla and woods, but its wearability is superior than most and instantly appreciated by those coming into contact with it, as my personal experiments proved. Coming in an extrait de parfum concentration was a welcome surprise: the tenacity and smooth projection are sublime.

via toutlecine.com

The new niche collection "Scent on Canvas" so far includes five perfumes created by an eclectic mix of perfumers: Jórdi Fernandez (for Rose Opera and Noir de Mars), Shyamala Maisondieu (Ocre Dore), Alexandra Kosinski (Brun Sicilien) and the founder, Beatrice Aguilar herself (Blanc de Paris). The collection spans five fragrance genres with nuanced olfactory work within them: the starchy, woody musk, a predetermined crowd-pleaser (Blanc de Paris); the dark musty-mossy with guts (Noir de Mars); the mysterious, coppery woody (Ocre Dore); the rosy floral with mysterious, spicy-suede tonalities (Rose Opera) and the complex hesperidic-leathery (Brun Sicilien). Each fragrance is accompanied by a painting by a well-known painter who is inspired by the aromatics in the composition, then the painting is turned into an engraving which is used for the packaging of the fragrance: the inside of the box holds the engraving ready to be framed and hung on your walls.

Notes for Brun Sicilien by Scent on Canvas:
Top: white flowers, jasmine, Sicilian mandarin
Heart: gaucho leather, cardamom, black pepper, suede
Base: amber, birch, Indonesian patchouli, Madagascar vanilla

The perfumes are priced at 130 Euros for 100 ml of perfume/eau de parfum (only Blanc de Paris is an Eau de Parfum by design, the rest are extrait de parfum). A great value sample pack of all 5 scents is offered for only 10 euros online at the official e-shop.
More information: scentoncanvas.com