Silent ylang and ash: 7 flavors for introverts
Text: Ksenia Golovanova, author of the telegram channel Nose Republic
It's no secret that perfumes are often rated. by categories like "loudness" and "persistence": a popular opinion says that the stronger the plume and the more resistant the smell, the better the composition. Therefore, the pain in the selection of the very aroma is experienced by sensitive noses and half-tone lovers. Our perfume critic Ksenia Golovanova hurries to the rescue and shows seven perfumes that introverts from the olfactory world will surely like.
Series 1 Leaves: Lily
Comme des garçons
7880 rub.
for 50 ml
In nature, lily of the valley is by no means an introvert - it grows by so-called clumps, that is, dense groups of shoots. In perfumery, too: lilies of the valley, poured into bottles of varying degrees of pearl, a great many. But these - green, properly "shaded" dark foliage, c pink shimmer, like Marc Chagall - units. Blush to the lilies of the valley Lily is reported by a delicate and calm rose, which you probably won't notice: in the composition it is not so much for the smell, as for an even, warm glow.
Encens Chembur
Byredo
12 600 rub.
for 50 ml
Dictionaries believe that Chembur is a long excuse on which a riding horse is driven. The homonym of interest to us, however, is from the field of geography: in Chembure, an eastern suburb of Mumbai, the mother of Byredo founder Ben Gorham grew up. Today this place is not known for jasmine and saffron, but perhaps for its honorable forty-sixth place in the list of the dirtiest industrial regions of India. Goram, however, remembered it as another - with the cold scent of incense in Hindu temples. There are incenses ecstatic, like the LAVS of the Italian brand Unum, there are monastic and strict and silent, like Avignon, Comme des Garçons. And there are these, "the day before yesterday": Encens Chembur smells like a long-cold brazier, ashes of burnt sticks, cool emptiness in the temple corners.
"Ash"
Holynose
3500 rub.
for 15 ml
When Brocard came out caressed by journalists line "Scents of Nature", the Russian-speaking Fragrantica wrote that all these currant bushes and tomato beds can be given to "perfumed anxious foreign colleagues" - as souvenirs. And if colleagues are not touched by the natural dacha history and perfumery hyperrealism, if they are urbanists who like smells of raw concrete, welding and other secretions of large cities? Then they will like the perfume of the Russian perfume brand Holynose, especially the greenish-mint, plastic Nylon and Ash, smelling of the "spicy" department of the Teplotsky market: strong black tea, dried apricots and tobacco. The "Ash" has flaws: it is rather static, as if the Pompeian remains, frozen in volcanic dust. But like a picture, a perfume card from Moscow - works great.
Encens et lavande
Serge Lutens
20 000 rub.
for 75 ml
Serge Lutens has two lavender fragrances, both with incense, both shiny. And at the same time, they are completely different: if Gris Clair - icy and severe, like ash in the snow, Encens et Lavande - a purple balm for spiritual wounds, refreshes, but does not freeze. The deceptively simple harmony of lavender, frankincense and fragrant herbs is so symmetrical at the heart of the composition that it seems to have been "made up" according to the scheme of a medieval cloister: here is a quadrant of purple flowers, here is a sage with rosemary, and along the wall runs a colonnade covered with fragrant mist.
Eau moheli
Diptyque
8750 rub.
for 100 ml
Moheli, or Mwali, is a piece of land in the Comoros, halfway between the east coast of Africa and Madagascar. Here they grow beautiful ylang-ylang, Komory is one of the two main producers of its essential oil (as far back as 2004, the island contribution was about 80% of the world total). Initially, ylang smells barbarically beautiful: spicy flowers and fruit, animal skin, bitter almonds and skin, slightly sweated under a tanning layer. For thin perfumery needs, it is often “edited” by subjecting it to molecular distillation, a technology that allows you to clean fragrant material from unwanted compounds, for example, to remove the notorious skin from it. The Elan Moheli ylang is just like this: all the dust and animalica were combed out, only golden pollen remained, the pale radiance of the tropical shells on the seabed, gentle sweetness. Contrary to what Diptyque is commonly said to be about water, this one is resistant, but sits close to the skin.
Eau parfumée au thé vert
Bvlgari
10 220 rub.
for 150 ml
"Tea" aromas invented by Jean-Claude Ellen - until Eau Parfumée au Thé Vert, released in 1993, they simply did not exist, no matter how surprising today it sounded. Ellen brought his own tea to Dior, who at the time was holding a tender for the best formula for her new male composition, Fahrenheit. House liked the composition - so much so that the perfumer came to Paris and drank a lot of champagne with Dior managers (this story is described in detail in Chandler Berr's book "Perfect Scent: The Year Inside the Industry in Paris"). But in the end, they chose a different winner: Ellen's work in marketing was considered too abstract and incomprehensible to the general public.
The perfumer offered it to other houses, in particular Yves Saint Laurent, was refused everywhere and was completely desperate - and then suddenly they called from Bvlgari. The Italians wanted to expand the brand's identity with the help of some pleasant, light-filled fragrance, with which they did not pin special commercial hopes, and the perfumer accepted the “tea” with pleasure. Buyers were also accepted: in a month, Eau Parfumée au Thé Vert, initially valued at $ 350 a bottle, was sold in the New York boutique of the brand ten items a day. Today, Green Tea is much more affordable, but still as good - transparent and filled with jasmine light, like a small, but very clean, simple-cut diamond.
Dans tes bras
Frédéric malle
3815 rub.
for 10 ml
Every year, the fragrances of Frédéric Malle, following market conditions, are becoming louder, more voluminous and persistent - perfume bloggers did not have time to pull out the latest Superstitious molecules from their coats, as the new Music for a While, even more vociferous, came out. However, not all old brand compositions are as follows: Dans Tes Bras, for example, English-speaking perfume journalists like to call "the silence of the lambs." "Silence" - because it is quiet and sits extremely close to the skin, "lambs" - because it also smells of something warm and alive. But definitely not sheepskin - rather winter violets, hidden behind the bosom.
Photo: Rive Gauche, Byredo, Aizel, Serge Lutens, Diptyque, Bvlgari, Frederic Malle