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02/26/2019
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That chypre genoveva's pretty youthful!
1907 is a young Slovak niche perfumery run by its founder Eva Skovranova. Whether she herself is the perfumer behind the brand's own creations is not quite clear from the sources on the Internet. The brand's portfolio currently consists of two collections: On the one hand, the basic collection "1", which comprises eleven rather puristically designed flacons with minimalist and objective (English) one-word titles such as "Cedar" and "Almond" (these are nevertheless perfumes composed through with a fully pronounced fragrance pyramid); on the other hand, the luxury collection "Beneath the Surface", which consists of only two fragrances, namely "Mon Ame" and "Genevieve" (luxury is then apparently more French than English). Our prices are 114 euros and 170 euros respectively for a 100 ml bottle in our own online perfumery, which, in addition to our own productions, also carries a well-chosen and quite extensive range of (other) niche brands. In the real world (if we postulate the existence of one from the philosophical point of view) the 1907 fragrances are only available in two shops each in Slovakia and France and one in Bilbao (Spain).
The name and appearance of the brand can be described as moderately historicizing; the Internet presence does not claim to be a scoff, but reveals that "1907" is a new start with new recipes and ideas. The bridge to the past is built by the fact that the grandmother of the founder is said to have been a fragrance supplier of some (probably Hungarian) count families, the lily symbol is said to stand for noblesse and purity, but also for the famous violet-lily cologne of the grandmother. The name "1907" stands for the year of Muhme's birth; to me this seems to be a rather bold leap back in time, since it can hardly be assumed that grandma already supplied Count Andrassy as a newborn. On a realistic view, she will certainly not have done this until her late twenties at the earliest, but it is obvious that a date like "1939", for instance, would evoke unwanted associations in this day and age, one would rather refer back to the Belle Epoque, this is never wrong: Collonil's Nobel shoe cream series trade under the name "1909", and if one looks long enough, one will also find an upscale consumer product called "1908".
Through a generous donation from Angua, I came into possession of original samples (2 ml) of the two luxury fragrances of the house and could thus avoid ordering them from the manufacturer for the completely outrageous, not to say prohibitive price of 7 euros each. The 1907-GmbH would do better to give away the scent patterns generously, in order to spread the fame of the house more easily beyond the Slovak province, because - and this brings me to the scent - both scents are of excellent quality.
Both are suitable for a large olfactory depth dimension and a wealth of scent motifs, accompanied by a perceptible scent progression, both the charisma of value and nobility, both a certain (though not oppressive) heaviness (or rather solidity), both a (at least slightly) above-average projection and above all durability. Both are unisex with a possibly slight tendency to femininity.
Both are also characterized by an interesting tension between tradition and modernity, whereby Genevieve is the one in which the memory of great fragrance pastes takes centre stage and a shot of innovation loosens up the whole.
Genevieve is a successful tribute to the great classic Chypres, this DNA is 100% unmistakable. In terms of roughness and animalism, it is somewhat more restrained and, compared to other chypresses, gentler, rounder and softer, but without being "light", just as little as the heavy, noble brass knob on a walking stick or the door of a Grand Hotel from the turn of the century. I find rich, natural, flowery and green-herbal chords, also something balsamic, to be characteristic
For me, certain fresh, light, almost ozone-like motifs (which cannot be further identified and may be synthetically conditioned, but seem highly appropriate) exhibit a modern, unclassical trait; they illuminate the dense, firm, heavy chypre fabric from the inside as if it were light and airy - I like that very much. And as old-fashioned as the name "Genoveva" is: this is at least Bauhaus, if not deconstructivism.
Unfortunately, I did not find the right dosage. Having become wise from damage, I dosed Genevieve very sparingly at first for the demonstration with the little nose at my side, so she found it very nice. At the next test day I got a little more courageous (but by no means dieseling) and the cry "Oh God! Fervent deer!" (this is her normal reaction to chypres). Around noon of the same day my (by no means anosmic) favourite colleague already said "Fragrance? Is there a scent? Ah yes, beautiful somehow". Should I buy Genevieve, which would already appeal to me, I will still have to work on it.
The name and appearance of the brand can be described as moderately historicizing; the Internet presence does not claim to be a scoff, but reveals that "1907" is a new start with new recipes and ideas. The bridge to the past is built by the fact that the grandmother of the founder is said to have been a fragrance supplier of some (probably Hungarian) count families, the lily symbol is said to stand for noblesse and purity, but also for the famous violet-lily cologne of the grandmother. The name "1907" stands for the year of Muhme's birth; to me this seems to be a rather bold leap back in time, since it can hardly be assumed that grandma already supplied Count Andrassy as a newborn. On a realistic view, she will certainly not have done this until her late twenties at the earliest, but it is obvious that a date like "1939", for instance, would evoke unwanted associations in this day and age, one would rather refer back to the Belle Epoque, this is never wrong: Collonil's Nobel shoe cream series trade under the name "1909", and if one looks long enough, one will also find an upscale consumer product called "1908".
Through a generous donation from Angua, I came into possession of original samples (2 ml) of the two luxury fragrances of the house and could thus avoid ordering them from the manufacturer for the completely outrageous, not to say prohibitive price of 7 euros each. The 1907-GmbH would do better to give away the scent patterns generously, in order to spread the fame of the house more easily beyond the Slovak province, because - and this brings me to the scent - both scents are of excellent quality.
Both are suitable for a large olfactory depth dimension and a wealth of scent motifs, accompanied by a perceptible scent progression, both the charisma of value and nobility, both a certain (though not oppressive) heaviness (or rather solidity), both a (at least slightly) above-average projection and above all durability. Both are unisex with a possibly slight tendency to femininity.
Both are also characterized by an interesting tension between tradition and modernity, whereby Genevieve is the one in which the memory of great fragrance pastes takes centre stage and a shot of innovation loosens up the whole.
Genevieve is a successful tribute to the great classic Chypres, this DNA is 100% unmistakable. In terms of roughness and animalism, it is somewhat more restrained and, compared to other chypresses, gentler, rounder and softer, but without being "light", just as little as the heavy, noble brass knob on a walking stick or the door of a Grand Hotel from the turn of the century. I find rich, natural, flowery and green-herbal chords, also something balsamic, to be characteristic
For me, certain fresh, light, almost ozone-like motifs (which cannot be further identified and may be synthetically conditioned, but seem highly appropriate) exhibit a modern, unclassical trait; they illuminate the dense, firm, heavy chypre fabric from the inside as if it were light and airy - I like that very much. And as old-fashioned as the name "Genoveva" is: this is at least Bauhaus, if not deconstructivism.
Unfortunately, I did not find the right dosage. Having become wise from damage, I dosed Genevieve very sparingly at first for the demonstration with the little nose at my side, so she found it very nice. At the next test day I got a little more courageous (but by no means dieseling) and the cry "Oh God! Fervent deer!" (this is her normal reaction to chypres). Around noon of the same day my (by no means anosmic) favourite colleague already said "Fragrance? Is there a scent? Ah yes, beautiful somehow". Should I buy Genevieve, which would already appeal to me, I will still have to work on it.
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