Parfums MDCI Promesse de l’Aube: Fragrance Review

"With maternal love, life makes a promise at dawn that it can never hold. You are forced to eat cold food until your days end. After that, each time a woman holds you in her arms and against her chest, these are merely condolences. You always come back to yell at your mother’s grave like an abandoned dog. Never again, never again, never again."
―Romain Gary, La Promesse de l'aube (1960)

by guest writer AlbertCAN

There. The mandatory quote from Romain Gary’s La Promesse de l’aube (translated into the English title “Promise at Dawn”), the autobiography which the fragrance is supposedly named after*. I am getting that out of the way because I still cannot—for the life of me—figure out the connection between the book and the fragrance. And I have owned Francis Kurkdjian’s composition for many, many moons.

Yet somehow that’s the beauty of artistic transposition, isn’t it? Ideas attributed to something else altogether. It’s as if one discovers that Luis Buñuel’s psychological sexual liberation Belle de Jour (1967) is actually based on Joseph Kessel’s 1928 thinly veiled cautionary tale of the same title about a young garçonne’s indiscretions and her eventual fall from grace. One story, two completely different tales! Or realizing that Truman Capote’s Holly Golightly takes after Marilyn Monroe in the original 1958 novella, really a kooky gamine who rather explores the whole wide world than resolving her insecurities. (Monroe, in turn, was considered for the starring role in the 1961 cinematic adaptation: her bid, however, pretty much dashed after her demand of getting paid in Tiffany diamonds. The more affordable Audrey Hepburn came into the picture—and becoming the highest paid actress of her time in the process. Much to Capote’s chargrin, however, and understandably he never embraced Hollywood’s vision on his beatnik tale.) Somehow that is the way I have felt about Promesse de l’Aube (2006): probably not exactly what Romain Gary had in mind when describing his youth, but a transcendental beauty in its own right nonetheless.

Parfum MDCI describes Promesse de l’Aube as an oriental floral “pour le jour” (daytime wear), but truth to be told the overall sheen and aura are just shy of the modern chypre terrain. Structurally it has also been favourably compared to Guerlain Attrape-Coeur, though not having the opportunity to experience Mathilde Laurent’s creation I cannot objectively comment on that matter. Still, the word honeyed comes to mind upon describing the opening Promesse de l’Aube; although the requisite graces of bergamot, mandarin and lemon are present, the focal point is more apricot-glossed in sensorium, candied yet delicate in tow. One can almost mistaken the olfactory refraction as the offshoot of a vibrant peach, but such is not the focus, at least not in the sense of the classic grande dame tone, how unctuously fruity Persicol is in Guerlain Mitsouko (1919). Instead, imagine a quality French citrus-apricot confit, say, from Fauchon: poised, polished, but knowingly with that touch of restrained decadence. The apricot here is that necessary gloss above the rigorously made crème anglaise and pâte sable, that requisite sheen on the French confections.

And that sheen gets subsequently buoyed by the white florals, of ylang ylang and jasmine. Knowning Kurkdjian’s style my money is also on orange blossom—not in the sense of the absolute but more of a modern accord with methyl anthranilate and the salicylates—but alas such is not listed. This is where having an unrestrained development budget factors in, the floral elements having a proper heft and sheen without the all-too-commonplace screech in its sillage before the balsamic elements (tonka bean and vanilla) ushering in the modern musks, along with the woods such as Indian sandalwood to give off an air of billowing cloud somewhere within the vicinity of a modern chypre.

Here lies the contradiction within Promesse de l’Aube: the compositional style nudges on the late fifties side with its solemnity and structure, yet the overall sweep is nimble and modern. To this day I am still doing double takes on its theme: the cerebral side of me knows all too well that an oriental floral is at play, yet from time to time I wouldn’t think twice about enlisting the base as a modern chypre...

Is it worth its hefty price tag? Ringing the affirmative. To me here the phrase “promesse de l’aube” is more literal, a take on l’aube without the fear of not delivering on la promesse.

For more information on the perfumes, flacons and on how to order, please contact Parfums MDCI
Photo: Promesse de l’Aube from LuckyScent.
* For a basic summary of the book please refer to this literary review.

Mélange Perfumes: Make your Own Scent Combo

Have you ever dabbled into mixing one or two essences or even ready-made perfumes to create a third one that would be just so? This "layering" exercise sometimes ends up pretty and more often it ends up disastrously. It takes a bit of experience and training to be able to combine successfully, you see.
So the news of a specifically produced "palettes" (seriously, they look cute like eyeshadow palettes off MAC or something) comprising solid scents for mixing and matching was quite interesting to me. After all, I do get emails and questions about mixing one's own scent all the time.

Exclusive to CameoNouveau.com, Mélange Perfumes ($28 each) are a blend of fragrance notes artfully blended in a base of natural Beeswax and Jojoba, which produces a perfect solid perfume that glides onto the skin. Each Mélange Solid Perfume Blending Palette contains four solid perfumes with blending instructions. All of the fragrances are designed to be worn alone, or blended with others in the palette to create a unique custom blend all your own (And I venture to add that one might even be tempted to combine freely from across the palettes, let's live dangerously!).

And of course the Mélange solid perfumes fit into any handbag for touch-ups throughout the day or for taking along on your weekend escape. They also sound like a great little gift for your girlfriends.

The declinatations are as follows:

Green Notes: Green Tea & Honeysuckle; Cut Grass & Paperwhite; Cucumber, Sakura Blossom & White Tea, Mimosa, Mint & Citron.
Floral Notes: Jasmine & Neroli; Casablanca Lily & Tuberose; Japanese Tea Rose & Sakura; Frangipani & Gardenia.
Citrus Notes: Grapefruit & Pomegranate; Bergamot & Jasmine; Mandarin & Tea; Citron & Casis.
Fruit Notes: Currant & Grapefruit; Plum & Tobacco Leaf; Sakura Blossom & Ginger; Pear & Fig.
Amber Notes: Amber, plum & Vanilla Orchid; Santal, Lily & Tonka; Tobacco Leaf, Patchouli & Musk

 Products are $28 for each palette and available at www.cameonouveau.com.

"I probably have around 50 [perfumes] at home, some I just like for the bottle, some I wear all the time": Gwyneth Paltrow Digs Fragrance (and Boss Nuit)

Gwyneth Paltrow, the celebrity face of the new Boss Nuit fragrance, shared during the Boss Nuit breakfast event that she has always been into scent; by the time she was 14 she was already addicted to Anaïs Anaïs, then graduated to Calyx and Coco by Chanel, and still remembers her mother's scent, the fresh jasmine Quadrille by Balenciaga. Now she says she "prefers something a little more complex". Hard to imagine something more complex than the original Coco which came out in the era of baroque orientals in the mid-1980s, but one has to throw a sales pitch when they're fronting a fragrance campaign, don't they!

via grazia.fr

Still Gwyneth comes across as pretty honest when she says that she does believe in a fragrance wardrobe: she doesn't only wear what she advertises, as claimed by other celebrities when promoting a specific fragrance. She also gives the reasons why she does keep a perfume collection, stating that the beauty of the bottle is enough for her to keep a few of those approximately 50 scents around and that with some others it's a "going steady" relationship. Her love for perfume has ben long, teaching her through the years the value of some perfume etiquette: Her daughter Apple "sprays herself head to toe, though I'm trying to teach her that less is more. Me, I just spray a little on my left arm, press it against my right arm, and then dab behind my ears."

Apart from a complete aversion to anything perfumed during both her pregnancies, when she says "I couldn't even stomach the smell of orange juice from across the room, let alone flowers or fragrance", Paltrow used to be the face of Estee Lauder Pleasures, following Elizabeth Harley and Carolyn Murphy, and of Pure White Linen and Sensuous by the same brand. Paltrow now goes for Boss Nuit by night, which she deems "feminine and alluring" (but appreciates that it feels "like an extra something, rather than a perfume pouring off me"), though she adds "that could be because of the branding - good job guys."

Read more about Gwyneth's beauty secrets on the Telegraph.

Toronto Fragrance Meet Up: Come Join the Aficionados on Sunday 10th March

Well it's that time of year again! As has now become a tradition, the “Nosey Bunch” of Toronto are having a gathering and snifferoo, and of course you're invited!
Come join the aficionados at the prestigious Guerlain boutique in Yorkville for an exclusive event - you will be greeted with familiar and new faces alike, white gloves and champagne, and of course, a selection of fragrances that showcase Guerlain's undeniable contribution to everything we know and love about perfume to this day.
If possible, please RSVP by either calling the boutique (details below), emailing me back, or lastly by posting a note in one of the forum threads (links below). Feel free to spread the word to those who might be interested…

Thanks, and I look forward to seeing you there!
Daniel

Date: SUNDAY March 10th, 2013
Location: Guerlain Boutique, 110 Bloor Street West, (416) 929 6114.
Valerie is the friendly store manager.
Time: 5-7pm, and feel free to come and go as you please.
To Bring: Yourself and significant others or friends/family that have an interest in fragrance and skin care, any industry books or magazines, etc.

And for those of you who didn’t catch the links last time, here are some pictures of the last meet-up: Jamie’s fantastic shots - https://www.flickr.com/photos/79426769@N04/sets/72157631153609582/with/7820938434/
A mix of Daniel's photos and other people’s - https://www.flickr.com/photos/85462024@N03/sets/72157631176743996/with/7831357266/

Ormonde Jayne Nawab of Oudh: fragrance review

I remember walking around an exhibition on Moghul India at the British Museum, resplendent in the opulence we associate with this particular region and time. The curlicued rupees bearing intricate names alongside triangular flags, ears of wheat and fishes were not strictly limited to Moghul rule, the curator explained; the Nawabs had seized control of their own regions by that time, issuing their own coins, but continuing to cajole the Mughal emperor by keeping his name on the currency. Similarly the latest India-inspired Ormonde Jayne fragrance, Nawab of Oudh, draws upon two different wells: the silk Banarasi saris of India, with their Moghul motifs and their heavy gold work, on one hand and the mystic Muslim tradition of roses and oud resin rising in the air from a censer at the mosques of Persia on the other.

Source: Uploaded by user via Melissa on Pinterest

Understandably, given those references, the perfume smells the way a metallic brocade looks: lush, rich, opulent, draped for elegance. But the artistry of perfumer Geza Schoen makes it modern and wearable too. Despite the by now tired trope of "oudh",  the note so often smelling more like a pack of Band-Aids than the exotic resin obtained by the pathological secretion of the Aquilaria tree when attacked by a fungus, there is none of that contemporary nonsense in Nawab of Oudh. There is a powdery, soft like cat's paws, ambery trail in the drydown, reminding me of Private Collection Amber Ylang (E.Lauder), which envelops the higher notes of green-citrusy brilliance into a cradle of plush. The distinction between phases (drawing upon the classical pyramid structure of perfumes) is here apparent, at least in a binary pattern: the introduction is distinctly separate from the prolonged (really impressively prolonged) phase of the drydown. In essence we have the interplay of raspiness and velvety softness, aided by the texture of the rose. Oud-laced roses have become a dime a dozen lately in niche perfumery, but I will withhold a place in my heart of Nawab of Oudh because it's so extraordinarily beautiful indeed.

And the name? How did it evolve and how does it unite those two worlds, India and the Middle East? Awadh or Oudh was a prosperous and thickly populated province of northern India (modern Uttar Pradesh), its very name meaning "capital of Lord Rama", the hero of the Ramayana epic. Its turmoiled history began with becoming an important province of the Mughal empire, soon establishing a hereditary polity under Mughal sovereignty; but as the power of the Mughals diminished, the province gained its independence. The opulence in the courts of the Nawabs (ruler kings of the Awadh, originating from a Persian adventurer called Sa'adat Khan) and their prosperity were noticed by the British East India Company, resulting in their direct interference in internal political matters, which reached its zenith in the eventual total loss of power by the Nawabs in 1856.

The official info on the scent by Ormonde Jayne runs thus: "Nawab (Ruler) of Oudh is a province of central India. Our perfume is inspired by the Nawabs who once ruled over it. It is a potent blend of amber and rose with a soft oudh edge. Yet surprisingly not one ingredient stands out from the others. It achieves a perfume synergy that defies traditional analysis, releasing a pulsating pungency, brooding and hauntingly beautiful, a rich tapestry of fascinating depths, a jewelled veil to conceal its emotional complexity and extravagance."

Notes for Nawab of Oudh:
Top: green notes, bergamot, orange absolute, cardamom, aldehyde.
Heart: rose, magnolia, orchid, pimento, bay, cinnamon, hedione.
Base: ambergris, musk, vetiver, labdanum, oudh.

Nawab of Oudh along with the rest of the "Four Corners of the Earth" collection by Ormonde Jayne, inspired by Linda Pilkington's travels, is exclusive to the London Ormonde Jayne boutiques at 12 The Royal Arcade and 192 Pavillion Road and at the Black Hall perfumery at Harrods.

Serge Lutens La Fille de Berlin: fragrance review

Much as Serge has always dwelled in the aesthetes of the 19th century, if there is one art movement of the 20th century which would reflect his innermost demons that would be German expressionism; the intensity of the play of light & shadow on the silver screen is a metaphor for the battle of good and evil. La Fille de Berlin, cool, powdery rose spiked with spices, and the latest Lutens fragrance in the canon, reflects the struggle of a soft feminine flower with the naughtiness of animalic winks; the two faces of Eve, which had fully prepared me to expect a Metropolis-rising Lang vision, real and artificial blurring. But I soon found out that Serge was influenced by Josef von Sternberg and his classic Der blaue Engel instead, not strictly in the genre but smack-down in the midst of it in 1930.

artwork by Alexey Kurbatov via artonfix.com

 

She's a rose with thorns, don't mess with her.
She's a girl who goes to extremes.
When she can, she soothes; and when she wants ... !
 Her fragrance lifts you higher, she rocks and shocks.
 ~Serge Lutens

German Expressionism never left us, really. The angular, shadowed architectural specimens encountered in places like New York City, reflected in the fantastical Gotham of the Batman series, and the numerous homages to emblematic leitmotifs of the movement, such as in the films of Burton, Proyas and -to a lesser degree- Allen, merely prove that the juxtaposition of light & shadow (a more schematic carry-over from the chiaroscuro of the Masters) is as relevant today as it ever was. After all, humans are a mix of the two, aren't they? More apropos, Serge Lutens might be making a cultural commentary of our times, right in the heart of the melting pot that is modern Europe: much as Siegfried Kracauer's study "From Caligari to Hitler" examines the trajectory from this strained, anguished cinema images of the Weimar Republik to Nazi Germany, today's world in crisis with the darkness prevailing in fashion & design might be a reflective prologue to an even darker, more sinister era. Respectable professors turning into ridiculed and despaired madmen, the light of the blond hair of Siegfried eclipsed.
Let's hope not, but it's a poignant and potent omen nevertheless.

The metallic opening in La Fille de Berlin fragrance predisposes for the treatment withheld for rose in Rive Gauche by Yves Saint Laurent; chilling and distant, as if hailing from the tundra. But give it a few minutes in the warmth of a Blue Angel's skin, hot off the beckoning performance on the stage, and it turns into the softest, velvety rose with a cardamom impression and the tartness of a hint of raspberry. But even warmer things hide in the background with an intimate and dirty musk and civet allusion (so very familiar in the Lutens opus) surfacing to wrap things in plush and sex.

Those who have found Sa Majeste la Rose too green-fruity for their tastes and his Rose de Nuit marvelously creuscular but too elusive, would find a good ally in La Fille de Berlin. I find it more feminine than shared, but if like Serge himself, oh gentle man you're of the "perfume is a celebration" frame of mind, you might want to try it out for yourself.