Mystery of Musk: Graines de Paradis by Sharini review

Graines de Paradis is the alternative name of spice called "maniguette", a close relation to cardamom pods with a more peppery scent (hence the vernacular Pepper of Guinea), coming from a small perennial plant out of Africa. But in Graines de Paradis by Sharini Parfums Naturels, the paradisal spice is all its own and not due to any Amomum melegueta. Not that it would have hurt: The Arabian inclusion of the spice in rich dishes featuring flower petals in the traditional cuisine is not miles off the lush, taste-buds titillating floral musk that Sharini produced.

Sharini Parfums Naturels is a very small company based in Aniane, near Montpellier, headed by Nicolas Jennings, a perfumer who is also contributing to the harvesting and producing of some of the essences used in his all-natural perfume. Not only are they natural (a growing niche which has been knowing a true renaissance) but they're also bio-certified (Eco-cert), according to the website, where little bottles topped with wooden caps with a rough top-side hint at the somewhat rough experience of getting to know organic perfumes (I'm sorely tempted by Iris Véritable and Jasmin Céleste, too, I can tell you). Sharini was part of the German organic exhibition in Vivaness as well, while their workshop is open for the public from the spring equinox (March) till the autumn one (September) at Atelier des Sens, 8, Rue Font de Portal, St Guilhem le Desert 34150. It does look like a mighty fine cave of precious wines...

Sharini's submission for the Mystery of Musk project was amongst the first samples to arrive at my door for evaluation. Kudos for being so professional Nicholas! A lesson for all. And a nice experience it has been wearing the perfume for a few days.
Graines de Paradis (Paradisal seeds) is woven around the musky scents of angelica and ambrette seed, seeping in and out of the composition at regular intervals, while tiaré, neroli, jasmine and the unusual, bracken-like broom lend their own rich aromata. The flower essences yielded their spirit by the -now almost obsolete but utterly charming- method of enfleurage which captures the dying breaths of them as they wither in layers and layers of animal fat (in this case it was vegetal fat, please note), the process repeated for 20 to 25 times by the industrious Nicholas and Crystel (who harvested the broom themselves). The thick precious pomade resulting is then treated with solvents to release the aromatic droplets, gathered one by one; one can almost feel the anticipation, the drops of sweat on the brow dropping with an audible "plong" while waiting for the other, sweet drops to fill the glass vials...
Not only flowers, but other more succulent ingredients enter the formula of Graines de Paradis as well: wild cherries, Rooibos red tea and vanilla enter in the form of tincture. Tincture in perfume speak is an "infusion" of the materials which are seeped in alcohol until a light-smelling but sufficiently aromatized liquid is produced. This is the method that natural perfumers use to "fix" their alcohol via "heavy", animalic ingredients such as ambergris or other good fixatives (like blond tobacco or vanilla if the formulae are thus inclined). A bit like creating an aromatized grappa liquor by adding rind of kumquats! (Do try it!) Nicholas Jennings is using corn grain alcohol. There is a hint of musty bitterness too in the composition, which could be produced by the agarwood inclusion, which tempers the florals and the sweeter notes well.

The overall feeling of Graines de Paradis is rich, sweetly floral (very good quality flower essences) with the gourmand quality of almond paste in the background and intensely lasting on both blotter and skin, thanks to the tenaciousness of the base notes (patchouli, vanilla, ambrette seed).

The best thing of all? Only 25 bottles were produced, making it an almost bespoke scent for the very, very few. There was a draw for a bottle at Grain de Musc.

Please visit the rest of the participating blogs and fora on the Mystery of Musk project following the links provided.

The winners of the draw....

...for the Aftelier giveaway are: Lilacskin, Mimi Gardenia, Lavanya & arch.memory.
Congratulations, you get to pick your scented prize!
Please email me using the contact on the Profile or About page with your shipping address and your preferred prize, so I can notify Mandy to have your prizes in the mail for you soon.
Thanks for the participation everyone and till the next one!

Montale Mango Manga: new fragrance

Pierre Montale, the French brand which brings Oriental gardens closer to the Western lifestyle, is going to present his new fragrance launch Mango Manga at the Pitti Fragranze 2010 exhibition in September.


Created as an exclusive for the Japanese market in 2005, Mango Manga plays on the exotic allure of mango fruit and the very Japanese reference of Manga illustrations. Now it's hoping to catch the interest of Western perfumephiliacs as well. The fragrance is refreshed through the sweet note of mango, allied to neroli, orange, jasmine Sambac, and ylang ylang while the base rests atop the familiar oud note of the Montale line, alongside vetive, cedar and musk.

Available in Eau de Parfum 100ml.

Kim Kardashian Launches Second Celebrity Scent!

Kim Kardashian, the reality-TV persona and perpetrator of a celebrity to her name already, Kim Kardashian (which we discussed on this space) is issuing a second one in February 2011, since sales for the first one went so well. According to blurb on her own blog: "I am so excited to tell you guys that my second fragrance will launch in February of 2011!!!!! I wanted to let you guys know here first so you can all share the excitement with me :) I’m at the commercial shoot now and cannot wait to get all glammed up! Look at these amazing dresses I get to choose from!
I’ll keep you guys updated on all my fragrance news here on my blog!"

The devotion to celebritoids is blind as attested by one reader commenting [sic]: "Im so glad bc honestly your current fragrance didnt work for me, I really wanted to like it, I bought to support u bc I love u and am a big big big fan, but the scent was to “flowery” for me. Hope your new one is different, so i can wear. But regardless I will purchase it!" And in case anyone thought guys would be left hankering, here is a nudge from one of the XY chromosome type readers: "So cool, you need to do a men’s fragrance next!"

The photo is from Kim's photo shoot for the second, upcoming Karashian fragrance.

Etat Libre d'Orange Sex Pistols: Cultural Anatomy of a New Fragrance

Two new fragrances are getting issued from French-based brand extraordinaire Etat Libre d'Orange this coming autumn 2010. News had leaked at the beginning of the year, but now it is officially confirmed. And the first of them demands its own dissection since it hinges on several cultural axes and one relating the political with the "scentsical"; always within the scope of Perfume Shrine.

Le Parfum Sex Pistols, the brainchild of Etienne De Swardt, the owner of the infamous niche brand is "the scent of anarchy and rebellion worn to bring out your inner punk". Etat Libre d'Orange despite their French roots seems hell-bent on bringing out the most influential of the British: what with their collaboration with Tilda Swinton for Like This recently and now with the Sex Pistols, the revolutionary punk-rock band of the late 1970s whose motto was "We are not into music, we are into CHAOS". All too brief (just 2,5 years of presence and one LP album) and they're still being discussed, nevertheless. Not least because of the legend of "doomed youth" of its tragic man Sid Vicious (his name ironically taken off Johnny Rotten's pet hamster), dead at 21 after a heroine overdose following the accusations of doing his girlfriend in while on a drug-induced high.


The coincidental timing wanted the new fragrance to be scheduled right after impresario Malcom McLaren's death, the man who proclaimed he "used people like clay, like a sculptor would" in order to make the Sex Pistols, initially a subcultural manifestation aided by his lover fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, his very own anti-establishment art project, taking full credit years after the band's splitting for creating the social and cultural phenomenon. To wit, watch the Great Rock n'Roll Swindle. Yet critic Greil Marcus reflected on McLaren's contradictory posture: "It may be that in the mind of their self-celebrated Svengali...the Sex Pistols were never meant to be more than a nine-month wonder, a cheap vehicle for some fast money, a few laughs, a touch of the old épater la bourgeoisie. It may also be that in the mind of their chief terrorist and propagandist, anarchist veteran...and Situational artist McLaren, the Sex Pistols were meant to be a force that would set the world on its ear...and finally unite music and politics. The Sex Pistols were all of these things" [quoted: Hatch, David, and Stephen Millward, From Blues to Rock, p. 170]. Of course the underlying chasm between McLaren and charismatic (and intelligent) Johny Lydon -or "Rotten" as he was widely known "thanks" to his early-70s-British-teeth; the lads sport pearly whites now- makes the auteur's ambition on McLaren's part rather ambiguous. The political agenda was inchoate, the effectuation of change not really solid in anyone's mind, the identification with the working classes not really there [Campbell, Sean, "Sounding Out the Margins", pp. 127–130.]
If it had been any other perfume brand, I would have talked about spoliation... Yet something about Etat Libre makes the most unlikely projects seem acceptable! After all they did a scent after homoerotic sex artist Tom of Findland. And another one called Fat Electrician, sporting the (predictable) dawn of a butt-crack on the advertising images. McLaren himself had stated "[Punk's] authenticity stands out against the karaoke ersatz culture of today, where everything and everyone is for sale.... [P]unk is not, and never was, for sale." Then again, there is a lot of "watering the wine" with the passing of years, as even the mouthpiece of the band capitulated to commercialization. All right, it was to fund the reunion of his PiL group because Virgin Records (who had the Pistols signed) refused to sign them, but still...it looks incongruent. And nowadays when the international economic crisis is sending off people into their own little conservative cocoon, how does a conceptual project materialize in a product?

Also related is that De Swardt has "set up a new company, Editions des Sens, to create fragrances which are a little less niche and have a slightly wider market appeal". [source] A reverse concept of "editions" for a wider audience rather than more limited, the way it was back when Malle introduced his own. It's interesting to contemplate in the greater scheme of things.
The unisex juice for Le Parfum Sex Pistols by Etat Libre D'Orange was created by Mathilde Bijaoui from Mane and opens with lemon, grey pepper and ambrette notes. The heart has black plum, aldehydes and heliotrope, drying down to patchouli, orcanox and leather at the base. Luckily not the vomit note of warm beer consumed in punk concerts...we've been spared.
Anyway, the perfume hits international stores in September. Never mind the rest, here comes Le Parfum Sex Pistols!