Mandalas, yoni, druids: 8 scents about religious experiences
Text: Ksenia Golovanova, author of the telegram channel Nose Republic
In the world of fragrances, too, there is a rule of 34: Most likely, any phenomenon has already devoted flavor. We talked about the smells of childhood and perfumes on a feminist theme, reviewed the scents that fantasize about cats and space. At this time, perfume critic Ksenia Golovanova talks about smells inspired by religious experiences - frankincense, of course, is not limited to.
Devil's Nightcap, Lush
3200 rub. for 30 ml
Best of all, our ideas about the ancient Celtic priests were summed up in the Witcher Andrzej Sapkowski: “Do you know who the druids are? These are vagrants who hang around the world and worship sacred oaks.” In fact, the situation is somewhat more complicated, but the oak tree really occupies an important place in the system of druid beliefs: according to one version, the word "druid" itself goes back to the Prakelt Druids - from wid, "see, know", and dru, "tree, oak". On the same oaks, from which the priests cut the sacred mistletoe, grows and evernia plum, or oak moss - lichen, whose absolute sharp, woody and slightly leathery smell of moist forest.
All this - along with a sip of rustic air - is in Devil's Nightcap, or "Devil's Nightcap" ("nightcap" can also be translated as "a glass before bedtime"), so called the weathered boulder on the mossy plain, which the druids once used as altar
Mandala, Masque Milano
$ 165 for 35 ml
Milanese Masque showed Mandala at the Esxence perfumery exhibition in early spring, and the fragrance had not yet reached Cosmotheca - but it should appear in the first months of the new year. And it would be useful now, when December traditionally drives people crazy: peace of mind, albeit short-lived, is provided to the owner.
The creators of the brand saw this mandala in one of the monasteries of Ulan-Ude. The monks painstakingly applied a drawing with the help of a metal tube chakpa and multi-colored marble sand - only to destroy it at the end of a multi-week ritual. The practice of the sand mandala resonates with the Buddhist teachings on impermanence and non-attachment, and it was precisely this - extremely detached, completely supra-peaceful - that the perfumer tried to make a fragrance. But incense, mixed with the sweetish, grassy smell of Angelica seeds and warm, hay - davany, forms an endless steppe landscape, to which it is difficult to remain indifferent.
Dusara, Anima Mundi
coming soon on onyrico.com
For the elegance and indifference to the outrageous Russian journalists call the Onyrico brand portfolio "healthy person perfumery". All the more pleasant that this year the pretty Italians launched a new brand, not the side project Anima Mundi, which in Latin means “The World Soul” - and it’s still good. There is no Hegelian, more likely Magellanism: the flavors, which are still five, add up to an excellent round-the-world tour of lost civilizations - here there is both the Vedic Isvara, the Mayan Tikal, and the ancient Egyptian Ankh Sun Amon.
But Dusara is dedicated to the culture of Nabateans, nomads who built the ancient city of Peter on their income from the spice trade. Despite the drought, the Nabataeans flourished, harvesting and storing water in huge underground cisterns: the volume of stone reservoirs was enough to provide drinking for several thousand residents of the city. All this is remembered by Dusara, which beautifully combines spices and resins with a mineral chord, which gives the wellness of the well, and brings to the fore the contrast of temperatures — the hot desert and the damp stone. Precisely so, from the sun and the cold stone maiden, according to legend, Dushara, the supreme god of the Nabatean kingdom, was born.
Hindu Grass, Nasomatto
9500 rub. for 30 ml
In Bali, some temples are hidden better than the only well-tailored sundress on a hanger in a local store: they cannot be found in reference books, signposts do not lead to them. No one seems to know about such people except their own female supervisor, who will catch your hand on the way to some rating attraction and will offer to take you to a "different, good place" - for a few dollars.
You will be somewhere for a long time to go down on wet stones, dropping slippers and clutching at slimy vines, and when the calf muscles begin to convulse, you will go out to the waterfall - in Bali there are always “good places” where it is wet - with the ancient Hindu shrine behind the veil water. And although your guide will be actively gesticulating, drawing attention to the stone lingams and yoni, you will be completely caught up in the smell — green, sultry dusk, bedding from damp leaves under your feet, cold stones washed with water. So smells peaceful Hindu Grass, the best fragrance on Hinduism from all existing.
Anubis, Papillon Perfumes
£ 128 for 50 ml
In the ancient Egyptians, Anubis, a grim deity with a dog's head, was the patron saint of the dead and, as a side effect, the chief “technologist” of embalming specialists. Collecting Anubis, the perfumer Liz Moorz took into account the results of research in which scientists analyzed the components of embalming compositions, and prescribed a variety of scents in the script: skin, beeswax, tar, bitumen and vegetable oils.
But the main component, which, according to Murz herself, forms the gloomy character of Anubis, is an absolute pink lotus, not floral-aquatic, as one might think, but unexpectedly dark and earthy, as if absorbed all the black dirt of Nile. He makes the scent dull, impenetrable and dense - in a good way "beyond the grave."
LAVS, Unum
14 900 rub. for 100 ml
Before engaging in perfumery, Filippo Sorcinelli played the organ and supplied souls for the Pope: the LAVS fragrance, by the way, is named after the church vestments workshop, which belongs to the Filippo family. The formula, which later became its basis, initially existed as a fragrant fabric spray — they were treated with a ready-made dress before delivery.
Of all the writings of the LAVS brand, the most solemn one is cold, strict incense with peppered leather, dry cloves and rosary of rosewood. All sensuality is completely chilled out of it: for those who love the incense of the sample Like a Prayer, where incense, like burning crosses, serves only as a beautiful "highlight" of Madonna, there are other flavors. This one is about austerity.
Bois d'Ascèse, Naomi Goodsir
10 900 rub. for 50 ml
Australian Naomi Gudsir makes an excellent, and most importantly, very discreet perfumery - with the exception of Or du Sérail, which smells of all the hookahs of Istanbul at once. Surprisingly, it is he who is best sold in most countries where the brand is represented (including in Russia), while others, more educated, are in moderate demand.
Still, Bertrand Duchaufour, who gathered Or du Sérail, the first fragrance of the brand, did a great job - filled with odorous smoke, which has not only not been dispelled since then, but, on the contrary, leaked into the rest of the works of Naomi Goodsir. They are all smoky, and especially Bois d'Ascèse, written by another perfumer, Julien Raskin, on a plot from Naomi's memoirs: as a child she saw — and smelled — like in the middle of the bush an old wooden church was burning, and she liked the smell. The vicar's burnt supply also burned: in addition to wood and tar, Bois d'Ascèse smells good whiskey.
Erawan, Parfums Dusita
Coming soon on parfumsdusita.com
In September, at the Pitti Fragranze perfume exhibition, Pissara Umavidzhani showed two new fragrances to her colleagues and familiar journalists. Opinions were divided: one liked the future flower classics Fleur de Lalita more, the other sage-mossy Erawan, named after one of the main shrines of Bangkok. Erawan, or Airavata is a white riding elephant of the god Indra, a being good and reasonable, but with character.
Thus, according to legend, the famous Indian ascetic sage presented Indre with a flower garland, which the god of laughter hung up on the trunk of Ayravata for the sake of laughter, but the latter didn’t like such familiarity - he threw flowers to the ground and, in addition, trampled on them, which made the sage mad. Pissara took into account what was written and made Erawan without flowers - he smells like broken branches, lush grass and sweet hay, as if a big elephant had just passed through the forest.
Photo: Lush, Parfums Dusita, Cosmotheca (1, 2), Lucky scent (1, 2), Spellsmell, Nasomatto