Vintage Parfums: Advertising Eye Candy

Here is some eye candy from a time when the perfume experience was more tied in with the visual arts instead of the gimmicks and sex appeal of today...

Bois 1920: Santalo et Thé

Whilst filling out my P-Port papers today I ventured into a luxury department store to take a look-see if they had anything of interest to my nose. I had never tried the Bois 1920 line (it just seemed so gimmicky) so I figured I might as well give one of them a test and see how it was. Out of the 8 scents on display I chose Santalo et Thé since I have been appreciating sandalwood more and more lately. Here goes the play by play review:

Yuck! This stuff is cheap and awful; the intial blast is overwhelmingly plasticky. The tea note is most prominent in the opening stages (and pretty much the rest of) this fragrance. I don't understand what they were thinking when they created this; if I didn't know what I was smelling I wouldn't have been able to distinguish it from a $5.99 bargain bin "fragrance oil". Not only is the construction of this fragrance poor and very, very common, the green tea accord that they threw together (in a matter of minutes I think) does not even attempt to replicate an aromatic high quality tea as in Creed's Tabarome, but maybe that of a two dollar scented candle. It's that bad. Now that we have got the "thé" part over with, lets move on to "santalo". Santalo must be the code word for vetiverol + cedramber over at the 1920 marketing department, because there isn't really much "sandalwood" here to speak of. I pick up a few whiffs of something that reminds me of those cheap Australian Santalum Spicatum essential oils from the health food store. This stuff was really dirt cheap to put together and it shows. To tie everything together theres an awful foody-spicy note that just makes me feel kinda dizzy and sick if I sniff the back side of my hand too much.

I had low expectations for this brand, and this fragrance somehow managed to fall short of even those. I will not pass judgement on the entire line before trying a few more of them though - lets hope they are better than this !

Synaesthesia

Today my assignment for perfume school was to take a list of raw materials and give them a Synaesthetic code. The paramaters for each material were; colour, image, temperature, sound, weather. Here is the first five materials I took and my responses. I did five at a time and took a break in order to keep my nose fresh. I know it sounds silly but we're forced to do it, and after I completed the first few I realized how much it actually helps!

eugenol - brown, buffalo hide hut, warm, drum, summer evening
benzaldehyde - creamy custard yellow, hospital, room temperature, glugging sound, overcast
vanillin - brown, velvet, warm, thud, hot summer night
oakmoss - greenish brown, water (lake) mossy wood, warmish, silence, dry and warm air in a wet environment
iso super e - beige/blonde, nubuck, slightly cooler than room temp, sound of running stream or dipping hand in water, sun after rain

PS - I had a way better image planned for this post, but I think its copyrighted - email me if you want to see it and I'll send the link!

Fragrant Discovery: Alfred Sung Homme

Bottle: Deco inspired 80's

Juice: Electric Deep Purple

Reputation: None

Price Point: Generally discounted

First Glance: What is this relic???

However, I like to root for the underdog, so today I sprayed a tester of this Canadian designers first mens release (1988) and was pleasantly surprised. Its a very warm and spicy "powerhouse" type, with mossy and dry oriental facets, there is also a distinct pine note that remains through initial spray to the final drydown. Very long lasting and excellent sillage - the only detraction is a lingering overly synthetic (dihydromyrcenol) lavender note (it is not too overtaking).

Cousins: Bois du Portugal, Cool Water

Personal Perfumer: The way of the future

So we've all heard of personal shoppers, personal stylists, personal yoga instructors, personal fitness gurus, personal non-fitness gurus, personal hairdressers, etc. It seems as though the celebrities of our time have a personal everything! So why not a personal perfumer? Well, not yet anyways. You see, I have this crystal sausage that predicts trends and we were just hanging out last night when it got to telling me that it foresees custom personal perfumers to be the wave of the future. Both Hollywood and the uber-rich seem to be constantly looking for new ways to spend their fortunes on completely customizing their experience on this planet. A personal hairstylist for example, assures that their look is always perfect and can be changed to reflect up to the minute fashion trends. If your personal "insert profession here" is actually any good too, you might even start a trend!


So I got to thinking, if the average perfumer can pump out up to three fragrances per year, thats more than enough for any socialite to want to keep him/her by her side - and almost enough to satiate a ravenous young Hollywood celebrity (they may only need two or three perfumers). These perfumers could work absolutely exclusively, or they could operate made to measure services for a few clients at a time. If the type of niche consumption trend we are currently experiencing in the working class (ie: at basenotes we count by the litre per year!) can be cut and pasted to the nouveau-riche and Hollywood, there's cash to be made gentlemen(women)! The only thing standing between reality and this vision of the future is a bit of brainwashing; we just need a celebrity or two to make a bold move, signing on a personal perfumer, then talk about it for a few episodes of their reality shows and we're in the money! Drop your government jobs its off to ISIPCA!

Towering Giant: Aquilaria

In recent times Aquilaria (the tree that produces agarwood) is not thought to be a terribly large tree. This is because these trees are now mostly cultivated, and therefore felled for resin before they have the time to grow very old or large (about 6-10 years now, some even 3-4 for low quality distillation and agarwood). This tree in the photo is an Aquilaria Malaccensis tree in the Bukit Nenas virgin forest reserve. The girth of the trunk is about 160 cm circumference at 4ft from the ground. The tree is about 80 m (appx 260ft) tall, which is comparable in size to the giant California Redwoods. Trees like this are estimated to be nearly 100 years old. This photo was taken from the agarwoodmalaysiana.blogspot.com blog - you may click it for a larger image.

Mature trees like this must be protected for historical and cultural reasons as well as to provide genetic diversity for the species as it becomes more and more exploited.

Essence of Greece: M by Mimmina

Here is a rare gem, I have never heard talk of it anywhere on the internet, in fact it barely exists. A relic of the early 90's (Versace Inspired) trend towards Greek motifs/themes in fashion and fragrance that probably wasn't even too well known in its heyday. However, if there is any single fragrance out there that evokes images of marble pillars and mediterranean scenery upon a single spritz - this it it! I can't find any notes posted so I will do my best to try and pick this apart with my nose. It is a very well blended formula with not one note standing out forcefully so its a bit difficult:

Top: Juniper, Citrus

Middle: Mandarine, Rose, Clary Sage, Tarragon

Base: Sandalwood, Cypress, Atlas Cedar, Musk

In my opinion this is a landmark scent for this category, and should be a reference for all others who set forth to make a greek/mediterranean inspired fragrance.