Here are three smells to splash on. Wild garlic is for those on a tight budget, hoping to be given plenty of room on crowded public transport. Probably best not to wear on a date.
The other two are from the fragrant stable of Frédéric Malle. His concept is, if you look at the top line on the labels, unusual. His parfumeurs are given top billing. Who are they?
”Born into a family of perfumers from Grasse, Jean-Claude Ellena was introduced to the art of developing fragrances as a teenager. Self-taught, he defines his creations as a ‘poetry of memory’. Everyday smells – wax floors, clean sheets, skin, an old sweater – are some of his great inspirations. His signature is simple, minimalist and modern.”
Monsieur Malle, may I make a suggestion? Skin and old sweaters conjure up body odour and I can make that myself at home without paying for it; actually saving money by neglecting personal hygiene. Jean-Claude’s Bigarade Concentree is something else, as it should be selling at north of £200 for 100 ml.
“Based on a new bitter orange essence … obtained by molecular distillation, Bigarade Concentree imparts a bitter freshness. Its unusual amount of citric notes combined with a touch of rose expresses a natural transparency. A woody base of hay and cedar adds sensuous warmth.”
That’s much better. Dominique Ropion is not self-taught. He “trained at the legendary Roure Bertrand Dupont laboratory before joining Jean-Louis Sieuzac, one of the leading technicians in perfumery … an adventurer driven by his own instinct, Ropion is on a quest to create new, harmonious accords often pairing ingredients which are polar opposites. His work is marked by a tension between precision and freedom”. I’ve bought his Vetiver Extraordinaire – “something surprisingly fresh and crisp”. A nod perhaps to P G Wodehouse’s Something Fresh, published 1915.
Pour memoire, “vetiver (chrysopogon zizanioides), commonly known as vetiver and khus, is a perennial bunchgrass of the family Poaceae. Vetiver is most closely related to Sorghum but shares many morphological characteristics with other fragrant grasses, such as lemongrass, citronella, and palmarosa”. (Wikipedia)
Proust goes on about vetiver at some length in the very first pages of Swann’s Way. He, or anyway the narrator does not seem to have cared for the scent.
When I was younger I succumbed to the advertised idea that by using the right scent ; you might somehow be transformed into Brad Pitt or other best looking person. No matter how niche or expensive the scent, nothing really seemed to work. Except one with no apparent scent ‘Eccentric molecule’ ,which has on three or four occasions produced the most amazing reaction in very few people. Some people seem to be able to smell strongly this non scent.But those responding to this were not those I had hoped would.
The thing about smells is, like wasps at a picnic, they reach everyone.