Milano Fragranze Naviglio: fragrance review

 Finding one's perfect soapy fragrance is a question of defining the scent of soap in the first place. Will it be the classic Camay and Lux soap of yesteryear, which smelled of roses and aldehydes? Will it be the original Dove with its iris-musk aura or its newer iterations with fruits and coconut? Are we talking about chamomile and the botanical smells of pine and lavender, perhaps of jasmine and flowers, allied to powerful powdery aspects, or are we concentrating on fatty aldehydes known from Aleppo and Marseilles soap which smell like clean laundry on a line? I'm personally quite fond of the latter, to be honest.

The promise of Marseilles soap, in its own particular way both sweetish and fatty-acrid, is strikingly fulfilled in Naviglio by Italian niche brand Milano Fragranze. It does smell soapy, really soapy-smelling! The perfect scent for capturing summer cleanliness, but also great for year-round, when you want to project that pristine white, bright impression that is deliriously happy, like lily of the valley bells peaking through the grass on a warm day.

Although we're prepared by the brand for a marine fragrance, with the mention of the canals outside Milan, the aquatic notes here are not the sort met at the seafront, salty and/or with whiffs of organic matter decomposing. In Naviglio, they instead recall the clean ambiance of a humidifier, the lovely sweetish scent of water ponds, and dewiness on a climbing ivy. This effect reminds me of two quirky little scents, Rem by Reminiscence and Ivy by the Fragrance Library (Demeter). It's captured perfectly here, and alongside the soap, it creates a charming, easy-to-wear fragrance. 

Bonus points for its incredibly long-lasting quality. It radiated on my skin for the full 12-hour mark!

Woudacieux Mousse d'Arbre Gris: Fragrance Review

 

There are few things I appreciate more than stumbling upon a clever word play which intrigues my mind and excites my hopes for something unusual. Mousse d'Arbre Gris was one such thing in the perfume world, and it caught me by surprise, since I had not heard of the Woudacieux Haute Parfumerie brand before. Lucky for me, the Internet and its wonders has a way of introducing me to all sort of bright ideas. And so, on I plunged and tried the fragrances.

 

Mousse d'Arbre Gris immediately impressed me. The wordplay lies in arbre being tree in French, while ambregris is grey amber, the notorious perfumery ingredient from sperm whales. And mousse is froth, foam, the fluffy texture of a dessert or lather. In short, it's not what it seems, it's so much more. 

All the Woudacieux fragrances I tried give the sensation of high ratio of natural extracts in them. They have this herbal, primal quality about them. The initial spray of Mousse d'Arbre Gris is redolent of jatamansi, or spikenard (the Latin name Nardostachys jatamansi indicates being part of the honeysuckle family). Native to the Alpine Himalayas and mentioned in the traditional medicine system of Ayurveda, jatamansi/spikenard is precious and important.

The scent of Mousse d'Arbre Gris is both green, herbal, resinous, between salty and warm-powdery -it gives mysterious and welcoming vibes of the vegetal and earthy kind.
The brand as a whole has a hippy-classy quality about them, the fragrances are vegan and produced in limited batches (2000 were created for this one). The illustrations speak of an affinity for botanical sketches on old books, and the fairies that seem to be dancing on the labels give an impression of a Victorian album.

It's a quiet and introspective scent that projects moderately and creates a sense of allure about its wearer. The synergy of synthesized castoreum,civet and ambregris gives a rich body behind the greener and floral touches of the top. It's supple and soft, ambery, non invasive yet still very there. The company introduces it as "an introductory turn on for both sexes" and it really is.

The 20% concentration of compound in the Eau de Parfum ensures a great lasting power to the mix and a value for money application. You only need a couple of sprays I found to fulfill the frothy mix of mossy-herbal softness aura around you. The bottle can be found on the official website. You can see images of the brand on their Pinterest account.

 

At the moment: December 2021

 It's been almost two years since my last At the Moment post. Whew, what a realization. These past two years with the pandemic have taken a toll on everyone I suppose. It was productive for me, though I understand it's not the same for all. 

So please do share your own At the Moment snapshots in the comments, if you like. 

 illustration by Jordi Labanda, via pinterest

WRITING

I recently finished writing the perfume part to a small perfume & poetry booklet masterminded by Manos Gerakinis, called MG Connections; it features poetry by Christos Koukis. It's going to be published soon, will keep you posted. 

I'm currently writing for a high-profile digital publisher in Greek and we have exciting plans together. More to come!

 READING

It has been many, many years since I first read 1984, but the pandemic inspired me to take another look. It strikes me as rather ironic that the book is being interpreted both ways, by either part of the political fence. It just goes to show you how "newspeak" is a real thing. 

My other companion at the bedside table is The Templars and the Asasins:The Militia of Heaven by James Wasserman, which made an appearance here. It's a history book about the two battalions of the churches of Christianity and Islam respectively. In it the writer provides evidence about the interaction of the Knights Templar and the Assassins in the Holy Land, which helped transform the former into an occult society. 

SCENTING  

I'm discovering all the things I missed during the quarantine months and revisiting older staples. I noted down The Inimitable Mr. Penhaligon's (linked review -nice but not groundbreaking at all), Imperial Amber by Graham & Pott (linked review-very nice, very smooth oudh scent), and the very new Woudacieux Haute Parfumerie brand with its high ratio of naturals in the blends. 

New discoveries of older stuff include the morning fresh Eau d'Ivoire by Balmain (review), Dolce & Gabbana red cap for women (review & history), Halston classic (review & TV show reference analysis), and photographing my beautiful Guerlain perfume bottles. They do look lovely to my eye, I must confess.   photo by Elena Vosnaki
STYLING

Lately I became obsessed anew with long silk scarves to be worn round the neck. My collection already comprises many in vivid shades of celadon, Hermes orange, fuschia, bright green, icy blue and fluffy ivory,some with motifs, some plain. And I intend to continue wearing them and collecting them in the coming months (my Christmas wish list already has one in it). They give me a sense of comfort, seclusion and snuggly protection, which is great for the winter months as well as for the uncertain times we're living in. 

 

LISTENING

J.S.Bach is a perennial favorite for mental work, it sort of organizes the brain to function optimally I think. St.Matthew Passion, BWV244  is currently at the desktop playing. Magdalena  Kozená's rendition of Erbarme dich, mein Got, set to images from Tarkovsky films, is chilling.

 

Please let me know your own personal highlights at this moment.

Anne Rice's novel Exit to Eden and the author's favorite Chanel perfume

 Anne Rice, the author of the gothic novel Interview with the Vampire, among many many others in different genres, has died at the age of 80. You might have read the obituary, you might also have read her books, she was mighty popular; and for good reason.

The sad news of her passing prompted a memory to surface, one I don't believe I have talked about before. In one of her novels, Exit to Eden, a bdsm erotica novel from 1985 written under the nom de plume Anne Rampling, and later under her own name, there is an exquisite (her favorite word) excerpt that focuses on perfume perception.

The plot line goes like this: They call her the Perfectionist. A stunning, mysterious, and fearless sexual adventurer, Lisa is founder and supreme mistress of The Club—an exclusive island resort where forbidden fantasy meets willing flesh. A thrill-seeking photojournalist, Elliott risks his life daily in the most dangerous, war-torn regions on Earth. Now he has come to Paradise to explore his most savage and vulnerable sexual self, committed to the ultimate plunge into personal risk.

In the initial chapters, when Lisa and Elliot first play together, a mention of Chanel perfume is mentioned. 

"Tall but not as tall as all the men were here. And there was that sweet, intoxicating scent of Chanel. No doubt about it. She was there. The woman in my life."

and elsewhere

"The perfume was Chanel, and it came in little waves, like with her pulse."

 Chanel, but which Chanel perfume? At the time of printing, mid-1980s, the available feminine fragrances in circulation were predominantly Chanel No.5, Chanel No.19 and Cristalle. And out of the three, No.5 seemed more likely to be the candidate for the piercing, projecting, sweet fragrance mentioned. Or so I thought. I had forgotten that in the USA, where Anne Rice resided, the cult of an old Chanel perfume had never died and the scent was still available for purchase.

Anne Rice herself has shed light into her personal favorite perfume, stating " For over thirty years, I've been wearing Chanel No.22 and Chanel has stopped making my favorite perfume. [ed.n: she lamented it being discontinued in the 1990s before the re-issue in the Les Exclusifs line after 2005] I hope they make chanel no.22 again."  In 2014 she was also put into record in an interview on The Guardian as claiming No.22 by Chanel being her favorite smell. 

Which is odd in regards to being included in the novel, since its cultural image was as far removed from the whips and chains brigade as possible.  

This discrepancy however is very much helping to delineate the character of both Lisa and Elliott and to foreshadow their blossoming romance which turns them from bdsmers to vanilla lovers by the end of the book.

Many have wondered over the years whether Anne was part of the Scene herself; some of her descriptions sound true and really heart-felt, quite the opposite of 50 Shades of Grey. I guess we will never know for sure. One thing is for certain, ms. Rice put something of herself in one of her literary characters. And I find that quite touching. In the moment of her passing, I hope her dear ones remembered to sprinkle her belongings with a final spray of No.22

photo borrowed from poshmark

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Chanel reviews & news, Aldehydic Floral Fragrances for Beginners, BDSM and scents.

My Cultural Path: The Making of a Perfume Historian

 

I suppose it was all pre-mapped out for me in a way, but like Indiana Jones famously said “there’s no X marking the spot.” I found the way to being a perfume historian while enjoying myself.  

Thus begins my autoethnography article for The Autoethnographer, a new publication which focuses on how I mapped out a path for myself combining historical and archeological studies with perfumery. Dr.Marlen Harrison invited me in an interview to describe my fragrant beginnings and the cultural axis on which my olfactory impressions were formed.

In narrative inquiry we come across subjects shaping the matter through their own “digestion” of facts, so to speak. It’s a very interesting approach to fragrance especially, because beyond the scientific facts, which can only be unlocked with gas chromatography and a mass spectrometer, personal tales give a more telling and more engaging sense of what any perfume is about.

 

Personally, and I might be wrong, I do not believe that it is even possible to entirely exclude one’s own approach to inquiry. There can be no author-evacuated history, because the historian is a product of their own times, they belong to a school of methodology, etc. This is why history is not an exact science like chemistry, but it is also what makes it fascinating; it’s different reading different books.

One is always in motion with history, events of the past are in a constant interaction with the present. 

 These lived experiences are hard to shake off. And they do tend to come up whenever I think of smells, because they inform my perception, so in that sense they become autoethnographic. When I smell a purely “American” perfume I tend to expect something clean and impressive in terms of claiming an area of a square foot around the wearer. When I think of Far Eastern scents I expect the woody and airy incense of the temples of those regions, or of the humid jungle seeping into the mix. Sometimes the final impression is juxtaposed with those primal expectations, so the aesthetic approach in writing follows two paths, one of fruition and one of refusal.

Please read my entire piece here on the Autoethnographer.