Parfum d'Empire Wazamba: fragrance review

In the words of Canadian psychologist Albert Bandura "most human behaviour is learned observationally through modeling". And nowhere is this more cognitively apparent than in the beauty and sensual business in which perfumery holds an esteemed place. Wazamba by Parfum d'Empire is a prime example of the developmental incline which the niche house established by Corsican Marc-Antoine Corticchiato~assisted to by Elisabeth de Feydeau~ has been for a while now, influenced and influencing through modeling.

The resounding success of Ambre Russe, Cuir Ottoman and Osmanthus Interdite are a small testament to the power of quality materials, conceptual storylines (the recreation of the atmosphere of great empires of the past, influencing the Romea d'Ameor line as well) and an aesthetic focus which diverts from the torpid patcho-syrupy jingles of so many new releases to produce baroque, complex and refined sonatas.

In Wazamba, the name doesn't evoke a peruqued era with fake beauty marks travelling the rosy cheeks of decadent and unwahsed aristocrats, nor Tsardoms of fierce despotism drenched in samovars' inky liquid and potato grain liquor. Instead it is inspired by “a sistrum used in the rituals of West Africa” possessing a “heavy sound, full and deep” which one could imagine played by the regal silhouettes of Modigliani-like figures in the savanna evening bonfires. Perhaps a little imaginatively conceived, as the mysterious instrument is nowhere to be found (there is wazimbo though!), yet the merit of the composition more than surpasses the want of accuracy in the press release. A Lutensian web is weaved around almost every niche release, his pioneer work being the instigator in large part (excluding L'Artisan, Goutal and Diptyque who always travelled their own path). Parfum d'Empire is no exception, yet the familiarity is not contrite nor bellicose, but proud in itself.

Parfum d'Empire Wazamba travels the new route of conifers, surely pre-empting along with Fille en Aiguilles, a revisited appreciation for balsamic notes which I predict we will be seeing more of in the future: fir balsam, pine needles, cypress sap...Lubin's Idole and Black Cashmere by Donna Karan were incorporating some warmth and fir notes with their incense a few years ago and Zagorsk from the Incense series by Comme des Garcons was the first to marry pine with incense. But in Wazamba the synergy is more complicated, very interesting and sweeter. The burning, pyrocaustic frankincense of Serge Noire and Essence de John Galliano appears softly pettering out to ashy-powdery, slightly sweet notes (opoponax and the sensuality of labdanum). Yet the initial impression and one of the predominent notes on my skin is ~surprisingly enough but pleasurably so~ apple; a red, juicy and ripe variety that is miles away from the sanitary, upbeat, acid green and detergent-like apple in shampoos and fine fragrance alike in later years! The combination of this apple note along with long-lasting, delectable myrrh is joined at the hip via the cinnamon nuance that both materials evoke; one through allusion, the other through illusion. Yet Wazamba isn't spicy, nor is it gourmand despite its sweetness. Neither is it fancy, sophisticated, elegant or conventionally sexy and that's perfectly all right. The feeling it evokes is one of unadulterated, raw beauty: It relies on a forest of aromatic pine needles, laid out in an African sunset, when climbing the nearby knoll your hands are almost touching the copper clouds.



Notes for Parfum d'Empire Wazamba: Somalian incense, Kenyan myrrh, Ethiopian opoponax, Indian sandalwood, Moroccan cypress, labdanum, apple, fir balsam

Parfum d'Empire Wazamba is available in Eau de Parfum in 50ml/1.7 and 100ml/3.4oz spray bottles at Luckyscent and Aus Liebe zum Duft, as well as in the men's department of Le Printemps and the Old England store (corner of the rue Scribe and boulevard des Capucines) in Paris.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Incense Series, Pine scents

Pics from the postcard book African Ceremonies by Beckwith and Fisher via cas1.elis.ugent.be and salon.com.
Photo of Parfum d'Empire Wazamba bottle © by Elena Vosnaki.

Flou artistique: new ad for Chanel No.5 with Audrey Tautou

The new print ads for Chanel No.5 with its latest face are starting to spread over the glossies. Audrey Tautou, the French actress who stars as the young Gabrielle Chanel herself in the film "Coco before Chanel", of which we talked in detail here, divulged: “The feature film enabled me to learn a lot more about Coco Chanel. She was an innovator, ahead of her era. The fact that she created a fragrance in the 1920s that could just as easily have been created yesterday reflects the standard of excellence that applied to everything she did in her life. By playing Coco and getting to know her, I understood, even more, just how unique N°5 really is.”

The film commercial for No.5 with Tautou has been a resounding success ( Watch it here if you haven't yet). Can the new print ad compete with the previous representations? It all depends...

In discussing the visual style of the advertisement with my collaborator AlbertCan, we zeroed in the shots of Krzysztof Kieslowski's flou artistique in "La double vie de Veronique" (1991). The other references are there too if we take into consideration the commercial for No.5: The window pane, the missing element, the deja vu impressions, even the beauty ideal that Audrey Tautou and Irène Jacob both represent (not implying they're doppelgänger): elfin, dark, delicate but thoughtful. After all, as I had written in the past (scroll for "Perfumes in Dialogue with One Another"), there is a thing called intertextuality, which is none the less brightly running through the course of perfumery and the visual arts that accompany it.

The focal point in La double vie de Veronique was the existential question of free will or fate. Without resorting to such elaborate and antithetical to the premise of luxurious abandon that perfume should evoke, isn't Chanel No.5 winking at us through its commercials and advertisments, as well as their egeries, that there is a reason behind every choice we make and the choice has but one name, that of Chanel?

Audrey Tautou redefines the new path that the Chanel No.5 woman is travelling, a younger, less haute and less poised one ~away from the couture of Kidman or the world-wise beauty of Deneuve. Alone, with the inner reflection of herself, a point of departure for a journey to the inner side, the one which wants to be reunited with the past and the future. Her eyes, looking at us through the hazy contours of the window reflection, seem to speak to us of the above. The luxury we have come to expect from Chanel is there, in the form of the diamond starfish hanging from Audrey's neck, but her tousled hair, the emblematic little black dress taking an almost casual air on her and her expressive mien, speak of an effort on the part of the new direction of Chanel to speak in a language that is audible to a new clientele. This new introspection is the reflexes of a quick-pulsed team who monitor the recessive perfume market and are replying by a more modest but perhaps also more esoteric approach to the visualisation of what in essence is but a dream...that of perfume!
And perhaps to further the thought that cinematically started my musings "Each of us is matched somewhere in the world, by our exact double - someone who shares our thoughts and dreams". Perhaps one of you is that someone who shares those thoughts and dreams through No.5?

Pics frill.com and thestylophile.blogspot.com

Christopher Chong of Amouage Talks

Extrait.it is an Italian site I have been reading for a while, because I find their approach and layout quite interesting: They also happen to have all the Italian front coverage (such as the Pitti Fragranza exhibition) and lots of scoops and fascinating videos.
It was with immense pleasure (and naturally a sense of being honoured) I learned through Extrait.it that Amouage's artistic director, Christopher Chong, who has literally taken Amouage to a new level of sophistication and excellence, is a fan of Perfume Shrine! There is a wonderful interview of mr.Chong ~so meaty it necessitates a fork and a knife~ that fuses musical language (so very Italian by nature) and the artistic influences that form the core of his vision for Amouage. Along comes the news of the unisex novel project for 2010 that is called “The Library Collection” referencing the 20s and 30s. The text is in Italian but there are video-clips in English which non-Italian-readers can follow. Enjoy yourselves clicking the link!

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Amouage news & reviews

Frederic Malle Home Collection Scents & Saint des Saints review

"In this new adventure, I have chosen to work with perfumers or noses specialized in fine fragrances, as opposed to those in functional fragrance who would normally work on home fragrances,” says Frédéric Malle, the auteur behind Editions de Parfums and the instigator of several "lines" of fragrances across the market. “A fragrance should become part of life without smothering it. The goal for this new home collection is to embellish the complex alchemy that makes up the odors of our world.”

With imaginative names such as Jurassic Flower (centered on magnolia, which we had mentioned in relation to Malle before) and Coffee Society (the aftermath of a rich dinner) the sparse packaging eschews the ultra-luxe presentation upscale home fragrance brands invest their offerings with such as the rococo-looking Cire Trudon and Ladurée. I see half the bet already won: it's all about the formula, we're left to think! Judging by his Saint des Saints, which I was fortunate enough to smell through an inward connection, the mission is accomplished. Saint des Saints is a holy offering of myrrh incense and balsams (I seem to detect Tolu and Peru balsams, but nothing official is forthcoming now) that is capable of conjuring Caspar in turbaned gear in nano-seconds. I can picture myself reading my beloved books on medieval and renaissance alchemy by the throw of this scent, a blazing fire burning in the fireplace and some fine Napeoleon cognac in my palm. It just seems to condone such an atmosphere, which were it not available it should have been invented.

For this collection Frédéric Malle joined forces with fine fragrance "noses" Carlos Benaïm, a close colleague of the late Dr. Mookherjee (vice-president of IFF), the prolific and bestseller-producing Sophia Grosman, and Dominique Ropion, who has been working with Malle for a long time producing some of the line's most memorable creations. Since of the three only Carlos Benaïm hasn't collaborated with F.Malle before are we to expect the newest fragrance to join the fine fragrance line to be his creation?
The home range encompasses 5 florals, 1 woody and 3 compositions more attuned to orientalised sensibilities. The technology and artistry employed aimed to produce realistic scent “portraits” of flowers and essences for the home, combining head space techniques and natural essences, coming out with ways to emit the aroma as best as possible: that took the form of a candle (with wax especially formulated to aid diffusion, though what I smelled was not super potent), a diffuser (called "fleurs mécaniques" or mechanical flowers), or both. The innovation of the difuser is that it is an in-house development of the Editions de Parfums, a wireless cube that can be recharged with a refill. There is also another innovation available in one scent, Saint des Saints, which is called Rubber Incense: this is the Space-Age equivalent of the pot-pouri sachet that proviencial women put in closets to keep them aromatized; a small sheet of 100% recyclable plastic rubber is saturated with fragrance. The patented Polyiff technique from IFF allows diffusion for years without necessitating electricity or refills.

The Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle Home Collection Scents comprises:

• Un Gardénia, la Nuit by Dominique Ropion (available as a candle and fleurs mécaniques). The gardenia is one of Frédéric Malle’s favorite flowers and this is a rendition following the head space method of Dr. Braja Mookherjee producing a most convincing natural scent. Incidentally the most pricey of the range.

• 1er Mai by Dominique Ropion (candle and fleurs mécaniques). This near-reproduction of the fragrance of a cluster of lily of the valley (muguet) is the result of working with historic formulae (Coty Muguet de Bois, Dior Diorissimo) for the flower along with head space technology.

• Rosa Rugosa by Carlos Benaïm (candle and fleurs mécaniques). The reconstitution of the dry, cold, astringent-like scent of these wild rose bushes which grow on the Atlantic coast was developed by Benaïm “au nez”, just by using his nose.

• Rubrum Lily by Carlos Benaïm (candle and fleurs mécaniques). The ravishing perfume of a full bouquet of lilies which has dressed up rooms since the turn of the century: Floral, green, salty, and very spicy.

• Jurassic Flower by Carlos Benaïm (candle and fleurs mécaniques). A unique floral fragrance centered on magnolia thanks to top notes which resemble those of citrus fruits. A subtle lavender aspect and the sweetness of peaches complement this very natural smelling freshness.

• Saint des Saints by Carlos Benaïm (candle and rubber incense). The work that Dr. Mookherjee did to record scents included the analysis of his favorite places such as Indian temples which lead to the creation of this mystical fragrance.

• Coffee Society by Carlos Benaïm (available as a candle) This candle attempts to recreate that ephemeral odor of the living room after the end of a Parisian dinner, several dishes and the delicasies that accompany that demitasse. Among the perfumes of the home collection, this one most resembles a fragrance that is to be worn.

• Russian Nights by Sophia Grosman (available as a candle). This simple yet rich fragrance has notes of nutmeg, cinnamon, iris and sandalwood producing a soft spicy ambery oriental. It was designed to embody the suave warmth of long nights in Russia, although I imagine it has more to do with the cozy feeling of a log-fire room than actual nights in the great outdoors.

• Santal Cardamome by Dominique Ropion (available as a candle).The scent of sandalwood has become something of the far-reached Avalon for perfumers these days due to restrictions to its harvesting resulting in substitutions with sandalore. The Malle team came upon a chord of harmony of sandalwood cardamomthat compliment each other in a woody blend of raw attraction.

Frédéric Malle Home Collection Scents will be available in F.Malle's boutiques (at New York City and Paris) starting November 2009 as well as Barneys stores, and online at EditionsdeParfums.com in December 2009. Prices for candles between $85 and $150, Rubber Incense $105 for 5 pieces, and Fleurs Mécaniques $380 with one refill included in the price. Each scent refill surplus costs from $70 to $100.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Frederic Malle news & reviews, Myth Debunking: Scented candles cause cancer? The truth.

some info/prices via press release and Fragrantica, pic via osmoz

Le Labo Fabrice Penod interview

Le Labo is known for many things, among which is the numerotical labeling (each perfume is named according to the number of ingredients as well as the main material), their ultra-hip site, their clinical approach to packaging and sales assistants as well as the "of this minute compounding", and their reluctancy to hand out samples (because they're not "fresh enough" if you can believe it).

Time Out Chicago (I simply love those Time Out guides!) happens to have an interview with Fabrice Penod, co-founder of ultra-hip brand Le Labo (The other founder is Eddie Roschi). In it he discusses memory, desire and Proust (well..) with some funny "translation language" (that's what I call it) and some contradictions. Still there are his "strong memory of a fig tree my grandmother had in her backyard, so it’s emotional for me every time I smell that", the "idea of making people more sexual with our perfume than without it", how Oud 27 is very "dirty", the explanation of their city-exclusives fragrances and the (news alert?) upcoming Chicago exclusive scent.
But perhaps the most lovely line of the whole interview is borrowed from a well-known Italian designer he was working with: "Elegance is not made to be noticed. It’s to be remembered". Bravo!

Read the whole article on Time Out Chicago by Jessica Herman.

pic by fashionpulsedaily.com