Magicians and Pharaohs: Djedi by Guerlain (fragrance review)

Lore has shaped the imagination of many in reference to the secrets of the Great Pyramid of Egypt: hidden passages, curses cast upon intruders, mystical symbols and astronomical calculations far ahead of their times. More Sphinx-like than the actual Sphinx, the Great Pyramid still holds some of its secrets to this day.

Djedi by Guerlain ,"the driest perfume of all time" according to Roja Dove and the "tremendous animalic vetiver" for Luca Turin, is an analogous example in perfumery. And it takes its name after an ancient Egyptian magician related to the Great Pyramid. It is as magical, as soulful and as strange a perfume as entering an ancient burial place hidden behind rocks in a far away desert.
But you might need magical powers to have a bottle procured; or very deep pockets…Or better yet a dear friend like mrs.Kern who is so amazingly generous and kind that she sent me a little of her own.

Herodotus, the Greek historian, had visited Giza in about 450 BC, where he was told by Egyptian priests that the Great Pyramid had been built for the pharaoh Khufu (Cheops to the Greeks) second god-king of the Fourth Dynasty (c.2575–c. 2465 BC). It weighed 6 million tons, the weight of all Europe's cathedrals put together and it was the tallest building in the world up till the start of the 14th century AD.
Khufu and the Magician is a tale of Egyptian magic which appears in the Westcar Papyrus (Second Intermediate Period - around 1500 BC), housed in the Berlin Museum.
Pharaoh Khufu's sons are amusing their father by telling tales of magic:

“Djedi is a man of one hundred and ten years~the tale went. Every day he eats five hundred loaves of bread, a haunch of ox is his meat, and he drinks one hundred jugs of beer as well. He knows how to reattach a severed head and how to make a lion follow him with its leash on the ground. And he knows the number of secret chambers in Thoth's temple."

Khufu orders his son to bring the magician and then a prisoner brought, to lop off his head and see Djedi's magic in action. But the magician protests that he could not sacrifice humans for his magic. So a goose is brought on which Djedi could perform his magic on. The morale of the story is transparent: some things are just too sacred to be trifled with.

Khufu had wished Djedi to fashion his mausoleum under his guidance, but to no avail. In the words of Zahi Hawass, upon excavating the pyramid, courtesy of guardian.net:

“I never thought we would find anything behind the door discovered 64 metres inside the south shaft of the Great Pyramid in 1993 by Rudolf Gantenbrink . […]But when we used the ultrasonic equipment and learnt that the thickness of the door was only 6cm, I said that this was a surprise and there must be something there. […] We sent the robot into the second shaft, and as it traveled through we could see […] it stopped in front of another door with two copper handles: Some believe these doors have a symbolic meaning because it is written on the Pyramid Text that the Pharaoh must travel through a series of doors to reach the Netherworld. […] I would like to suggest that these doors hide Khufu's real burial chamber. […]
About 900 years after the reign of Khufu we have a story called "Khufu and the Magician". Djedi knew everything about the secret chambers of Thoth, but he did not reveal the secret. I therefore believe that the burial chambers were hidden behind these doors”.

The perfume itself is a strange and perfume-y mineral affair of dry leather and ambery, animalic decomposition that almost defies description. Its opening is jolting, disturbing, the weirdest thing; yet it beckons you to continue smelling till the end of the prolonged journey into the night. There is deep grief manifesting itself through bitter herbs, artemisia-like, and copious amounts of earthy vetiver with cold air which reminds one of the strange feelings upon first trying Messe de Minuit by Etro. Those elements fan out into feminine, yet dusty, almost musty rose and a powdery base. This is no opulent rose for a bourgeois eager to show off her wealth or powdery sweetness for an aristocrat who wants to keep her man in difficult times. This is a regal lament for the loss of a favourite son, perhaps lost forever in the cold waters of the battle of Salamis or the trenches of the World War I, no matter; this grief transcends cultures.
Pungent leather with its slightly sour edge and powdery musk act like whalebone does to underpinnings, supporting, exuding an image of bravery and humaness at the same time.
This is unmistakenly Guerlain, unmistakebly animalic with a rather fecal warmth at the end, exuding the grandeur of another, elegant era. Reminding me of my grandmother who had her clothes tailored in Paris and her jewels made in Smyrna and who always smelled ravishingly opulent.

Although its strange, intense greeness and dryness have a passing relation to the classic Bandit eau de parfum, the closest to it that I have smelled is Vero Profumo’s Onda; although the latter is a tad warmer and sexier with its catty whiff and coriander/mace spiciness. However, while Onda has a certain modernity that puts it firmly into the realm of a contemporary piece of art, Djedi is stylistically a product of its time and recalls an era that is past us.

Djedi was created in 1926 by Jacques Guerlain and re-issued in 1996 for only 1000 bottles. Today the vintage is extremely rare and goes for astronomical prices rivaling the mathematical achievements etched on the pyramid walls itself. The re-issue, using the formula of yore, is also quite rare and costly.

But it lets one glimpse one into the abyss and back. If one dares…

Notes: rose, vetiver, musk, oakmoss, leather, civet and patchouli



Pic of Great pyramid by inderstadt/flickr. Painting "And there was a great cry in Egypt" by Arthur Hacker courtesy of art.com. Bottle of Djedi courtesy of Guerlain

Interview with a perfumer: Vero Kern from Vero Profumo

It was with the greatest pleasure that I introduced you to the new exclusive perfumes by niche swiss line Vero Profumo a while back here on Perfume Shrine. Today it is my even greater excitment to introduce you to their creator: the masterful Vero Kern, a lady of high olfactory pedigree who agreeded to an interview for the reading pleasure of Perfume Shrine's many readers. Vero with her long salt and pepper hair and her deep gaze that denotes a wise soul is a sight to behold. Her attention to detail and her hesitation regarding correct use of english were endearing to me. I assured her that we would be thrilled to know what's on her mind. And so, here we are!


PS: Hello Vero! You are a relative newcomer to this world, yet your perfumes denote complexity and experience. Could you care to explain how this happened?

VK: Hello! I started my perfumery career almost ten years ago. And I’m working with aroma material for twenty years now. The desire to create perfumes was strongly rising during my aromatological training and the final decision for this to be shortly ten-years-passionate-love-affair was above all a distinct curiosity, even a straight on Faszinosum on scent phenomena, but also a great zeal to know and learn all. For almost two years I was making the itinerary Zurich-Paris and back once a month. There, in the same school where Lyn Harris {of Miller&Harris} also went, I was initiated in the secrets of classical perfumery. I‘m blending with natural and synthetic essences. So absolutely novel and most important for me was to learn all about synthetics.
Creating perfumes in a classical way as I do needs a lot of time, patience, endurance and many, many tries until the definitive product is born. Complexity in perfumery requires besides technical know-how also imagination, intuition and some shameless artistic liberty to bring up important influences in material choice, accent setting and originality.

PS:Your aromachologist background means that there is some sort of spiritual appreciation of the energy of living things. You work with naturals. Myself I find that fascinating and quite hard. Do you think that more traditional perfumes as opposed to simple aromachological blends are also beneficial in providing health and mood benefits?

VK: The sense of smell is linked with our limbic system that controls our feelings and emotions. So I believe that all smelling things provide an emotional reaction: To like it or not to like it - here is the question. I think that enjoyable and enchanting smell experiences, no matter the original resource, always create great mood benefits.
Blending my perfumes in a more traditional way was 100% an artistic and aesthetic decision.

PS: You know, I got the mood elevating vibe especially from your Rubj{click here for review}. Was this intentional when creating the scent or just a pleasant side-effect?

VK: It wasn’t intentional at all, but I’ m very pleased if you tell me so. Creating rubj, I had something like a very erotic skin scent in mind. Finally it ended up with the combo of almost narcotic Orange blossom absolute, sensual musk and Jasmine. Could also be a scent for Lovers - urban Lovers - like this couple, that are stranded in this small downtown hotel-bed and watching there lovely beach sunsets on a pink portable TV. {she laughs} I had this kind of frantasy while creating. {laughs some more}. This scent blooms wonderfully on sun-kissed summer skins.

PS: I can very well visualise that. {I am also bursting with mirth now}
Now, a question I always ask when dealing with perfumers ~ do you find that the quality of the ingredients is of lesser, equal or greater importance than the innovation or beauty of the formula? In short: could one create great art with paints or great music with garbage like Stomp do, if we translate the concept in perfumery? Or is this impossible?

VK: The combination of movement, percussion and comedy in a new, innovative and never seen before performance is really unique. Unique artwork needs innovative ideas, the right material going with, techniques and the ability to transfer that into creation.
To translate the Stomp concept into today’s perfumery is very difficult. Most of today’s perfumes, including some niche products, are drawn up for global markets. Global marketing goes with global advertising. The advertising costs must be tremendous and innovation is required and focused on all kind of concepts. I think they can’t be too artistic thus. I never went too deep in this, but it would be very interesting to hear from an industrial perfumer how this works in reality.
Basically, I believe, that a beautifully touching-you-and-me perfume formula, can only be achieved by using high quality material AND innovative new ideas - in both, concept and creation. Consequently this demands a more complicated, longer development and production and that also has its price.
It’s my fervent intention to create beautiful scents - scents with soul. I think soulful scents bear a unique secret.

{At this point I am almost swooning, this is such a beautiful thought...}

PS: Onda {click here for review}is a very unusual and daring composition with a deeply animalic tonality. Do you think people nowadays are ready to move on from the cult of the clean and venture again in the Napoleonic decadence of musk and richness? I see the pendulum swinging myself, but I want your expert opinion.

VK: Apparently the sense of smell is the sense of paradoxes. Paradoxical and ambiguous, it’s the sense of the refinement and the animal, the brutish. This sense also evokes strong emotions, moods and impressions. Working with scented materials creates the most bizarre pictures in my head. Onda is a good example. The original idea was to create a leathery Vetiver surrounded by flowery and chypre notes and I had a fantasy like this going with:
Isabella Rossellini as mystery Dorothy Vallens, wearing this beautiful blue velvet gown, and Johhny Depp as Ed Wood wearing Glenda’s {from the character "Glen or Glenda" film by Ed Wood}sexy glamorous white-haired wig, dancing together a very slow Tango Argentino at Manhattan Roseland Ballroom.{she laughs at the image}
A divine picture, but unfortunately the material didn’t match with. LOL… I had to find some other lines… and so on.

{I am laughing playfully at this fabulous image myself! What a concept!}

To come back to your question, I think the little naughty animalist or erotic touch in my creations is more a kind of signature or personal preference than a marketing decision. Actually the clean watery concept never did interest me much. “Clean smell” means to me a beautiful big Olive-oil Soap coming direct from Aleppo, Syria - not perfumed at all.
I don’t know if time is ready for more daring styled scents. But with the latest perfume launches ~I refer to the very dark Tom Ford Private Selection or the soon up coming dark Sarrasins by Serge Lutens~ there might be “something” going on in this direction. We have to wait and see.


PS: Since we are on that note, as you brought up two very different concepts, do you perceive a difference of aesthetics between American and European fragrance audiences? How would you define it?

VK: I am still trying to find out possible differences. Comparing to the very active US perfumery forums, I couldn’t find much similar European ones so far. So it’s difficult to give a clear statement about this. Maybe Americans dream sometimes of naughty animalic scents, but in reality they prefer to buy more fresh, glamorous fragrances. What I can see in all these audiences is the phenomena that everybody is constantly hungry for new staff showing up. Heated up by fancy media advertising they create a big hype ~almost hysteria~ around a new product and suddenly it’s all gone again - Nada Mas. Amazing!

PS: I can't help but agree with you. It's terrifying how quickly they churn out new products! But enough of that.....I read that you trained under the great Guy Robert. How was this experience for you and do you find it has influenced your style? How would you describe your own style?

VK: Guy Robert was of great help for me. I first met him years ago in Paris at his latest book promotion: Les Sens du Parfum. His book was something like a professional highlight for me and has certainly influenced my composing and styling. Later we corresponded. I sent him my mods to judge and he gave me useful feedback and tips on them. He also encouraged me during the long development process, but he was never "teaching" me. He is a kind of spiritus rector and a mentor for me, I’m very thankful for his help.
To describe my own style is very difficult. Using rare high quality raw material, for instance the natural Ambre Gris and other precious stuff, as well as handmade techniques, I might consider them as New Traditional for Connoisseurs.

PS: And so they are! Are there any perfumes from other noses that you admire and revere and which ones are those?

VK: Once a year I travel to the Osmothèque at Versailles to study the great compositions of the perfume Giants. I love and wear the following Extraits de parfum: Jicky Guerlain, Tabac Blond Caron, Shocking Shiaparelli, and Fracas Piguet.
The styles of Aimé, Jacques and Jean-Paul Guerlain, Ernest Daltroff, Jean Carles and Germaine Cellier have effectively influenced my own creations.

PS: Vero, what are your plans for the line in the future? Regarding additions, possible limited editions, distribution and positioning?

VK: My perfumes have only just a few weeks that have come out and of course I still have to work on promoting. Also, for better customer service I’ll provide in the coming weeks some shop facilities - on the website as well as here, at the home base. Continuation on the line is planned for sure and I have some ideas but can’t go in details yet. Limited editions are definitely not my thing! The scents will be positioned as Premium perfumes with a few selective selling points worldwide.

PS: Thank you Vero for a most elucidating interview.

VK: And thank you as well.


As we part our ways, I can see that Vero will soon be the talk of the town and not just that either. Her line will debut in the US in 2008. You have ample time to take notes and make your sniffing lists.



Pic of Vero Kern and bottle of Rubj provided by Vero Kern
Pic of Johhny Depp courtesy of johhnydeppfan.com

Vero profumo line ~Onda: fragrance review

As we discussed the other day, Vero Kern is a very talented perfumer in the horizon of niche perfumery. She interweaves elements of surprise in her creations that astonish and make you immediately see that here lies a complex naturalistic composition that is meant for your intricate exploration.
And her talent shows through in her rich scent Onda.
Onda means wave in Spanish and Italian, while in the phrase “Que onda?” it means “what’s up”? In summary, don’t get swayed by the name, because it’s meant to signify that you should close your eyes and inhale deeply the kaleidoscopic journey that Onda is bringing on.

Deep within the Java jungle a great big tiger awaits: the rumour is that she is a man-eater, the fear and tremor of the country folk. It’s been some years that she roams the countryside assaulting her innocent victims; she’s a seasoned one, that one.
It’s very rare that you see her, hidden as she is through dark foliage, stepping on wet ground that doesn’t leave footprints behind. Yet, there she is…
It is with awe and amazement that you come to set eyes upon her when walking; her thick warm fur, her contrasting colours , her magnetic eyes that lure you and make you stare like an hypnotised novice in front of a cobra. The air is filled with the aromas of grass and roots: pungent vetiver that is uprooted, bundled and tied with ribbons, emitting a scent of earthiness and primeval dirt, like the soil on which no man has set foot on before. Mace pods have been crushed into your pocket as you stand there in your hardy leather chaps and as you put your hands out of it you suddenly realise that you are sniffable from the distance. Is your fate sealed? Will the man-eater attack? It all depends on your attitude. The bitter and carnal smell of what seems to be ambrette seeds interwoven with honeyed notes makes the approaching achingly desirable, even though you know of the grave danger you risk. The tiger approaches, sees you and appraises you. Stares you deep in the eyes with her own the colour of gems. You’d doomed. She’s one beautiful creature. And as she sits there you realise that today is your lucky day. You will be saved after all. Your amulet of Onda is safe-keeping you with its deep, erotic animalic smell. The musk that lies in its heart and makes you revert to a time of pre-lapsarian carnality with no shame.
You’re one of them! And out in the urban jungle to hunt for prey alongside her.

Onda manages to convert vetiver into a leathery animal that will make you forget all the citrusy, green interpretations you have already experienced by other perfumers (Guerlain Vetiver, Carven Vetiver) and stop you in your tracks as you come back to the original meaning of it: deep earthy roots, animalic undertones, rich pungency.
It will be difficult to pull for many as it requires a very self-assured woman to wear it and one with an attitude that is as far away from prudent as possible. However it is so unique that it merits to be tested even by those who say they cannot do these formulas. Less sweet that the admirable middle-eastern version of Vetiver Oriental by Serge Lutens or the very interesting, smoothed out Vetiver Tonka by Hermes; and very potent~ it can transport you to other places and images and make a statement for which you need never be apologetic about. And it lasts and lasts. If you have “it”, set out and charge.


Vero Profumo fragrances can be sampled/bought in Switzerland and neighbouring countries through the site. You can also contact Vero at profumo@veroprofumo.com.
Plans to bring the line to the US are scheduled for mid 2008.
Prices for Onda extrait de parfum are 105 euros for 7.5ml and 165 euros for 15ml.


Next post will tackle another Vero Kern perfume.

Top pic photography by Art Wolfe courtesy of allposters.com
Bottom pic by Helmut Newton collection Sex and Landscapes courtesy of temple.edu