Cruel Gardenia submissions

I will continue to accept submissions for the lucky draw for Cruel Gardenia, the latest feminine by Guerlain, till midnight today. Check back later for the winner of the draw!

Scents of the Soul

It's not without precedent that Perfume Shrine occupies itself with all natural perfumes. We had done so in the past and we will do so in the future, hopefully, each and every time guided by the belief that as much as more commercial or more "modern" perfumes, artisanal lines that deal with delicate wonders of nature have a place in a perfume lover's heart when they sing melodiously and with conviction.
The difference is that today I have the distinct pleasure of introducing you, dear readers, to one of the most exquisite and informed lines of them all: the profumo.it line by Abdes Salaam.

Although Profumo.it is the purveyor par excellence of wonderful, top quality raw materials for the amateur perfumer (in the Latin sense of the word of lover), as well as for educating oneself with the building blocks of perfumery, the creator himself is shrouded in mystery. Who is Abdes Salaam Attar?
This Sufi mystic who has such an esoteric approach to perfumery, who mingles the philosophical with the pious, calligraphy and didaches? Who knows how to instill awe and wonder while talking about the famed properties of musk deer (moscus moschiferous) on the psyche; and at the same time titillate the senses talking about a kit diffuser which emanates a scent purposely created in order to evoke feelings of satisfaction, well-being, and healthiness of good handmade ice cream for the customer shops of the “Fiordiriso & Sapa”?
His perfumes work as Ayurvedic medicine as well as exits to a word of reverie.

That man is French-born Dominique Dubrana and I was honoured to receive a mail from him a while back, stating he enjoyed my work on Perfume Shrine and consequently was lucky to receive samples of his wonderful fragrant creations for appraisal. I was quite impressed with what I smelled and so upon seeing that he was the one natural perfumer who was included in Perfumes The Guide with enthusiastic commentary by Luca Turin, I smiled an inward smile. I predict he will receive more attention very soon, as he so justly deserves.

The mignon bottles of 5.5ml are practical as well as cute, as they allow several wearings for anyone to fully appreciate the composition before proceeding into investing in a bigger bottle, usually available in either 16ml (about half oz), 30ml/1oz or 50ml/1.7oz. There are ready-made packages of 8 mignons, each allowing for a diversified experience.
The collection is comprised of several "Scents of the Soul" in different families, from floral to woody to resinous to fruity, even! Something for every taste and with the sonorous, intensely complex ring of natural ingredients.
Everything I tried was memorable in one way or another, but due to lack of space let me highlight those which made a particular impression.

Chocolate Amber blends Chocolate and Vanilla with Tonka, "the exotic fragrance of the famous Indian Amber" in a uniquely sensual fragrance. The endorphin rush experienced by nibbling on a carré of Valhrona is evoked in this fragrance which marries the hay and caramel aspect of tonka with the aphrodisiac and relaxing, soothing notes of vanilla and theobroma cacao. "Theobroma" is a Greek word, meaning "food of the Gods". It's not hard to see why...The fragrance is ambrosial in feeling and truly like melting real chocolate on yourself to the point that you will want to lick it off. Appetising and well balanced, never veering into too sweet territory, it immediately caught my attention.

16ml for 27.59 euros
50ml for 70.83 (now discounted: 54.17 euros)

Frutti Paradisi I approached with some hesitation, given both my natural aversion to fruit notes in perfumery (with the exception of the hesperide family) and the knowledge that most fruity notes apart from citrus are in fact synthesized in the lab, therefore what was the alternative for an all-natural line? Perhaps due to the curiosity piqued because of the latter reason, I was eager to see what Dominique could do with fruit, fruit tagged as "heavenly", no less. The result caught me by surprise: the exotic apricot fruity aroma of Osmanthus flower absolute served as an inspiration blended with jasmine flowers, vanilla and the absolute from blackcurrant, turning into a multifaceted liquid jewel which shines and sparkles with every twist. Although not my first choice in the line, it is however astonishingly realistic, pulsating with raw energy.

16ml 38.33 euros
30ml 104.17 euros

Grezzo d'eleganza is a dry masculine composition "for a man who in society does not like to pass unnoticed". The base of precious woods and aromatic herbs, assertive and a bit wild (due to the inclusion of natural castoreum from beavers), is tamed by the underlayed sweet sensuality of vanilla and fresh neroli, while a subliminal touch of mysterious incense and rose confers to the person who wears it a spiritual dimension that still does not overcome the elegance of the aura that emanates from him. The inspiration was a custom creation for an Italian designer and the style of the perfume reflects the approach to his fashion designs perfectly, Dominique confesses.
The composition can still be worn by self-assured women who enjoy an outré approach: I would love to smell it paired with a smoking-style pantsuit and deep claret hued lips. Thus, I very much liked Dominique's analogy of Grezzo d'eleganza to a "steel fist in a velvet glove".

16ml 38.33 euros
50ml 104.17 euros

Last but not least, Angelica Water is the type of slightly bitter, herbal composition with a tentatively wistful character which I enjoy a lot. Tagged as "the cologne of angels", it derives this fetching epithet from medieval pharmacopoeia, whenupon Angelica was held to attract the presence of angels and protect people from negative influences. The precious natural essence of angelica with its fine aromatic odour profile, a little like Juniper berries and with the bouquet that aromatizes Chartreuse, is evident in a sparse composition that lets it ring in the resonant frequency of translucent fine crystal of a high lead content under a wet finger. {click to listen to a sample of glass harmonica in action}
I personally love it!

16ml 25.17euros
50ml 68.33 euros


Prices: valid for USA, but 20% VAT added for ECC countries.
You can order online at Profumo.it.

For another approach to Dominique Dubrana and his art, please visit Natural Perfumers' Guild Blog.

Pic of mignon bottles and leaf courtesy of profumo.it
Chocolate bars courtesy of beautynews.nyc

Ten Monoliths: a Space Odyssey

Thinking about perfumery I often contemplate on its evolution, the way it has progressed through the centuries from the simpler techniques to state-of-the-art methods that encompass analytical chemistry, synthesis and sophisticated technologies such as IFF's "Living Flower Technology"*. It never ceases to amaze me that men and women have gone thus far in their quest for the aromatic, the holy and the hedonic.
And thus I often wonder what achievements should be salvaged in a time-capsule, like a project that could be sent to outer space, to get to know humanity's odoriferous achievements at a time when humanity might have ceased to exist altogether. Taking into consideration that the KEO satellite will launch in 2009 or 2010 with a mission to present Earth to humanity 50,000 years from now, when the satellite orbiting Earth will return, it seems like it is not too soon to think about.

So in our own small way, Dain from Lipstick Page and me brainstormed for a while on which scents would be worth salvaging for posterity's sake.
In a way it was like re watching Kubrik's 2001: A Space Odyssey: there is the profound awe for man's course through history and the sense of aporia on what will happen now that space has been invaded. That bone in the air travels through 4 dimensions and the fourth one is time itself...

My own criteria on this project were historically oriented: I concentrated on which compositions or techniques were evolutionary, providing something revolutionary at its time and influencing later developments. It does not mean that I consider the scents named the greatest of all time in their artistic merit or subjective beauty appreciation, but it does mean that I put faith in their importance as landmarks.

Without further ado here is my list, in chronological order:

1.The sacred Kyphi of Ancient Egyptians: a compound incense used in ancient Egypt for religious and medical purposes and referenced in The Pyramid Texts. Papyrus Harris I records the donation and delivery of herbs and resins for its manufacture in the temples under Ramses III for his afterlife. Instructions for its preparation and lists of ingredients are found among the wall inscriptions at the temples of Edfu and Dendera in upper Egypt. The term "kyphi" is Greek, a transcription of the ancient Egyptian term kp.t. The key ingredient featured in some recipes was spikenard, while apart from wine, honey and raisins there was cinnamon and cassia bark, aromatic rhizomes of cyperus and sweet flag, cedar , juniper berry, and resins and gums such as frankincense, myrrh, benzoin resin and mastic, as well as the mysterious aspalathos, a bush with bright yellow flowers still abundant in the Mediterranean. If anything it is proof of the sophisticated criterion by which the ancients composed their aromatic alloys.

2.Greek philosopher Theophrastus's "Enquiry into Plants: Books 6-9; Treatise on Odours": Although technically neither a composition nor a technique, it remains the first serious, epistemological treatise of plants and their properties, setting the path for herbalism and aromatherapy and influencing all consequent medieval science and alchemy. Nicknamed Theophrastus by Aristotle for his "divine way of expression" (this is what the name means in Greek), Tyrtamus became the father of Taxonomy and the propeller of alchemical investigation centuries later.

3.The distillation of rose by the Arabs: It was Ibn Sīnā, commonly known in English by the Latinized name Avicenna (Greek Aβιτζιανός), a Persian-speaking Iranian, Muslim polymath and the foremost physician and Islamic philosopher of his time that contributed to perfumery in an unexpected way. Up till the 10th century, the king of flowers, the rose, had been resisting methods of extracting its precious soul. Distillation became known, with Catalonian Arnald of Villanova's treatise being the first European one focusing on the method, because Avicenna had introduced steam distillation in Islam and through the Crusades the secrets of this civilization expanded into the Western World. Thus he produced essential oils of delicate plants that resisted other methods, attar of rose being one such essence. One is hard pressed to imagine modern perfumery without rose essence.

4.The traditional Eau de Cologne recipe: Kölnisch Wasser, as is its proper name in German, is an amazing survivor. Launched in the German town of Cologne in 1709 by Giovanni Maria Farina, an Italian perfumer from Santa Maria Maggiore Valle Vigezzo, Italy, it was inspired the odor of an Italian spring morning after the rain. The original recipe was used as a tonic as well as a fragrance, and Napoleon (along with composer R.Wagner) was a particular enthusiast of the Farina Eau de Cologne: he was said to use at least a bottle a day, often two, if one goes by his private correspondence.
Giovanni Maria Farina's formula has been produced in Cologne since 1709 by Farina Gegenüber without ever divulging the exact recipe. His shop at Obenmarspforten is today the world's oldest fragrance company. Other Colognes took the name yet smell different, such as the famous Cologne 4711, named after this location at the "Glockengasse No. 4711". In 1806, Jean Marie Joseph Farina, a grand grandnephew of Giovanni Maria Farina (1685-1766), opened a perfumery business in Paris which developed into Roger & Gallet, owner of the rights to Eau de Cologne Extra Vielle in contrast to the Original Eau de Cologne from Cologne.

5.Fougère Royale by Houbigant: Composed in 1882 it is arguably the first perfume to incorporate a synthetic ingredient: coumarin, a chemical compound (benzopyrone) which naturally occurs in many plants, such in the tonka bean, woodruff, mullein, and bison grass. Possessing a sweet pleasant aroma, it is readily recognised as the scent of newly-mown hay.
With Fougère Royale Houbigant intoduced the Fougère family of scents: a composition based on the juxtaposition of bergamot-lavender-coumarin and accounting for hundreds of fragrances on the market since, most notably in the men's end of the spectrum.

6.Chypre by Coty: Although Chypre is a classical age composition developed in ancient Cyprus and later popularised by the Romans, it took the genius of perfumer François Coty to re-introduce and streamline this old idea in 1917 into what eventually became the most intricate family in all perfumery. In a way, although it is a gem lost to the echo of centuries to come, it stands as the end of an era and the beginning of a new one: in many ways it conspired along with Jicky and Fougere Royale in jump starting the modern perfumery of the 20th century and placing a greater emphasis in the design of the fragrance (structure) as opposed to merely its texture (materials).

7.Chanel No.5: It is no accident that Chanel's No.5 is the perfume that even people completely unassociated with the noble sport of fragrance appreciation instantly recognise and fragrance loving neophytes take extra pains to come to terms with. The fragrance is a triumph of modern design, chemical innovation (although not the first one to use synthetically derived aldehydics, it was the first to make ample use of them) and of marketing strategy. It has become iconic and its status as a best-seller is never refuted. If only for its extreme popularity, even though arguably lots of people collect it rather than wear it, it is well worth its slot in this list of scents to salvage for posterity and your effort to trying to "understand" it. Ernest Beaux would be proud of you.

8.Fracas by Piguet: Germaine Cellier must have been a very fine specimen of a woman and a perfumer both, for in her compositions such as Bandit and Jolie Madame, she went after the attenuation of societal mores in what is expected in fine fragrance and the exaggeration of latent ideas, such as the pungent greeness of leather or the violet-talcum dusted chypre. Fracas is another such case, taking what is essentially an already insolent lady of means, the tuberose, and stretching her into the lethal costume of Pamela Lillian Isley. If perfume is merely supposed to make you more agreeable, then it is worth including a smashingly strong floral for posterity to appreciate for its sheer dare to disregard such "rules".


9.Cool Water by Davidoff: When Pierre Bourdon composed this and Davidoff grabbed it in 1988 (the story by Bourdon goes it was sitting in a drawer unwanted for a while), the "marine" family of fragrances had never made a bleep in the radar of the public. It seemed completely out of sync with the strong, macho scents of the 1980s and more like an anomaly. Besides that it seemed to be contradictory to the image of the brand producing it: Davidoff is a maker of cigars, one would expect a tobacco scent. And yet it not only managed to inaugurate a whole new classification, it still remains a masculine bestseller 20 years later, even enlisting stars of the moment to front it (click here for the latest clip with Josh Holloway).

10.Angel by Thierry Mugler: The unquestionable classic of tomorrow and a legend in the making, Angel for all the derision caused in the minds of its many fans and equally numerous foes is the stuff that put the "oriental gourmands" on the map in 1992. With a very distinctive accord of fruit, caramel, chocolate and patchouli it was the first fragrance that was going for our taste buds as well as our nostrils, fooling our cortex into believing this was a gustatory experience to be savoured. The fact that it has spawned its own little descendants as well as a whole generation of look-alike clones speaks of its formidable powers of influence.


Please be sure to check out Dain's list on The Lipstick Page for a very different and interesting take, based on representative specimens from different families.

I would be interested in your takes on what is worth salvaging for posterity!

*"Living Flower Technology" is perfume and flavor producing brand's International Flavors and Fragrances term for a process by which the air above a living blossom is captured in a glass "bell", analyzed in the lab and then re-created synthetically so as to render an approximation that is closer to what a flower smells like in nature.

Pic of Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra and Jane Fonda in Barbarella courtesy of allposters.com

Cruel Desires ~Cruel Gardenia by Guerlain: fragrance review

Leafing through Colette's book “Flowers and Fruit” I stumble upon this quote from “A Gardenia's Monologue”:

"That flower boasts of its heady scent [...]throwing the ignorant girl into a science I have taught her . . . and the round world reckons one more night of folly."

She then goes on to compare the heady aroma to orange blossoms and raw mushrooms, alluding to the flower's dirty underside that evokes the sweet, yet earthy decay that permeates its essence. I am wondering what she would have thought of Cruel Gardénia, the latest addition in the L’art et la Matière line by Guerlain. I had been postponing reviewing the fragrance immersed as I was in thought myself, dissecting it like an entomologist would do with a rare lepidopter for months.

Gardenias are elusive in that their heady sweetness cannot be accurately and abundantly extracted from the waxy petals. Therefore ingenious recreation should come to the play, trying to replicate the smell. Too often the compositions named "gardenia" smell anything but. Whether intentionally, like in Chanel’s paradigm ~which was actually inspired by a garden (therefore “garden-ia” and smelling of a mix of white flowers) and the decorative motif of the blossom popular in the 1920s~ or Goutal’s who driven by her dislike of gardenia despite advice that the US market asked for one went instead for rubbery tuberose in her Gardenia Passion, or unintentionally like by Floris, they pose their own enigma. Sometimes the experiment is quite successful in its photographic accuracy, such as in the budding Yves Rocher Pur désir de Gardenia or the creamy Lauder’s Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia, and other times in its tropical ambiance evoked such as in Kai.
Guerlain was faced with a dilemma: should they include a gardenia scent in their magnificent stable of exclusives? After all, gardenias with subtle clean musks backgrounds are supposedly very popular with American consumers and the fact that Cruel Gardénia in an unprecedented move launched first in the US and only some months later in Paris is quite telling in its own way. It seemed like hubris! Yet the result is exquisitely pretty and contradictory to its own name, being neither cruel, nor much gardenia-like. French wordplay on the expression l’art et la manière (=art and manner) produced fragrances that belie their baptism so far: the Rose wasn’t Barbare, Angélique was nowhere near Noire, Cuir Beluga was only imperceptibly leathery and only Bois d’Armenie was true to its name.

Perfumer Randa Hammami of Symrise worked along with art director Sylvaine Delancourt to ply damask rose, peach and neroli into this abstract gardenia accord, which is further enhanced by the popular rose-violet-orris combination that graces several powdery bestsellers of late such as Kenzo Flower or Guerlain’s own face powders in the Metéorites range and the accompanying limited edition scent. Indeed there is here the feel of an expensive makeup product along with a slightly metallic accord that rings melodiously throughout without ever being shrill. Examining the rose accord closer, I realize that it has none of the wine dregs or liqueur odor of many modern roses, such as Rose Barbare in the same line, or Stella Rose Absolute, which form the pillar of modern abstract roses in today’s perfumery.
In Cruel Gardénia this rose combination with orris is rendered powdery but not old-fashioned. It’s a beautiful white rose seen through a gossamer thin veil of fabric, its shape hazy although recognisable with a soapy latheriness that is very pleasant. There is none of the familiar dirtiness of ripe, aged cheese in the central stage, as there is no discernible gardenia in the way one is conditioned to expect it. The drydown of Cruel Gardénia has a mellow whisper of sandalwood and amber which garlands the innocent white musks lingering seductively for a long time and intensifying as time passes, reminiscent of other fragrances in the L’Art et la Matière line.

The overall intention was to render a skin veil (the "muscinade", a new Guerlain signature), a velvety soft aura that would put attention to the wearer instead of the fragrance’s profile itself. In that regard it is a departure from the classic French tradition of Guerlain and a wink to the American ideal of sensually “clean”, abstract musky florals such as Glow by J.Lopez, or contemporary clean “chypres” such as S.J Parker Lovely or Narciso Rodriguez for Her. This it does with conviction, pedigree and the air of cultured defiance to what is expected.
Cruel Gardénia is truly gorgeous, sensually feminine and ultimately a perfume that despite its lack of realistic depiction of a note or angular complexity will earn its wearer compliments on how sublime they naturally smell instead of how interestingly their perfume projects. A perfume to choose to seduce first and foremost one’s self. To quote Colette:

“a well-chosen perfume, linked to your moral person, to your physical charms, a perfume your friends love and recognize, one that surprises people you meet for the first time and that makes them dream”.

And for our readers, a small draw: a sample of Cruel Gardenia. Leave your name in the comments if you want to participate.

Notes: rose damascena, peach, neroli, ylang ylang, violet, sandalwood, vanilla, tonka bean, white musks

$220 for 80 ml bottle with detachable atomiser, available in Guerlain boutique in Paris, Bergdorf Goodman in New York, and Neiman Marcus in San Francisco.
Adding: One of our readers, Kim, mentions that the Toronto boutique in Canada also carries the line.

For another take on the perfumery standpoint of it, check out Octavian's entry on 1000fragrances.

Painting Desire by Pino, courtesy of progressiveart.com

A Game of Synaesthesia

With Marian Bendeth, a conjurer of fragrances, who with sleight of hand and knowledgable intelligence guides us through the opaque landscapes of perfumery into the light of a moment of Eureka.
She reveals her associations with different fragrances for Perfume Shrine, like a puzzle of synaesthetic pieces which fall perfectly into place.


"For me, each and every scent that my nose encounters may be envisioned either as a piece of art, music, gemstone, style of dance, graphic, setting, country, fabric, shape, colour, person, character or environment. It is not easy to put in words, because it is instinctive to me but I will try to give a few examples: (I may not wear some of these particular scents but this is where they take me…)

Climat by Lancome is a Matisse water colour of a sedate Wedgewood-blue sea and sky.

Lonestar Memories by Andy Tauer is a Sioux Tribe camped out at the foot of the Grand Canyon, using hickory smoke to BBQ that day’s hunt.

Rossy de Palma by Etat Libre d’Orange is a Diva’s darkened dressing room filled to the brim with hundreds of long-stemmed red roses and amber candles to light and lift the aroma, like a garland into the air.

Sycomore by Chanel is a perforated flat wooden cedar block with holes where Walnuts and long grasses protrude through. Growing on the base of the block are warm mosses and wet earth.

Chloe is a round yellow powder puff with feathers.

Un Jardin apres la Mousson by Hermes, is an Indian immigrant fondly remembering their home by a silty brown river on a hot day, now living in a cold climate.

Lime Basil and Mandarin is a stick that splinters at the top.

First by Van Cleef and Arpels - a Mozart symphony performed in St. Petersberg.

Bois de Paradis, Del Rae is Gauguin in Tahiti at dusk.

Ralph Rocks is 60’s tangerine, red and purple psychedelic drugs.


24 Faubourg, Hermes is Beige kid leather gloves with a small brass belt clasp.

Vent Vert, Balmain is a Willow tree built on top of wet reeds. Lemons are scattered about. A rose garden is in bloom beyond as a hot wind blows through.

Mark Birley is brown, stony and equine, circa 1910.

Cruel Intentions, By Kilian are the black shadows in a Romanian forest.

Flowerbomb, Victor and Rolf is Mexican Fiestaware.

Eternity for Her is an aluminium monolith.

Chanel No. 22 is Swan Lake.

Femme by Rochas is a fur stole.

Chrome is the boardwalk in Almalfi against the Meditteranean.

Le Baiser du Dragon is an ancient Persian red and black carpet with black laquer accents".

Marian Bendeth
Global Fragrance Expert
Sixth Scents


And you, what are your associations with your own memorable fragrances?

Artwork by Henri Matisse Polynesia,The Sea (1946) Gouache on paper cut-out, courtesy of abcgallery.
Pic of Grand Canyon courtesy of nps.gov
Pucci square scarf courtesy of style.com

Clip of Pas d'action between Odette & Siegfried from Swan Lake -my most favourite part in the ballet- played by Gillian Murphy & Angel Corella with the American Ballet Theatre, originally uploaded by MyDiorella on Youtube.