The Elusive Smells of Lilac and Osmanthus

Some smells in nature are elusive in their misty, delicate nuance, in their complexity which defies classification. Two among them are the scent of lilacs and osmanthus blossoms. The former is at once lush and fresh, intimately fleshy and pollen-dusted sweet in its corolla, the spin of April lanceloate yarns of purple and white, goosebumbing their small blooms in the cool breeze. The latter is an intricate dentelle of fruity-leathery smells evoking plums, apricots and prunes hidden in a suede pouch upon a warrior-poet’s belt in the stunningly beautiful landscape shots of the film "Hero".

The hunt for the perfect lilac (syringa) has taken me into semi-treacherous paths of testing dubious essences concocted in amateur workshops, as well as laying out good money in the pursuit of the unsatisfying (ie.the let-down that was En Passant for me personally, because of its watery-yeasty direction) or the perfectly congenial (Tocadilly by Rochas and Ineke After my Own Heart). Now that the season of lilacs has here reached its end, it is with the somewhat premature nostalgia of tasting the end of a beautiful phase that I find myself reaching anew for one of the scents which utilize lilacs in a realistic rendition: the Highland Lilac of Rochester, NY, the Lilac Capital of the world. Every May the Lilac Festival of Rochester consists of a lavish array of flowers and attractions which commemorates a flower traditionally close to the heart of Americans: from the garden of Thomas Jefferson to the Custis and the George Washington Families who financed the region abundant in the blooms.
The fragrance was conceived in 1967 and developped by International Flavors and Fragrances perfumers consequently becoming the romantic choice of no less than 5 US first ladies. Each Spring, the rare double flowering and other special varieties of lilac buds and blossoms are harvested, collected and tested to ensure adherence to the original composition. The formula seems to undulate between an oily, yet fresh top note not unlike that of hyacinths, with a spicy whisper of anisaldehyde. The sensuality of the drydown brings a lightly powdery, not too sweet darkness that speaks of lovers amidst the bushes. Among lilac fragrances Highland Lilac of Rochester stands as the one which best captures both facets of the natural blossoms.

Osmanthus fragrans (Sweet Osmanthus) or 桂花/ guìhuā in Chinese and金木犀/ Kinmokusei in Japanese is ~like lilac~ another member of the Oleaceae family and its fresh and highly fragrant aroma is a natural wonder professing a nuanced texture. Also known as Tea Olive (because olive is the pre-eminent member of the Oleaceae family) it is the emblem flower of Hangzhou, China. It is therefore not surprising that one of the best renditions of the elusive wonder is made in China. The local company 芭蕾 producing it translates as "Ballet", which is highly appropriate considering the dancing nature of the scent on skin. Highly fragrant and succulent in its peachy-apricoty top note it is nothing short of mouthwatering. The effect of the natural flower is undoubtedly enhanced with a synthesized apricoty creamy note (benzylaldehyde, aldehyde C16, amyl butyrate?), giving an almost velours effect along with an ionone note of sweet violet. Later on the scent takes on the delicious aroma of a freshly taken-out of the wardrobe suede coat, its butyric creaminess a welcome contrast to the fruity-floral heart.

In both fragrances the fleshy naturals are flanked by man-made essences which bring diffusion and radiance, yet the surprise they created in me was pointed: here were two elusive scents captured lovingly!


Highland Lilac of Rochester can be purchased online on the official Highland Lilac site (1oz for $49.95) I do not know of an online source for the above osmanthus fragrance, alas, as I was given a decant by a friend to try out. However Hove’s of New Orleans Tea Olive ~although not quite as faithful~ is a very nice rendition with white floral accents.

Top pic of Zhang Zigy from Hero via Chrisohnbeckett/flickr (some rights reserved) and second pic via evilelitest.blogspot.com.
Osmanthus via wikimedia commons.

The first scent opera is here!

"Most high-end perfumers spend months designing a signature scent they hope will stay on the market forever. Christophe Laudamiel, who wants to turn fragrance into high art, has labored for two years on 23 scents that will last for just half an hour. Mr. Laudamiel [..] is collaborating on a "scent opera," a new performance art that pairs music with a carefully orchestrated sequence of smells, some pleasant and some real stinkers. The opera, titled "Green Aria," will test the boundaries of scent art when it opens at the Guggenheim Museum in New York May 31."

Icelandic composer Valgeir Sigurdsson collaborated with Nico Muhly to create music based on the scents, while Matthew Steward wrote the libretto and became the director. Alongside "earth" (moist and musky), "fire" (like campfire remnants on clothes), "crunchy green" (watery green thanks to cis-3-Hexenyl isobutyrate) and "magma" (tarry thanks to limbanol) expect to sniff such smells as vomit, feces, urine, rotten fish and burning trash (I actually have personal associations with burning trash and it's not always that vile; it depends on what trash you're burning I guess)

Alexandra Alter at online Wall Street Journal takes us into the creation of the first scent opera in an engaging article: a dream come true for the many sensorialists around who have always dreamt of a performance that would pair the visual and auditory with the olfactory! Ever since John Waters in the ultra-camp (and perversely very fun) odorama scratch n'sniff of Polyester (1981) popularised the idea, there has been the search for the perfect olfactory accompaniment to visual perfumances. Yet the critical issues of sensory overload (how are you supposed to clean the fog and start again?) and timing (not as easy as it sounds) have provided hurdles along the way. This time Fläkt Woods, a global ventilation company designed a box with pressurized steel canisters that will hold the scented crystals with the different odours because crystals produce more quickly evaporating scent than liquids or oils. (That's good to know when purchasing home fragrance acoutrements). In intervals, fresh air will be released from the special "microphones" so as to clear the nasal passages of the audience, preparing them from the next blast.

Christophe Laudamiel is no stranger to pairings of such a nature, being half of the duo who worked on the Thierry Mugler coffret that was inspired by the atmospherics of the best-selling novel Das Parfum by Patrick Suskind, subsequently filmed. In a no coinicidental string of affairs Thierry Mugler is sponsoring the new venture.

"In a darkened theater, audiences will be bombarded with smells, blasted in six-second sequences by a scent "microphone" attached to each seat. The scents tell the story of an epic struggle between nature and industry. Nearly five years in the making, the opera was conceived by Stewart Matthew, a corporate financier turned entrepreneur who co-founded Aeosphere, a "fragrance media" company, with Mr. Laudamiel in 2008."

Aeosphere opens its Manhattan office next month, while Laudamiel had been a tenant at the offices of Firmenich and a collaborating perfumer with IFF for quite a while.
A brave new world indeed!


Chrstophe Laudamiel via IFF. Pic of Polyester card via Jim Rees/Flickr (some rights reserved)

New online shop: Rei Rien

The new online shop Rei Rien caters to those of us searching for niche, mainstream, classics and discontinued scents, intends to augment its inventory slowly but surely and is shipping internationally.
Right now Rei Rien is offering a special sale (good throughout its first month of onlin presence) for its first customers to celebrate the grand opening. This discount includes the very new Sisley colognes trio which becomes thus quite fetching!

Scarlett by Cacharel: new fragrance

“Mon secret est à l’intérieur” , my secret is on the inside!. With that catchy phrase, Cacharel is taking a journey back to their roots with their newest feminine fragrance, Scarlett. The Liberty print design of the packaging as well as the concept of a floral evoking heroines of literature as well as Hollywood glamour (because of Scarlett Johansson) are testament to that desire. In that regard it will be interesting to play out since ms.Johansson has been the face of Eternity Moment for Calvin Klein for quite a while (featured even in a shot of her film "The Island") and now the face for D&G makeup (fortunately another L'Oreal subsidiary).



The three values of Cacharel have always been romanticism, audacity and freshness after all. The Victoriana of its Sarah Moon emblematic campaign is still with us after all those years and the retro touches of their porcelain bottles on our vanity are still objects of affection.

The fragrance Scarlett by Cacharel will incorporate a juicy citrus and pear prelude to a white floral heart of jasmine, orange blossom and honeysuckle anchored with tea notes, white musk and sandalwood. Much like their first foray with Anais Anais which relied heavily on lily this is ~apparently~ a return to less sugary compositions, a suprising aspect taking into account the fragrance is geared towards the 15-25 years of age demographic (a generation raised on very sweet perfumes). The perfumers for Scarlett are Honorine Blanc, Alberto Morillas and Olivier Cresp while the romantically retro flacon of japonesque floral designs in white faience/biscuit porcelain with coral insides was designed by Christophe Pillet.


Scarlett by Cacharel will benefit from an extensive advertising campaign starting August. Prices for 35 mL and 80 mL of Eau de Toilette, 35 and 59 euros respectively in major department stores, the fragrance launching in mid-July '09.

Pic of Scarlett Johansson via My Old Kentucky.

Histoires de Parfums news

Histoires des Parfums, the brand which we had reviewed lovingly here and included with great pleasure in our Leather Series part 12 (Modern Leathers)~and which Luca Turin apparently also appreciates~ is now being featured at L’Eclaireur in Paris (rue Boissy d'Anglas, 8eme arrondissement), a first for any perfumer brand. They're also been available in Le Printemps.
The brand was founded in 1999 by French gastronomer-turned-perfumer Gérald Ghislain after studying in ISIPCA and was soon succeeding into entering several concept stores (Quartier 206 in UK, 10 Corso Como in Italy, Gum in Russia, Série Noire de Lille at Cap-Ferret, Saint-Tropez and Toulon, France...). Twelve stories around authors of literature or emblematic dates come in bottles of 120ml of Eau de Parfum (15% concentration) for 130 euros each.
The new proposition of Histoires de Parfums is a kit-nomade of three 14ml bottles (about 0.5oz) of the scent one chooses for the all-inclusive price of 87$. Sounds like a nice idea. (They aldeady have one of the best value deals on sampling programmes around)




Also please check the blog of Histoires de Parfums with an interview exposing all you ever wanted to know about Gérald Ghislain and the brand.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Histoires de Parfums reviews


Cosmic Roger
by 1969histoiresdeparfums