Liquid Silver Apart

Early morning.

A small hotel room.

A safety razor on the elongated porcelain shelf in front of the mirror.

Below it, a block of soap in the sink basin.

Roses and jasmine stand somewhat forlorn in a vase on the ruffled side table.

Milky sunlight filters through the flowers.

It brushes against the ankles of the person standing in front of the mirror.

*

This well-groomed, elegant, slightly brittle, distinctive perfume carries nostalgia and timelessness within it. A restrained unisex barbershop fragrance.

Fresh-soapy with a wonderfully soft spiciness, subtly dry-woody backbone, and a lovely-clean floral note that I perceive as a very restrained jasmine-rose combination. The soapy-spicy impression prevails somewhat but remains moderate. Delicate associations with the scent of shaving foam. The soap component feels more musky than aldehydic. Slim. Slightly synthetic. The spiciness is indefinable. Possibly nutmeg-like. With a hinted mossy touch. It gives the fragrance its individual character and complements the soapy tone perfectly. In principle, the fragrance oscillates between all the mentioned impressions. Forms a unity. Clean. Mature. Serious. With a subtly seductive vibe from the floral note. I imagine an elegantly dressed person who is aware of their beauty but doesn’t make a big deal out of it. Someone gentle, assertive, and well-groomed. Because the Eau de Parfum has both. Leniency and emphasis. The latter is ensured by a Sander-like straightforwardness. Besides its cleanliness, it mainly reminds me, especially in its distinctive yet never intrusive spiciness, of the characteristics of men's fragrances from that German traditional brand around the turn of the millennium. Moreover, Sander repeatedly designed perfumes during her heyday that played with the gender boundaries of the time (e.g., Woman III, Feeling Man, or Background). I see Liquid Silver in this tradition. It has a very unique tone. Its nuances are - despite the polished surface - clearly perceptible until the end. Because the construction is very composed. It remains fluid and interesting, forming a beautiful connection with the skin and becoming warmer over the course of the drydown, with an amber nuance. Therefore, in my eyes, the name only partially fits. The fragrance is indeed very clean and appears somewhat cool. However, not so much that I would associate it with something metallic (Silver). To me, it has a creamy white color, as the forward-facing components slightly prevail.

I like it very much and find that it extracts a lot from the components of subjectively average quality. It feels incredibly well thought out and very harmonious.

*

Back in the room.

Meanwhile, the light rests solely on the floorboards in front of the washstand.

An imprint on the duvet creates small valleys.

The person has dressed and left the room.

What remains is a still life.

And the delicate spicy-floral scent of soap.

*

I want to be there.
Until I encountered this fragrance two years ago, I was not familiar with Kim Weisswange, a perfumer, photographer, and gin producer from South Africa, who first lived in Kiel and has now worked in Hamburg for decades (“That’s basically just perfumed vodka.”). In my research, I learned that she has had a fascination with scents since early childhood, claims to have a photographic scent memory, and completed a three-year chemistry study focused on perfume creation and aromatherapy in Los Angeles (before that, she trained as a photographer and studied communication design, working in between as a decorator at Jil Sander - whom she greatly admires), before starting her own company “Weisswange Beauty GmbH” (now “Capital Cosmetics” since 2010) in 1992 to market self-produced fragrances and cosmetics. In addition to fragrance and cosmetic lines for companies, including complete brand appearances, her work focus has been and continues to be on the development of bespoke perfumes (her so-called “Unique Perfumes”) for individual clients. In this context, she designed perfumes for Kate and William for their royal wedding, and previously for the Queen, Charles and Diana, Margrethe of Denmark, for Hollywood stars like Michelle Pfeiffer, Lauren Hutton, Pierce Brosnan, and Glenn Close, for music icons like Madonna, Cher, Tori Amos, Marla Glen, George Michael, and Patti Smith, or also for fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. She created the reconstruction of Maria Callas’ bespoke perfume from her private collection for a Maria Callas exhibition. Additionally, she has crafted event fragrances, e.g., for the Bayreuth Festival 2013 and other cultural events. According to her own account, she designs about 1000 individual perfumes per year. A special example of her creative power is certainly the 2013-released and ‘Design Oscar’-winning “The Scent of Time” fragrance calendar, which consists of 44 flacons arranged in the form of a fragrance organ, allowing for a new scent to be composed each day of the year. One flacon contains the base, which remains the same. 12 flacons contain the respective heart notes (a different one for each month) and 31 flacons the top notes (a new one for each day of the month). For this, she used about 6500 different essences. This very clear, structured, passionate woman, whose northern German influence is evident, places great importance on using predominantly natural fragrance oils, as she believes that a high proportion of purely synthetic fragrance substances loses the soul and depth of a perfume. Judging by this fragrance, I can understand why she is in such high demand. This one, unfortunately no longer available, she designed - like nine others - for the fashion house ‘Apart’ (the premium brand of the OTTO mail order company).

I thank Daisy very much for fulfilling a two-year-long fragrance wish.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to our dear perfumer "Rosebud" for her generosity in allowing me to test this fragrance.

The fact that this fragrance is no longer produced is simply a disaster for all Nikos Sculpture fans, because that is exactly what this scent is, just with a minimal hint of jasmine.

It starts almost identically to Nikos Sculpture; in my opinion, with the aforementioned components, it has succeeded in creating the same top note that Nikos Sculpture has.

I sprayed Nikos Sculpture on my left wrist and placed Liquid Silver, which arrived to me via cosmetic tissues, on my right wrist and waited 3 minutes for the skin to absorb the scent.

And it went bam: Nikos Sculpture.

Nikos Sculpture starts just a tad more Mediterranean, which I attribute to the mandarin.

This combination can also keep up with Nikos Sculpture in terms of longevity, as Liquid Silver is indeed a bit more durable.

After about 15 minutes, the scent becomes a touch creamier due to the iris, and rose geranium is clearly and distinctly noticeable, blooming in its fullest glory.

And I also perceive the rose; as some readers may have noticed, I do not like rose scents, as it almost always happens with my skin that I only smell like rose, no matter what else is contained.

That is not the case here :-)

In the further course, meaning the heart note, I can perceive a small hint of jasmine with Liquid Silver, but really very, very subtly.

And here we are already at the point where Liquid Silver is clearly stronger in the sillage, a bit finer, more balanced.
Nikos Sculpture comes across a little scratched, but really very little.

This combination remains on my skin for about 6.5 hours and repeatedly suggests to my brain Nikos Sculpture.

In the end, the scent becomes a tad darker than Nikos Sculpture, which could very well be the amber and the incense, but the sweet grass keeps it "floating" above, so I also believe that with these components of the base note of Nikos Sculpture, it can definitely be confused.

Overall, Liquid Silver lasted a good 9 hours on my skin, while Nikos Sculpture manages between 7.5 to 8 hours.

The sillage is definitely better here; with Nikos Sculpture, it becomes a bit weaker in the heart note and then reduces until the fragrance fades, which is also the case with Liquid Silver,

I am more than positively surprised.