Souvenir perfumes: 9 flavors that are worth taking from a trip
Text: Ksenia Golovanova, author of the Telegram channel Nose Republic
Aromas can be not only daily joy or a means for a special occasion - they become ideal souvenirs that keep memories of trips. Successful brands from distant countries will get to us themselves, and on a journey we recommend to look closely at local brands without a loop of international glory. Perfume critic Ksenia Golovanova collected nine decent routes and suggested which brands should look for the most “local” smells.
Henrik Vibskov
from Copenhagen
€85
for 50 ml
In Copenhagen from designer Henrik Vibskov, there is no escape: the trendy restaurant flaunts the chairs of his work, the central bookstores sell his photo albums, and even distant from fashion Christianshavn a poster attached to the lantern invites for the sale of his last year collection. Of course, the Vibskov multi-stationer also makes spirits - unexpectedly calm and far from things of inhuman colors and proportions that the brand is famous for. By the way, each bottle is dressed in a wool sweater of a Danish fisherman - a tribute to the cornerstone of Danish fashion.
What to bring: Type C is a cold aquatic wine glass, a salute to Copenhagen in all its sea beauty. It smells of "salty air and clear water at the Trekroner fortress at the exit from the city harbor, where the best herring lives" (quote from the release). Herring, fortunately, in Type C do not give, but algae - a whole plate.
Stora skuggan
from stockholm
€120
for 30 ml
On the perfume map of Sweden inflicted Byredo - real good fellows and toilers. But if you imagine how the Swedish perfumery landscape looks from space, you get a kind of Namibia: a couple of big "cities" - actually Byredo of federal importance and Vilhelm Parfumerie recently brought to Russia, smaller in scale, and almost nothing in the space filled with sparse local lights niche. Stora Skuggan, a small collection of strange perfume stories, burns brighter than everyone else; one, for example, tells of a ghost who wanders in the fields around a Swiss village, the other about a plant that died out in ancient times. The brand’s style is typically Scandinavian: a lot of wood and forest air, leather bases, if the flowers are pale, so to speak, intelligent.
What to bring:Moonmilk is a milk sandal with a pinch of cardamom and black pepper. With the head betrays the Swedish love of distant Asia.
Son venïn
from Oslo
1250 NOK
for 50 ml
From the point of view of the Norwegian, the best care is the one that has no color or smell. This largely explains the local success of the brand Bad Norwegian, which has turned the principle "less is better" into its sales proposition, though not too unique. Perfumery is not friendly with asceticism, and therefore does not live in Norway: if you go to Basenotes and ask this country in the search box, a huge list of two perfume brands will come out. One is, surprisingly, good - Son Venïn, a brand from Oslo, not immediately, but still feeling for its own style, stern and pronouncedly Nordic.
What to bring: Posthume is the sixth until the last Son Venïn fragrance, which glorifies the Norwegian nature and the modest place of a person within it: smoked damp branches in a fire, shoots a spruce log, the hunter waxes the boat with smoking resin cooked from turpentine and roots.
Waters + wild
From ireland
€120
for 50 ml
Cork County on the west coast, where Waters + Wild is the brand of natural (and organic) perfumery that comes from is strong Ireland without a filter: bottomless coves, gray rocks and gray amber deposits on wild beaches. In the same places, some raw materials are produced for the aromas of the line, for example, essential oils of lavender and rosemary, algae and gorse absolutes of the shrub with small yellow flowers that smell like elf summer: sun, meadow honey and dried hay. The compositions of Waters + Wild, collected by Joan Woods, are reminiscent of the early Jo Malone with freshness and transparency - before the collection of the latter swelled with udas and saffrons.
What to bring: Cedarwood + Cognac - aroma with a complex and rich smell of barrels, in which Irish whiskey is ripe: here is an old tree, and caramel, and delicate fruit nuances.
Ideo parfumeurs
from Beirut
$150
for 100 ml
At the last Pitti Fragranze perfume exhibition, everyone spoke about Ideo Parfumeurs: this is the first perfume brand from Lebanon to reach Europe, and right away such power. The collection of six flavors is the debut of Ludmila Bitar’s perfumery, a brilliant dedication to Beirut, the most cosmopolitan city of the Middle East: recognizable designs of European perfumery from Ideo are tightened by hookah children, fragrant dope and golden haze of Lebanese cigar clubs.
What to bring: Tarbouch Afandi is a beautiful tobacco glass, a terribly dangerous thing if you try to give up cigarettes. The lyrical hero of the aroma, that same “tarbush afandi”, that is, the gentleman in the fez, spends the night with her beloved: he drinks tangerine liqueur, smokes a lot, and in the morning, when he already nibbles his eyes from the smoke, he opens the window - and the green, cold creeps into the room the spirit of Lebanese cedar.
Pryn parfum
from bangkok
$190
for 50 ml
The fact that Thai perfumery can be quite remarkable, we learned thanks to Dusita, the Pissary Umavijani perfume brand, which, by the way, is sold in Russia. Here is another good example - Pryn Parfum Prina Lomros, whose Rosuerriere rose last year (by the way, along with Dusita) to the list of finalists of the important Art and Olfaction Awards perfumery award. Judging by the collection, Lomros is interested in just about everything: there is in the line "Japanese" Hikari with notes of sake and Asian pear, "Chinese" Mogao - osmanthus tea and anise, as well as Amalfi, stuffed with all the citrus in the world.
What to bring: Morah, named after the heroine of Thai folklore, the seductive villains. Huge floral harmony in the spirit of Mélodie de l'Amour, Dusita, but more spicy, animal - tropical forest with civet, who deal with the morning toilet on the upper tiers.
Parfum satori
from Tokyo
$175
for 50 ml
Aromas are an important part of Japanese culture, from Kodo incense to natural baths scented with fragrant flowers and Yuzu fruits. At the same time, most of the fragrances devoted to Japan, even those that come from big brands like Comme des Garçons and Shiseido, are mainly collected by Western perfumers for the western market and therefore are not very similar to real Japanese perfumes - elegant, delicate and restrained. Fortunately, the Japanese perfumery style is still alive thanks to small brands, for example, naturalists Di Ser and independent perfumer Satori Osawa, who makes the quiet, transparent, incredibly beautiful perfumes in his Tokyo studio.
What to bring: Hana Hiraku - perfume with the scent of magnolia, honey melon and miso, flowers with a clear shade of minds.
Regime des fleurs
from los angeles
$200
for 100 ml
Four years ago, Mark Régime des Fleurs was founded by a couple of friends, Hollywood stylist Ezra Woods and director Elias Raza - self-proclaimed francophiles, fans of Marie Antoinette and adherents of classical glamor. France, France, but the fatal seal of Los Angeles lies on everything that Mode does: their website is a solid sold-out, luxury and waiting-list, an unofficial person is Ezra Chloe Sevigny's former client, and a third of the interview consists of high-profile names , familiarity with which the creators boast. In a word, it comes to the throat seriously, but how good are perfumes.
What to bring: Cacti is the most modest fragrance in the line, inspired by the landscapes of Palm Springs: canyons, modernist pools and desert cacti in the local botanical garden. It smells fresh and innocent - cucumber water and icy mint tea.
Grandiflora
from sydney
$145
for 50 ml
The famous Sydney florist Saskia Havekes holds the best flower shop in the city - Grandiflora, which means "large-flowered" in Latin: a perfect description of aesthetics in which the author works. Hayvekes prefers large and dramatic small forms: treelike peonies, giant orchids, spectacular horsetails and other floral epos that looks especially good in three-story mansions along Bondi Beach. Perfume line continues an exotic theme, given by the store: there are, for example, aromas dedicated to magnolia, stephanotis and "Queen of the Night".
What to bring: The most "souvenir" of the fragrances of the collection is collected by Beronia Dyushofur Boronia, a portrait of the eponymous Australian endemic whose flowers smell like tea and brandy. But the most beautiful is the Queen of the Night Dušofurovsky, the same “Queen of the Night”, a lush bouquet of white and yellow buds in a cloud of vanilla powder.
Photo: Son Venin, Waters and Wild, Ideo Parfumeurs, Pryn Parfum, Stora Skuggan, Allike Store, Lucky Scent (1, 2), Grandiflora Fragrance