Zadig & Voltaire This is Her: the mysterious jolt of Ambroxan and Lactone

 

Cecilia Bönström, artistic director of Zadig & Voltaire, told wwd at the time of This is Her! and This is Him! launch that the idea was to break from what already existed on the market and "to find a balance of something really clean and something darker, more mysterious." The woody, floral, and gourmand This is Her!, signed by perfumer duo Sidonie Lancesseur and Michel Almairac, contains notes of pink pepper, Sambac jasmine, silkwood blossom, milky chestnut, whipped cream, vanilla, cashmere woods, and sandalwood. 

photo borrowed from pinterest

It's all very soft, tender, plush... creamy, like a dessert or maybe a body lotion? I think therein lies the riddle. Although This is Her! masquerades as a gourmand fragrance with all those sweet and edible references in the given notes, in reality, the composition reveals one characteristic that is overlooked. The lactonic impression is, in reality, translating as... metallic. Clean and a little bit shrill. With lots of starched musks (Cashmeran adding a shredded sensibility of salty epidermis) and a layer of abstract floralcy the way Noa by Cacharel or Classique by Gaultier are abstractly plush, feminine, soft, and dreamy. 

 Any woodiness (Ambroxan mainly) is interpreted the way Artificial Intelligence would interpret the picture of woods. Indeed this is all due to the Ambroxan that lies hidden in the formula and the Cashmeran (cashmere woods) in the given notes of the pyramid, with its salty-clean musky-woody appeal. This is part of the charm, as most women would object to much woodiness in their everyday fragrance; they tend to associate it with masculinity or sobriety. But formulas reminiscent of body lotion with musky garlands and irone-rich laces? And a little bit vanilla? They're mad for them! 

The whipped milk construct is especially comforting presented as such, since the term "milk" might refer to edible milk pudding, but also body milk products. Milk also connotes life-sustaining breast milk, the Milky Way, and even droplets of semen in outré works of art bordering on pornography. The mental interplay between "deserving to indulge" but also "deserving to pamper myself" is, in my opinion, the crux of the matter, what makes This is Her! so commercially successful. The eyes interpret the white contours, the startling black lettering of hip and cool upon this unspoiled canvas, the mind reads the indulgent presentation of olfactory effects, and then the nose and skin recognize immediately the familiarity of skin-scent effects that work their well-known magic, acting as an insulating cocoon against the cruel world outside. That's how you build a best-seller for the masses, apparently.

Puredistance Divanché: fragrance review

 

Meeting with a new Puredistance fragrance is always a time for pleasure and for introspection. The newer Divanché is said to be inspired by Japanese gardenia, so how could I not be mesmerized into trying it out? 

Although gardenias and white flowers have captured the imagination of the past with classic specimens at the heart of illustrious floral chypres, pear and pineapple are two entirely contemporary fascinations of modern perfumery. In fact a minuscule facet of sulphur unites the two materials, producing a common thread that reflects one another like the two faces of Janus. As a colleague chemist notes, "the pear profile often overlaps with other fruity odours; saturated esters often have apple tones, while unsaturated ones have pineapple and berry tones." 

 Pear especially possesses soft, juicy qualities, a little bit like unctuous sweet treacle, gelatinous and translucent too, and is very popular for a reason. It's succulent without leaning tropical. It first appeared prominently many years ago, in Laura Biagiotti Tempore Donna (1999) and in D&G Feminine (also 1999), but only lately has it been highlighted in recent launches opting for newer chords and newer fruity effects. 

 In DIVANCHÉ pear is very much present in the diffusion of the fragrance, the main protagonist, juxtaposing the light mushroom-like moistness of the gardenia and the hints of lactonic elements hiding in the recesses of the formula (a hint of peach, more than a bit of jasmolactone, a soupçon of fig leaf and milk). It feels ripe and rich, yet fresh and softly caressing, like the wings of an angel or the frisky fur of a long-haired kitten if you're so inclined. 

It also recalls Japanese stationery with its cute factor intact which is probably fitting given the Japanese background for this Puredistance creation. The woods and musks sensualize and round the floral heart. Finally, resinoids lead the fragrance to an unwavering denouement where DIVANCHÉ gains the feeling of a soft whisper over the skin. It is discreet and polished, not intense.

Read my full review on Fragrantica on this link. 

Affinissence Vanille Benjoin: fragrance review

I am not entirely convinced that AFFINISSENCE's plan of marketing (and that of creation?) succeeds in creating seamless canvases of hues, with their professed aim of monochromatic chasms between top and base notes. Supposedly they do not mesh programmatically, yet they have to in the end, otherwise they'd smell flat and off, which they emphatically do not. The collections are divided into Notes de Fond (base notes), Notes de Coeur (heart notes) and Notes de Tête (top notes). 

                                   Jeremy Willens, pic borrowed from Pinterest

Vanille Benjoin is part of the Notes de Fond collection. It's important to note the timeline of the brand, as I'm sensing it began as something less complicated. AFFINESSENCE began as a niche French brand, launched in 2015 with the first four fragrances (Cedre Iris, Patchouli Oud, Santal Basmati, and Vanille Benjoin) followed by Cuir Curcuma and Musc Amber Gris in 2017. The collection was unique then, by the base notes concept of the owner, Sophie Bruneau, who decided to translate her passion for intense, rich, and long-lasting fragrances, and especially for their deep base note accords, as the leading ingredients in her line. So naturally, no pun intended, the following collections were undertaken as points of departure when the intended base note materials had been explored. 

 The brand described Vanille Benjoin in the following words: 

"In order to present this extraordinary "marriage" of ingredients Affinessence combines two types of vanilla (Tahitian vanilla absolute with the intense scent of leather and the sweet aromas of Madagascan vanilla absolute). This blend is combined with the so-called alter-ego, Siamese benzoin, a fragrant resin originating from Laos which is highly respected for its balmy, almond-like shades. For the strong, irresistible trail, scents of ambroxan, tonka, Moroccan and Chinese cedar were used, placing benzoin and vanilla in the transcendent, providing amazing strength." 

 Despite it being a vanilla it's one that references a unisex scent that was originally launched for...men. So whatever you sex, feel safe to explore this one. 

 Vanille Benjoin was developed by perfumer Corine Cachen. She must have been influenced by the style of Menardo, especially for Bvlgari Black from 1999, now discontinued. Or following the skeleton of this leather-powdery tension (which is also evident in the classic Habanita, especially in the 1980s versions and a teeny tiny part only in Bois Farine by Jean Claude Ellena - minus the peanut butter note in that one!) 

 Side by side with Bvlgari Black the Affinissence scent projects with an initially sharper top note, which smells a little higher in pitch. It then softens into the heliotrope-suede-almond-vanilla tonalities that we're associating with the flou accord of hazy dark clouds of a smoky atmosphere somewhere warm and cosy. It's that musky vanilla that people who like mystery and intrigue in their perfumes most appreciate. Whether it may fulfil the longing in the hearts of those missing Bvlgari Black remains to be seen whilst trying it out for yourselves and living with Vanille Benjoin Affinessence for a short while, so samples are highly recommended.

Ambrox/Ambroxan: a Modern Fascination on an Elegant Material

When a new raw material enters the perfumery scene only the involved few are cognisant of the fact. When this raw material however takes the role of manna from heaven in times of crisis, however (see how synthetically-derived irones for substituting orris butter produced "the year of the iris" and how synth aoud made 2009 the year of "oud") companies invest it with panegyrics extoling its qualities. The latest material to do that is Ambrox and if you thought you haven't smelled it before think again: Almost everyone has a rather good scent memory of it through the ubiquitousness of Light Blue by Dolce & Gabbana, composed by Olivier Cresp in 2001, to name but one of the scents which use this raw material in ample amounts. In synergy with other two synthetics, Z11 and Norlimbanol, Ambrox gives Light Blue that non-perfume smooth base which made it so very popular and instantly recognisable on commuters and elevator partners across the globe.

As is usual on Perfume Shrine when dissecting perfumery materials (this is the list with the posts on them) we revert to a little Chemistry 101 to explain Ambrox and its smell in detail. The chemical formula for Ambrox is C16 H28 O. Ambrox was therefore born through organic chemistry in the 1950s at the laboratories of aroma-chemical producing firm Firmenich SA as a substitute for ambergris (grey amber) which was very expensive for wide use in fragrances and exceedingly scarce. (You can read more on ambergris and its commonalities/differences with the term amber on this article). Although used interchangeably with Ambroxan as they share almost identical odour profile, they are not one and the same. The construction of Ambrox follows the route of sclareol, a product of the process of clary sage, a natural essence known to aromatherapists for many years [source]. Nevertheless another path exists for Ambrox synthesis, this time from labdanoic acid, since 2002. The main diterpenoid of the acid fraction of non-polar extracts of Cistus ladaniferus L.) converts using an organoselenium reagent, is then oxidatively degradated in its side chain, and finally cyclization of the resulting tetranorlabdan-8α,12-diol happens. Thus, Ambrox is obtained by a six-step procedure in 33% overall yield from methyl labdanolate. [source] Other paths include synthesis from (E) Nerolidol and β-ionone, as well as through (+) -carvone and thujone. [source]

Ambrox is typically used as one of the base notes of perfume compositions, due to its extremely lasting velvety effect which oscillates between an impression of ambergris (salty, smooth, skin-like), creamy musky & labdanum-like (read on labdanum on this link) and with "clean"/blond woody facets in the mix too. In short, a fascinating molecule that presents itself as a prism through which different facets can shine. Its reception is undoubtedly one of positive response: You're hit with something that smells warm, oddly mineral and sweetly inviting, yet it doesn't exactly smell like a perfumery or even culinary material. It's perfectly abstract, approximating a person's aura rather than a specific component, much like some of the more sophisticated musk components do. Fittingly, Ambrox solves some of the shortcomings of the latest IFRA restrictions on several musks and animal-like base notes. No wonder it's been used so much in perfumes in the last couple of decades! Although one might argue that synthetics replicate naturals due to increasing constrictions on formula costs on the part of perfume companies, the truth is Ambrox is relatively costly in the mostly inexpensive world of synthetics. However until recently companies were reticent into mentioning its inclusion in a perfume formula. It took the pioneering guts of Geza Schoen and his niche brand Escentric Molecules to elevate chemistry into the realm of bottling single molecules in bottles to be put on one's vanity or bathroom shelf: Molecule 02, solely an Ambroxan dilution was coupled with Molecule 01 fed on only Iso-E Super (details on that material on this link).
Recently companies however took on a different path, actually boasting on their flamboyant, mono-chromatic use of this popular material, thus making ultra-hip Parisian concept-store Colette’s newsletter talk about "fragrances fed on Ambrox"! 2010 might well be the year of Ambrox as apart from Juliette has a Gun who boasts on their sole use of Ambrox diluted in ethanol for their Not a Perfume, other companies bravely declare the emphasis on this synthetic: Another 13, from the New York based brand Le Labo and M Mink by Byredo. The latter fragrance uses Ambrox alongside chypry, aromatic and animalic tonalities which are reminiscent of ink.
Whatever you might think of it, we haven't seen the last of Ambrox yet!

List of Perfumes containing perceptible Ambrox/Ambroxan at the base
(Listed in diminishing order of perceptability. NB. The highlighted links lead to reviews/more info):

Not a Perfume by Juliette has a Gun
Molecule 02 by Escentric Molecules
Another 13 by Le Labo
Calamity J by Juliette has a Gun
Mille et Une Roses by Lancôme
Eau de Fleurs de Capucine by Chloé
Light Blue by Dolce & Gabbana
Vetyver by Lanvin
Géranium pour Monsieur by Frédéric Malle
Baie Rose 26 by Le Labo
M Mink by Byredo
White by Lalique
French Lover by Frédéric Malle
Portrait of a Lady by Frédéric Malle
Rumeur by Lanvin
L'Eau d'Issey Goutte sur un Pétale by Issey Miyake
Midnight Poison by Christian Dior
Emporio Armani Diamonds for Men by Armani
Silver Black by Azzaro
1881 Intense pour Homme by Cerruti
Extravagance d'Amarige by Givenchy
Cuir pour homme by Esteban
A Scent Eau de Parfum Florale by Issey Miyake


Please note that another name for Ambroxan is Orcanox, such as mentioned in Etat Libre d'Orange Malaise of the 1970s. 


pic via perseus.blog.so-net.ne.jp