arquiste parfumeur: 5 posts

I rarely encounter a tuberose fragrance I do not like, so I quickly deduced that I would like Arquiste Parfumeur Flor y Canto. Flor y Canto presents tuberose on a tableau of marigold and aims to paint an olfactory portrait of a day in August in the year 1400 when during “the most fragrant festival in the Aztec calendar, the rhythm of drums palpitates as a wealth of flowers is offered on temple altars. Billowing clouds of Copal act as a backdrop to the intoxicating breath of Tuberose, Magnolia, Plumeria and the intensely yellow aroma of the sacred Marigold, cempoalxochitl.” (I will admit to a struggle in pronouncing “cempoalxochitl.”)

I fell for the story and I normally don’t. The mention of marigold and the promise of something mysterious was too exciting. Unfortunately for me, the most exciting part of Flor y Canto remains on paper. It’s a tuberose and plumeria fragrance–plumeria smells like jasmine, peach, and coconut, and it’s rather linear and at times approaches bubblegum sweetness before it dries down.

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For its new scent, Mérida, French candle maker Maison Cire Trudon collaborated with the niche perfume house Arquiste Parfumeur. Arquiste’s fragrances capture specific historical periods and personages, and with Mérida, the house was inspired by Charlotte, Princess of Belgium and Empress of Mexico, and the town of Mérida situated in the Yucatan peninsula.

The fragrance exudes a rich guava smell, alongside touches of mahogany and “palo primavera”. A subtle touch of firework powder perfects this creation that brings warmth and color to the haciendas of this colonial city where Charlotte, Princess of Belgium and Empress of Mexico was magnificently welcomed in 1865.

Mérida is going to be available starting this month in the Cire Trudon flagship store situated in the rue de Seine in Paris as well as other Cire Trudon boutiques, Barney’s New York, and Aedes. Via Cire Trudon blog.

Gardenia is the flower with the most feminine of connotations. It’s a blossom that the jazz singer Billie Holiday tucked in her hair. Its seeds give a vibrant yellow hue that the turn of the century Shanghai courtesans appropriated as a signature shade of their lingerie. More innocently, it’s the preferred flower for a prom corsage–even without water it will remain fresh and fragrant for hours. When Arquiste Parfumeur announced that its Boutonniere no.7  will be a masculine rendition of gardenia, I was intrigued.

The idea behind Boutonniere no.7 was to create a fragrance for a vignette: a group of 19th century dandies standing in the foyer of the Opéra-Comique in Paris and wearing gardenia boutonnieres on their lapel. Perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux received the commission to make this story come to life. Flores-Roux is a talented perfumer, but I still wondered if it’s really possible to create a realistic gardenia perfume and yet make it suitable to men?

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Arquiste Parfumeur is launching its 7th fragrance Boutonniere no.7 in November 2012. Created by perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux, it is a masculine rendition of a gardenia blossom.

“May 1899, Foyer of the Opéra-Comique, Paris

During the Opera’s intermission, a group of seven young men gather at the Grand Foyer in search of new flirtations. Women of all sorts are lured in by the crisp, green scent of the men’s gardenia boutonnieres, enlivened with the bergamot and lavender colognes they wear. As they draw closer, the “Opera Flower” exudes its elegant masculinity, the last breath of a bloom sacrificed on a black-tie lapel.”

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A piece of dark chocolate is my idea of a perfect dessert. It is bitter and creamy, sweet and nutty, tender and animalic. Chocolate has such a kaleidoscopic range of flavors and aromas that it would seemingly be perfect as a perfume note. Yet, instead of conveying luscious darkness, most chocolate fragrances go no further than the creamy cocoa impression suggested by vanilla and milky notes.

As beautiful as true dark chocolate can be, it is extremely challenging to work into a composition. The very qualities that chocolate lovers crave—bitterness and richness—can register more like a gamey stew than a mouthwatering confection. Enter Arquiste Parfumeur Anima Dulcis, a fragrance that does not shy away from bringing out the animalic facets of bitter chocolate, while remaining harmonious and tempting. It is an oriental composition that hints at gourmand, but ends up in an unexpected chocolate incense territory.

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