Mona di Orio Carnation: fragrance homage of a discontinued gem

"Gigi you're not at all that funny awkward little girl I knew. Over night there's been a breathless change in you. When did your sparkle turn to fire and your warmth become desire, oh, what miracle has made you the way you are?" 

  CARNATION by Mona di Orio was created by the late perfumer as homage to the French writer's heritage – "I created Carnation as a tribute to Colette, my favorite writer. Carnation tells a story of wet skin from the sun, of perturbing intimacy, of a boudoir with sensual chypre fragrances. The nectars of flowers stand out, highlighted by leather, evoking a masculine facet of disconcerting seduction." 

                                Franz Xaver Winterhalter, Portrait of Countess Varvara Musina-Pushkina

 The fragrance by Mona di Orio is neither cantered on carnation the flower, nor the sentimental notions of femininity as a created vision of a creature to be cherished in apostasy. Carnation by Mona di Orio is a living and breathing thing, a woman whose carnation, her texture, her very skin is glowing with the desire that warmth and life has instilled in her, made her the way that she is. Mature, inquisitive, all aglow. 

 Mona di Orio dashed past us, with deliciously beautiful fragrances and disappeared into the boundless darkness of the unknown due to a surgery gone wrong. As much in love with scent as her favorite writer, the pupil of the great Edmond Roudnitska, she created her own brand Mona di Orio Parfums in 2004. Carnation by Mona di Orio is a Amber Floral fragrance for women and men, launched in 2006. The house, managed by her partners, has now been finally closed. 

The nose behind Carnation is Mona di Orio. Top notes are Bourbon Geranium and Bergamot; middle notes are Ylang-Ylang, Jasmine, Violet and Precious Woods; base notes are Styrax, Amber and Musk.

Diptyque Fleur de Peau: fragrance review

The Diptyque story began in 1961 Paris at 34 Boulevard Saint-Germain with, at its heart, three friends driven by the same creative passion, who chose a Greek word which means a dual panel painting. Illustration was the very core of the founders, as Christiane Gautrot was an interior designer, Desmond Knox-Leet, a painter, and Yves Coueslant, a theater director and set designer. From then on, inspired by their Hellenic treks along the Greek peninsula and its mountainous terrain, and from their country cottage on the picturesque Mount Pelion, buried amidst thick fig trees all the way down the sea front, they launched several classics, from Virgilio to Philosykos. 

But the brand also presents a later day constellation of contemporary stars, like Eau Duelle and 34 Boulevard St.Germain. Picking just one is an Herculean task. The most sensual in the current rotation however is an easy choice. None other than Fleur de Peau. 

 Fleur de Peau relies on that rarity of the "musky idea": it harnesses the vegetal musks from angelica archangelica and ambrette seed oil, flanking them with ambrettolide, a macrocyclic musk which shares properties with ambrette seed and aids diffusion and lasting power. Thus the somewhat nutty, with a hint of berry, slightly sweaty and oddly metallic fusion of the properties in those fine musks gains the upper hand and makes Fleur de Peau very sensuous. 

Backed up with classic starchy iris, and carrot seed, which aids the earthy, starchy effect, it creates a cocoon of scent on the skin; it's as if the Platonic idea of sensuality has landed on our shores. The delicacy of vegetal musk with the central chord of pink pepper and rose recalls the refinement of Les Exclusifs de Chanel No 18 Chanel, and Musc Nomade Annick Goutal, two other fragrances with ambrette seed oil tucked into their heart of hearts. A quiet sensuality that does not plunge its décolleté low.

 

Fleur de Peau is soft, tenacious, with a discreet but perceptible sillage, radiant and glorious indeed. One of the better launches by Diptyque in recent years.

L'Artisan Parfumeur Mure et Musc: fragrance review

Berries are an especially pliant fruity note in perfumes; no less because a certain group of synthetic musks has a berry undertone. The classic Mûre et Musc by L'Artisan Parfumeur paved the way in as early as 1978. The passionfruit focus of Escada's own Chiffon Sorbet didn't come out of the blue either: Guerlain's Nahéma (1978) brought a saturated fruity mantle to the central rose lending sonorous timbre. 

 

The idea for using this fruit in fragrance was conceived by Jean Laporte, the founder of the small niche brand of the pioneering group of artisan perfumers of the 1970s, L'Artisan Parfumeur. His little wonder of innovation from 1978, Mûre et Musc, still seduces its audience just as much over 40 years later. Discreet and gentle, Mûre et Musc was almost hippy-ish in its innocent naivety. The fresh tanginess of citrus (comprised of lemon, orange, and mandarin with a hint of spicy basil) complements the blackberry, enhancing the sweetish trail with a musky base note that lingers for a very long time on skin and on clothes.

Flanked with raspberry ketone, blackcurrant bud, and Galaxolide (a clean smelling musk), this structure would be simple, direct, innocent, sweetish, and tart in equal degrees, and captivating to those harboring the same memories in their heart of hearts! He succeeded with Mure et Musc, a huge cult phenomenon which gave rise to a constellation of berry musks that took the market by storm and formed the springboard for many young girls to jump into the realm of fine fragrance.

But why did it become so special in people's minds that even drugstores came to order their own blackberry-musk mix for their not-especially sophisticated clientele? "Its cottony-fruity notes that melt flawlessly to the skin. It's a close-to-the-skin perfume, which brings people in," to quote Jean-Claude Ellena who oversaw the commemorative editions that reprised the theme decades later for the, now owned by a conglomerate, L'Artisan Parfumeur. The original's cute innocence and come-hither subtlety still beguile the young at heart.