Perfume Exhibition Pitti Fragranze: 10 niche brands
In the autumn to Florence All those who are called niche perfumes come together: from enthusiasts who make fragrances almost in their home lab to completely international brands that are found in almost every department store in every major city. As well as owners of perfume shops, large chains, distributors and perfume critics. Critic Elena Stafieva went to Pitti Fragranze and chose the 10 most interesting brands from the exhibition, which are virtually unknown in Moscow and which are worth a search.
J.F. Schwarzlose berlin
Two Berlin guys, Tamas Tagsherer and Lutz Herrmann, decided to revive the historic German perfume brand and found the French girl Veronique Niber from the IFF concern for this. She took up the analysis of vintage designs and creating contemporary flavors based on their motives. Her last thing is quite ambitiously called the Zeitgeist (that is, the "Spirit of the time") - amber, algae, musk, leather and wood.
Majda bekkali
Majda Bekkali was the most popular girl in the exhibition: everyone was talking about her. All its flavors are associated with some literary legend. For example, "The Night is Tender" is not even Francis Scott Fitzgerald himself and his novel, but the texts of his insane wife Zelda. But how many pretentious marketing stories - but the flavors themselves are extremely good. For example, Mon Nom Est Rouge, which made rising star Cecil Zarokyan, is built around a rose and will appeal to even those who consider the rose to be something grandmother. It can be called smoky, it can be bitter, it can be woody, it can be tobacco, it can even be spicy or smoked. The essence of this will not change: this is the best pink fragrance of recent times.
Fueguia 1833 Patagonia
Julian Bedela and his brand was devoted to a special presentation, which was called "Flavor on the Edge of the Earth". The edge of the earth is, in fact, Buenos Aires, where Julian has his own laboratory. There, he does not just mix ready-made perfume bases, but even himself is engaged in the extraction of natural raw materials. There really is some neophytic freshness and enthusiasm in its aromas: even in their quantity, and there are several dozen of them. Among which, by the way, there is no failure. His strong point is, of course, woody smells, which he has almost a dozen from the Borges library to completely exotic local trees with unpronounceable names.
Maria Candida Gentile
Maria Candida and her husband live in Liguria and make their aromas there. In themselves - and in their fragrances - is full of a sort of Italian picture vitality. And at the same time they are quite elegant and very professionally made. The last two are Finisterre, dedicated to the ocean (Finesterre is a Spanish city at the very end of the famous pilgrimage road to Santiago de Compastela), and gourmet Noir Tropical. But Burlesque is especially good, made in the best vintage traditions, as for the heroines of the golden age of Italian cinema.
Yosh
This brand makes bouncy California Chinese woman Yosh Khan. Her first collection was devoted to different seasons and is designed to harmonize the internal state and what is happening outside the window. But the new collection, "M", on this background looks unexpected. These are two deep, complex and bright scents - Sombre Negra and König, about which she herself says that they turn to our dark side. The darkness here really turned out to be spectacular: deep leather, spicy and woody smells were mixed in a rather original way, making up multi-layered and very modern fragrances.
Masque
And this brand was founded by two Italian guys - Alessandro Brun and Ricardo Tedeschi. They brought their new collection of three fragrances to Florence, among them Luci e Ombre - outstanding merits. The combination of incense, tuberose, jasmine, cedar and patchouli gave some extremely carnal result of literally magnetic power. Soon there will be two more new items, and one will be called Russian Tea Ritual.
Mendittorosa Odori D'Anima
Mendittorosa Odori D'Anima is a very fresh brand. Her owner, red-haired Stefania Scuelya, came up with five flavors. Two are called North and South, and the other three are the “Trilogy”: Alfa, Omega and ID. All five are made with some pretensions, but rather curious, especially the "North" and "Omega".
Grossmith london
Grossmith London is an old noble British brand that has everything that is necessary in such cases: original vintage Victorian flowered Victorian bottles, certificates of “Her Majesty’s court supplier” and, of course, historical fragrances. Which, by the way, are also called historically: for example, the magnificent woody chypre Hasu-no-Hana or the rich Shem-el-Nessim with neroli, jasmine, rose and sandalwood. Good and their classic, "black" line, and in it - Golden Chypre and Saffron Rose. In general, this is a traditional English family perfume company at its best, owned by a traditional English middle-aged couple, as from Agatha Christie's screen versions.
Tola perfumery
It will be a real joy for all lovers of Arabic perfumery: beats, spices, oils and all sorts of precious essences. Its creator, Dhaher Bin Dhaher from Dubai, beautiful as Aladdin, received an excellent Western financial and legal education. In addition to perfume, he intends to produce silk handicrafts embroidered. One such he brought to the exhibition - his women embroidered his family, and this thing is simply unearthly beauty.
Scent Library
Ineke Renland graduated from ISIPCA, the famous Versailles perfume school, lived and worked in France for 10 years and, returning home to California, organized her own brand. Her new line is called Scent Library, the flavors here are embedded in the fills in the form of old books, which her husband photographed. Inside each is an abstract that faithfully reproduces the form from the no longer existing San Francisco Botanical Library. “Perfumery and gardening are my two passions,” says Ineke. And she successfully combined them in this simple and intelligible floral collection.
Text: Elena Stafieva