Top Notes 
Mandarin orange
Star anise
Bergamot
Vertical Vanilla
Heart Notes 
Violet
Cashmeran
Nutmeg
Base Notes 
Moss
Musk
Leather
Patchouli
Gold
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Top Review
36
Fell for It!
Advertising works. To understand this, you don’t need to watch "Emily in Paris," a superficial Netflix series where a young marketing specialist from Chicago shakes up an established advertising agency in Paris (for perfume fans, despite all valid criticism, it is still interesting, as the series mainly revolves around the marketing of perfume and fashion in the age of influencers and "mass market culture").
Advertising repeatedly finds its victims, for example, crazy bottle collectors like me.
In the case of the Art Collection 2020, I was the perfect customer. Two weeks ago, I was handed a new issue of "Beauty Talk" in the perfumery I trust. There, I read a small article titled
"Art Matter."
Quote: "Those who enjoy indulging all their senses will find joy in the bottles by RUH ZADEH and Martine Micallef - each of the 1 to 2000 numbered bottles is a hand-painted unique piece."
That's enough for me.
On the one hand, because Martine Micallef is famous for her fantastic, elegant bottles (had I turned on my brain at that point, I would have had to admit that Micallef is not necessarily known for her fragrances "per se"....), and on the other hand, because one of the components of the name of the mentioned, let’s say, protagonists, holds a very personal significance for me.
The young artist Ruh (beautiful first name, means "soul") Zadeh comes from Azerbaijan.
On his Instagram account, you can admire his quite impressive art. Somewhere there is also a photo of Ruh and Martine Micallef, who discovered the painter on one of her travels. Well, she must have been in Baku. However, I couldn’t find more details about that.
For those who are not familiar with the history of the Micallef house, I would love to quote what a dear friend wrote to me this morning here on Parfumo in a PM (Fleuri, I’ll summarize it briefly): "A millionaire from the USA and a bottle producer from Grasse with a penchant for bling-bling teamed up in 1996 to sell luxury fragrances in elaborate bottles to wealthy consumers in Arab countries."
On "Basenotes," you can find the most extensive listing of all Micallef fragrances that have been released so far, totaling 153. Not all of these creations have been reviewed or commented on yet. However, the general feedback and ratings are not negative but rather in the upper midfield, as the perfumes are produced in France by a nose, namely Jean-Claude Astier, the "in-house perfumer." Special perfumes have been created for some prestigious perfumeries (e.g., for Bruckner in Munich or Osswald) and distributed in "limited distribution." There are various extensive series, such as Secrets of Love with "Delice, Glamour, Gourmet," etc., a baby collection ("Petite Fleur, Tendre Douceur"), the Mon Parfum Collection, the seasonal collection, the vanilla collection, the Jewel Collection, and probably for the Russian market, the Sashka Collection... (and many more!).
None of the fragrances really smell bad; most are voluminous, lush creations, and high-quality ingredients like real flower absolutes or extracts from Grasse seem to be used quite often.
The "Art Collection" started in 2011, continued only until 2014, and was picked up again in 2020.
What did "Beauty Talk" say about the scent in the artistically designed bottle?
I don’t want to withhold it from you:
"...a charming creation of fresh aromas of bergamot and mandarin that meet cashmeran, nutmeg, and leather. A contrast that exudes harmony and creates a feeling of modernity and vitality when worn."
Sounds promising, right?
In the heat of the moment or perhaps out of anticipation, as my ordering finger was already itching badly because I (you already know this) am a bottle freak and a name fetishist, I overlooked - yes, I missed THAT little molecule that usually triggers me (negatively!) in the listing.
CASH-MER-AN.
Cashmeran. How could this happen to me?
I’ll skip the boring "unboxing" stuff and get straight to the point:
The scent is LAME. Call it "lame" if you like.
It starts off great, fresh, and very promising. But then... but then.
Cashmeran takes over.
Some perfume influencer, who "unboxes" the scent in a very chic setting and blows pretty unqualified comments from his fancy apartment into the world, claims on YouTube that "Art Collection 2020" is a great alternative for anyone wanting something different from "Aventus." So, a Creed variant. Somewhat. For him, the "Art Collection" is everything: "It's woody, it's fresh, it's aromatic, it's sexy"... balahahabalaha - and above all, it’s beautifully expensive!
Yatagan, to whom I sent a sample so I wouldn’t feel so alone in my lack of enthusiasm, sees the scent as just a repetitive 90s number. He is definitely right with his assessment. I am bothered (as mentioned) by the cashmeran massively - and that makes the scent "very 2020." Little Grasse/France and a lot of drugstore/Holzminden.
Furthermore, I am annoyed that the product is marketed as "unisex," although it simply smells like an average men’s fragrance. I didn’t perceive leather or nutmeg at all.
Only the top note appeals to me.
Yesterday, I checked for this comment the well-known work by Turin/Sanchez, Perfumes: The Guide. Micallef is not mentioned. Neither in the first volume from 2008 nor in the second from 2018.
However, I would like to conclude with a quote from Tania Sanchez (Perfumes: The Guide, 2008, p. 26/27):
"Fragrances for men are mostly identical crap... Largely, they just fail the Guy Robert base criterion: a fragrance must smell good. They are also, for the most part, uniform copies of accepted forms, like varieties of suits, an array of different types of banal."
Unfortunately, this criticism applies to the Art Collection scent 2020. It is merely a variant of a sad, banal trend in perfumery, repeatedly presenting the old "wine" (or "jus") in a new (here artistically designed) container.
Hopefully, the young artist Ruh Zadeh from Baku benefits from it! Because otherwise, my 245 euros would have been a very, very bad investment.
What a miserable victim I am...
Advertising repeatedly finds its victims, for example, crazy bottle collectors like me.
In the case of the Art Collection 2020, I was the perfect customer. Two weeks ago, I was handed a new issue of "Beauty Talk" in the perfumery I trust. There, I read a small article titled
"Art Matter."
Quote: "Those who enjoy indulging all their senses will find joy in the bottles by RUH ZADEH and Martine Micallef - each of the 1 to 2000 numbered bottles is a hand-painted unique piece."
That's enough for me.
On the one hand, because Martine Micallef is famous for her fantastic, elegant bottles (had I turned on my brain at that point, I would have had to admit that Micallef is not necessarily known for her fragrances "per se"....), and on the other hand, because one of the components of the name of the mentioned, let’s say, protagonists, holds a very personal significance for me.
The young artist Ruh (beautiful first name, means "soul") Zadeh comes from Azerbaijan.
On his Instagram account, you can admire his quite impressive art. Somewhere there is also a photo of Ruh and Martine Micallef, who discovered the painter on one of her travels. Well, she must have been in Baku. However, I couldn’t find more details about that.
For those who are not familiar with the history of the Micallef house, I would love to quote what a dear friend wrote to me this morning here on Parfumo in a PM (Fleuri, I’ll summarize it briefly): "A millionaire from the USA and a bottle producer from Grasse with a penchant for bling-bling teamed up in 1996 to sell luxury fragrances in elaborate bottles to wealthy consumers in Arab countries."
On "Basenotes," you can find the most extensive listing of all Micallef fragrances that have been released so far, totaling 153. Not all of these creations have been reviewed or commented on yet. However, the general feedback and ratings are not negative but rather in the upper midfield, as the perfumes are produced in France by a nose, namely Jean-Claude Astier, the "in-house perfumer." Special perfumes have been created for some prestigious perfumeries (e.g., for Bruckner in Munich or Osswald) and distributed in "limited distribution." There are various extensive series, such as Secrets of Love with "Delice, Glamour, Gourmet," etc., a baby collection ("Petite Fleur, Tendre Douceur"), the Mon Parfum Collection, the seasonal collection, the vanilla collection, the Jewel Collection, and probably for the Russian market, the Sashka Collection... (and many more!).
None of the fragrances really smell bad; most are voluminous, lush creations, and high-quality ingredients like real flower absolutes or extracts from Grasse seem to be used quite often.
The "Art Collection" started in 2011, continued only until 2014, and was picked up again in 2020.
What did "Beauty Talk" say about the scent in the artistically designed bottle?
I don’t want to withhold it from you:
"...a charming creation of fresh aromas of bergamot and mandarin that meet cashmeran, nutmeg, and leather. A contrast that exudes harmony and creates a feeling of modernity and vitality when worn."
Sounds promising, right?
In the heat of the moment or perhaps out of anticipation, as my ordering finger was already itching badly because I (you already know this) am a bottle freak and a name fetishist, I overlooked - yes, I missed THAT little molecule that usually triggers me (negatively!) in the listing.
CASH-MER-AN.
Cashmeran. How could this happen to me?
I’ll skip the boring "unboxing" stuff and get straight to the point:
The scent is LAME. Call it "lame" if you like.
It starts off great, fresh, and very promising. But then... but then.
Cashmeran takes over.
Some perfume influencer, who "unboxes" the scent in a very chic setting and blows pretty unqualified comments from his fancy apartment into the world, claims on YouTube that "Art Collection 2020" is a great alternative for anyone wanting something different from "Aventus." So, a Creed variant. Somewhat. For him, the "Art Collection" is everything: "It's woody, it's fresh, it's aromatic, it's sexy"... balahahabalaha - and above all, it’s beautifully expensive!
Yatagan, to whom I sent a sample so I wouldn’t feel so alone in my lack of enthusiasm, sees the scent as just a repetitive 90s number. He is definitely right with his assessment. I am bothered (as mentioned) by the cashmeran massively - and that makes the scent "very 2020." Little Grasse/France and a lot of drugstore/Holzminden.
Furthermore, I am annoyed that the product is marketed as "unisex," although it simply smells like an average men’s fragrance. I didn’t perceive leather or nutmeg at all.
Only the top note appeals to me.
Yesterday, I checked for this comment the well-known work by Turin/Sanchez, Perfumes: The Guide. Micallef is not mentioned. Neither in the first volume from 2008 nor in the second from 2018.
However, I would like to conclude with a quote from Tania Sanchez (Perfumes: The Guide, 2008, p. 26/27):
"Fragrances for men are mostly identical crap... Largely, they just fail the Guy Robert base criterion: a fragrance must smell good. They are also, for the most part, uniform copies of accepted forms, like varieties of suits, an array of different types of banal."
Unfortunately, this criticism applies to the Art Collection scent 2020. It is merely a variant of a sad, banal trend in perfumery, repeatedly presenting the old "wine" (or "jus") in a new (here artistically designed) container.
Hopefully, the young artist Ruh Zadeh from Baku benefits from it! Because otherwise, my 245 euros would have been a very, very bad investment.
What a miserable victim I am...
Updated on 03/20/2021
26 Comments
Yatagan
Ergoproxy
ParfumAholic
Bastian
Gandix
Gold
Livia01
SonarID
