Talc IUNX 2018

When Mark Behnke of 'Colognoisseur' compiled his Top 25 list of new releases for 2019 a few weeks ago, Olivia Giacobetti's fragrance 'Talc' came in second, just behind 'Wine Route' by Chatillon Lux, which Mr Behnke declared 'Perfume of the year 2019'. The 'Wine Route' now seems to be a rather special, or at least original perfume, which is not the case with Olivia Giacobetti's fragrance. Their trademark is not the exaltation, the wild mixing of diverging notes to achieve a shrill effect. No, what distinguishes Giacobetti's art is her transparent yet present style, the silky yet robust texture of her compositions, their sophistication and perfect blending. She is certainly not a fragrance punk, but rather a haute couture perfumer with a penchant for understatement. And the adjective 'sublime', no matter how snobby it sounds, Olivia Giacobetti's fragrances all deserve it - 'Talc' in particular.
But one by one.

When I read about the new IUNX fragrance on Mark Behnkes' page, I was a bit hooked, as a new Giacobetti fragrance has become a rare event. Far away from the ever more short-winded and hectic perfume market, Madame takes her time and completely escapes the madness of today's marketing strategies. She can: she has a name and a presumably loyal clientele. A shop will do for her. Online, you can only order her fragrances from her own shop, as well as part of her portfolio from another Parisian store. That's it.

As I've been a big fan of Olivia Giacobetti's L'Artisan creations since her time at L'Artisan, and I also love rice, iris and ambrette notes, I was pretty sure I'd like 'Talc'. Mark Behnkes exuberant praise did the rest, and a little later the scent was mine - untested, one of those unloved 'blind boys' I had actually forbidden myself to use, as I had been wrong the one or other time before But I was not disappointed! Talc smells great. You MUST like powder, though, talcum powder. If you know the wonderfully old-fashioned smelling Italian talcum powder 'Felce Azzurra', you have an approximate idea in which direction the IUNX fragrance goes.
Felce Azzurra', however, smells much more fougère, more clearly of lavender, nutty-powdery-sweet coumarin and light musk clouds. Talc' on the other hand smells much more modern: rice absolute, white iris powder, cedar and ambrette seeds form a perfectly balanced, minimalist quartet that you might not have smelled like this before, but certainly not like this. A Giacobetti fragrance, as I said, is usually not a paragon of originality, but their scents are always particularly well made. This is also true of 'Talc'. The few notes are extremely well coordinated, with the iris powder clearly taking on the role of the protagonist at first. Flanked by aromatic dry rice notes, it lies on a bed of light woods and ambrette seeds with a subtle grappa and musk scent.
With so few main protagonists it's hardly surprising that the scent doesn't run very dramatic, yet it's still not linear. The ambrette seeds unfold a rather surprising volume in the base and give the fragrance what it did not have before: body.

Which brings me to inspiration. Olivia Giacobetti writes about this on her website:

"Talc by IUNX is inspired by Butoh, a Japanese dance form characterized by extreme slowness, poetry, and minimalism".

When looking at pictures of this Butoh dance, the inspiration becomes clear: the dancers are mostly powdered completely white, which gives them a statuesque, almost petrified appearance. The thick layer of powder and the slow movements let the dancers' muscle and lead play to the fore and form an impressive contrast - lifeless minerality on pulsating skin.
And indeed, the scent is quite similar: a powdery layer of iris, rice and cedar is laid over the warm musky body of the ambrette seeds. This is how the abstract olfactory idea of powdered skin, not necessarily perfumed skin, rather fragrant skin is born.
Skin powdered with 'Felce Azzurra', on the other hand, smells and should smell much more perfumed. After all, in earlier epochs people liked to cover body odors with scented powder. With 'Talc' this will certainly not work. The scent will not neutralize a strong smell of sweat, it is much too transparent and delicate for that. A dense powdery musk cloud à la 'Felce Azzurra', on the other hand, can do that, at least for a while.
No, 'Talc' requires rather a cleaned skin and washed clothes. Only then is the fragrance able to wrap itself around the wearer like a veil, to caress him or her.

This way the fragrance does not have an excessive projection, it remains close to the body and develops a radiation of a maximum of one arm's length with generous dosage. Close to the body, the fragrance can then be experienced for a long time, for an EdT even a surprisingly long time. It even has excellent adhesion to clothing.
Since I had expected that 'Talc' would not be a fragrance bolide (Olivia Giacobetti's fragrances are all rather reserved, moderate works), I immediately ordered the 150ml bottle, but I wasn't prepared for such a gigantic bottle. It is higher than a wine bottle, rests in a cylindrical black foam case, which is guaranteed not to fit on any normal shelf. Where are we going with this monster?
I don't know yet. For the time being, it just stands on my chest of drawers, but I really enjoy scenting myself with it - it is easier to get more voluptuous amounts out of such a giant bottle than a pretty mini-bottle with a small amount of extract in it...

But it is also difficult to overscent with 'Talc' - the fragrance is so inoffensive that it is a real pleasure, at least for me.
Some other fragrances force me to my knees with an energizing longevity and a bollernder volume - not so 'Talc'.
The fragrance has a really great, effortless presence, like actually all Giacobetti fragrances.
But I've already had it from that...