Perles de Lalique Lalique 2006

I am grateful for this occasionally consumption-critical and literary community and am always looking for gifts for special people.

Thanks to BonOdeur for the sample! I am also glad that a nice addition, Marbert Woman, was included in the package. This helped me understand this artwork in its traditional line "Chypre." It immediately corresponds to an image.

Now to the scent. The top note playfully and unmistakably says: you would like me, but I only take what I want. Relationship status: Private. The Bulgarian rose absolutely emphasizes her plump red lips, which express what the heart note feels and thinks. Why makeup! She carries a briefcase and always appears extraordinarily professional. She is in her mid-20s and has reached where she wanted to be, after a quick graduation from international universities. Whether in Shanghai or the UAE, neither the souks nor the advances of the sheikhs could stop her. She walks directly up the stairs, the cameras follow her (not the other way around) and towards the podium, where she smiles at the guests with "Welcome." That's enough. Everyone smiles back. This lays the foundation for a pleasant conversation. Men's hearts beat faster. Much longer than with Shalimar, Le Bain, and Co., because men do not expect that.

Assuming he were someone else, he would be happy just to approach her. But he is who he is and prefers to imagine that he shares every thought with her since he spoke to her and took her hand.
For he will always support her as much as she stands behind him when he steps before his audience.

Even though I usually like to describe a scent for longer, not here! Something else is more important to me. I wonder: What do you ladies want with all those expensive sweets? Only boys and girls want to nibble. Men want to fight for something seemingly unattainable. And women want the same. There is no reason to give that up. Woody scents are loved by men. That's why they buy them. And here the woodiness is packaged in such a way that it steals the show from men, even the one-man shows of Bogart, and brings the salary increase. This artwork is not about whether men can wear it, but about not letting them wear it at all. Appropriation. Equal opportunity. Subversion.

Here is professionalism. This seems to me to be Nathalie Lorson's female counterpart to Encre Noire. It has the potential to improve the rules by which the game is played. And that is just as postmodern. Female executive level without shoulder pads, but with tradition.

Here I give a full 10 out of 10, because compared to this, oriental is just retro. "Welcome to the next level" like 6 Space by ILS on good speakers or Soldier of Love by Sade.

EDIT AND ADDENDUM OF A FASCINATED PERSON:

This will polarize now, and I will provoke, but it is worth it to me.
I have been dealing with art my whole life and see this perfume as a work of art. To me, it appears outstanding from the very first second, so very grand, but when I say that, I do not mean "lovely" or "sweet," but remarkably and admirably good. That is a note, this Bulgarian rose, which is simply convincingly attractive. What art does, however, is to trigger deeper reflections within us through aesthetic experiences, what such an effect has caused. And among these images, culturally transmitted distorted images of "femininity" or "masculinity" were often included. Here we are challenged to rethink the male territory "wood."

The note is nothing that has existed before, it goes completely its own way and is pioneering in this respect. Here, a traditional boundary has been crossed in an extremely subtle and beautiful way: wood has been a domain of men for generations (!) This rose stands in an olfactory forest, which historically has always meant the end for the supposedly weaker sex: All 'Little Red Riding Hoods' among women, who are afraid of the so-called big bad wolf, will unfortunately go back to picking flowers, but those who dare to venture into this underbrush will turn every wolf into a tame Samoyed, a hunter into a companion, and themselves into a strong gender.
Can women remain women while they take over men's territory?
Those who dare to let go of the culturally transmitted and misogynistic stereotypes (clichés) and prejudices that could remain like the red cap in the woods will enjoy this. But those who value classical role models and insist on conforming to the trends prevailing in (perfume) advertising will find themselves increasingly afraid of themselves in the growing shadow of their own, the darker it gets. The message is very clear: you can, if you dare, also be number 1 in this forest.

But those driven by a panicked flight from "masculine" notes will miss this opportunity to challenge men in their domain. I know that vanilla and tonka make one more likable, but that is not what this is about. This scent does not need to please others, even though it has a sweet finish. And which scent can be said to be simultaneously subversive?
Nathalie Lorson, who has often shown courage and created great art for me, also had to assert herself against men in the perfume world, and at one of her openings in Dubai, when she presented Black Opium, my beloved was working. She has, like me, a fondness for Lorson's creations. Even the most expensive Chanels do not replace a statement when it comes to representing one. I never expected more from this scent than to be a gift for the most extraordinary woman in my eyes.

And of course, I told her neither the name of the perfume nor the creator when I gave her the sample. She was immediately taken with it. I can only wish everyone who tests it to detach themselves in advance from masculinity/femininity clichés.
Here it has succeeded better than I had imagined. And the less women want/can/maybe even have to wear it because it is about assertiveness for them, the more Perles de Lalique will become a unique piece. The spirit of having subverted a male domain and emerging great from it will radiate even without the necessary understanding of the masses. Art indeed.

But it would also be sad if this were only granted to a few.

PS: This was completely subjective and therefore written with conviction. Nevertheless, this should not obscure the fact that with Perles de Lalique, wood is objectively at play, and the scent therefore either pleases or clashes. And that is indeed objectively extraordinary. And of course, not everyone who wears this scent is revolutionary, and those who reject it are not traditional. However, those who test it should know that it is a challenge to all men.
I can well imagine that women can reject it just as I once avoided Declaration d'un soir for myself because it contains rose and I used to place more value on stereotypical "masculinity."

Ultimately, this community has often taught me better.