Ganymede Marc-Antoine Barrois 2019 Eau de Parfum

This is gorgeously weird and feels like futuristic luxury. The opening is mesmerizing and I wish it lingered for longer. It has this dark oiliness mixed in with the citrus that evokes something like motor oil but has a texture more akin to an iridescent oil spill, maybe thanks to the violet leaf. The association is similar to something like fahrenheit, but its less of a direct representation of the smell of petrol than a feeling of gaseousness. I also associate it a bit to the flinty orange of terre d'hermes. The saffron in the opening is a kind of foreshadowing of the suede-leathery aspects that eventually come through from the osmanthus. The immortelle is there in the heart but in a kind of fictional form: it's a kind of transparent, emptied out immortelle. I wish it had just a bit more presence in its natural spicy warmth before transitioning into that musky akigalawood base familiar to anyone who knows Quentin Bisch's work. That last phase can sometimes come across a bit thin and artificial, and lingers on for an eternity. Overall the blend of fruits, abstracted florals, suede and akigalawood feels more complex than bois imperial, but also less effortless and natural.