With the scent of tuberose, that's one thing: either you love it or you don't. Hardly a second flower scent polarizes in such a way and there is no lukewarm 'so lala'. Heated adoration or cold contempt, that's for sure.
I belong to those who love the scent of tuberose, but at the same time find it incredibly exhausting and cannot actually wear it. That's when I tried. I wore the fantastic 'Carnal Flower' in small homeopathic doses, but still. Alone, it didn't work out with us. The scent captured me, buried me and I felt very uncomfortable. I also gave 'Cédre' a chance, with a similar result, even with 'Tubereuse Criminelle' I didn't feel better, let alone 'Fracas'. I always thought: for heaven's sake, I'm not the Bombshell à la Jean Harlow or Mae West that these tuberose-centered fragrances want to make me. No, I'm not, not in drag either!
Still: how wonderful they smell!!
When the small fragrance manufacturer 'Jardins d'Écrivains', which I hold in high esteem, announced its new fragrance 'Marlowe' a few years ago, I was very pleased that a fragrance concept had apparently been realised here after I had been looking for a long time: a tuberose fragrance that a halfway masculine man can safely wear without drag-queen tendencies
Strangely enough, I had somehow lost interest, my affinity for fragrance just slackened at times...
Anyway, he's here now, with some delay, but he smells wonderful on the back of my hand.
Nevertheless I must confess that I was a little disappointed at first, because when I sprayed 'Marlowe' on for the first time, it was not quite the smell I expected.
Strangely enough, he was too quiet for me right away.
This is certainly due to the fact that 'Carnal Flower', 'Tubereuse Criminelle' or 'Fracas' are real full-tone players who do not care about restraint. Immediately after spraying, they fill the room and even hours later, scattered clouds of blossoms are still moving through the air.
Not like Marlowe. The tuberose, as omnipresent as it is here, doesn't hit the drum at all and actually leaves room for its comrades-in-arms to develop.
First and foremost, these are the fruity aroma of the osmanthus blossom, reminiscent of apricots, next to some dried flowers with a strawy, sour scent, but also the resins of elemi, myrrh and labdanum. An initially somewhat soapy impression is increasingly transformed towards the base into a beautiful chypre finish with slight leather nuances, so that one could almost speak of a leather chypre, a tuberose leather chypre to be more precise, because tuberose is actually present in every phase of the development of fragrance, without the fragrance thus becoming a kind of tuberose soliflore in the sense of the three fragrances mentioned above.
Especially the interaction of the Osmanthus blossom with the tuberose elicits a certain hairspray note from the fragrance, which soon tends to soap thanks to the resins, finally comes to rest in the chypre base and also develops a little sweetness. However, not much sweetness, just something, 'Marlowe' is a rather dry fragrance.
But what does all this have to do with Christopher Marlowe?
Well, some things, but that's just a feeling, of course. What fragrance would fit a personality as complex as Marlowe: the playwright and contemporary of Shakespeare, the spy and homosexual, the translator of Ovid and Vergil, who was murdered at the age of 29?
I think tuberose actually fits quite well - the fanfare and surprise of the mighty chord of flowers stands, so to speak, for this turbulent life that ended so abruptly at the height of its success. Osmanthus, the dried flowers and the resins give the scent an antique touch, immerse it in the yellow-red to brown colour spectrum of an old painting.
I think Anaïs Beguine has once again created a wonderful fragrance with 'Marlowe', whose inspiration is quite harmonious.
Away from all the inflated and stilted luxurious get-toys à la Roja Dove & Co., a fantastic series of very, very good fragrances has been created here, which are extremely valuable - and affordable!
Chapeau and thank you, Madame Beguine!
A few more facts: 'Marlowe' has quite good endurance, with moderate projection. As I said, the fragrance doesn't 'scream', like tuberose fragrances like to do (which I really appreciate now!).
It is also equally suitable for both sexes - an 'Eau Mixte' as Anaïs Beguine subtitles her fragrance.
