II-IV Kintsugi Masque 2019

You really have to be a Chypre junkie to appreciate, or even love, this fragrance. Because unlike many scents with more or less pronounced Chypre tendencies but different focuses, ‘Kintsugi’ is a true thoroughbred, or if you will, hardcore Chypre.
From the top, through the heart, down to the base - all the unfolding accords, facets, and nuances blend seamlessly into the overarching Chypre concept.

Speaking of ‘seamless’ - which brings us to the topic: ‘Kintsugi’, or ‘Kintsukuroi’, is the Japanese art form of beautifully mending broken porcelain. The broken pieces are glued together with a lacquer containing gold, creating golden veins that run through the shimmering ceramic. Only through the break and the subsequent healing of the break does the actual art form, called ‘Kintsugi’, emerge.
Translating this to the fragrance of the same name, one might come to the obvious conclusion that the essential oak moss for Chypres takes on the role of the gold lacquer, uniting the individual fragrance components.
However, that is not the case at all, and that makes ‘Kintsugi’ so special.
‘Kintsugi’ is more of a ‘Mitsouko 2.0’.

While the legendary Guerlain scent is dominated from head to toe by oak moss, in ‘Kintsugi’ this role is taken over by patchouli, or a so-called ‘Patchouli Coeur’, an absolute from which all the musty and moldy aspects of the once-popular patchouli oils have been removed through fragmentation. The parts that convey a damp, mossy, woody-earthy scent impression have been reassembled, or as one supplier describes it: “...you can detect dead leaves, wet wood and an earthy odour.... It also recalls the smell of rain.”
For a long time, patchouli has accompanied the indispensable oak moss, along with labdanum and bergamot, whenever the perfumer wanted to achieve a Chypre effect. But since the usability of oak moss (as well as the cheaper tree moss) has been reduced to a homeopathic dose, good advice is hard to come by, and alternatives are being feverishly sought. Synthetic mosses have been used with varying success, and even the laboriously purified oak moss, free from the incriminated atranol, has not proven to be entirely convincing, as it lost its ability to serve as a fixative.

With the main actor out, patchouli now apparently takes center stage. For his Chypre scent ‘French Affair’, Quentin Bisch placed a much clearer emphasis on this highly complex fragrance ingredient than on the no less complex oak moss. Even more patchouli-centered is James Heeley’s ‘Chypre 21’, where the little usable moss essentially serves only as a fig leaf, and he adds another fragrance component to the Chypre structure: algae.
Vanina Muracciole is also said to have worked with Japanese red algae, at least that’s what ‘cafleurbon.com’ claims. In contrast to ‘Chypre 21’, however, I feel that the algae are less pronounced here.
In general, ‘Chypre 21’ can be well compared to ‘Kintsugi’, as both fragrances not only have a large overlap in notes but also smell quite similar. ‘Kintsugi’ is in a way the extrait version of ‘Chypre 21’, its even fuller, darker, and more bitter-scented variant. And indeed, the Masque scent surpasses that of James Heeley in terms of longevity and projection by far (which is a good thing, as the meager 35ml should last a while and the exorbitant price becomes bearable..).
However, ‘Kintsugi’ is not simply the perfume version of ‘Chypre 21’; the fragrance takes the final and decisive step in reviving the Chypre genre: it completely forgoes oak moss, and as it is heard, also the use of synthetic substitutes, such as Evernyl.

Thus, the mission ‘Resurrection of a Believed-Dead’ finds its glorious, hopefully only temporary end with ‘Kintsugi’, and all Chypre enthusiasts should actually be rejoicing with joy.
Alas, they are not...
In the comments about the fragrance, associations range from painter’s department, ashtray, strict artificial leather, freshly cut raw potato, to bad breath.
General bewilderment is followed by brusque rejection, and only a few can find anything to appreciate in ‘Kintsugi’.
Strange - I find this fragrance fantastic!

While I can somewhat understand all the cited associations, except for the bad breath, I do not share them. I can relate the most to the potato and the painter’s department, as I indeed find a herbal-dusty, as well as a vegetative-earthy-damp aspect at the pivot of the fragrance, the Patchouli Coeur.
But despite the omnipresence of this Patchouli Coeur, the typical accompanying notes for Chypres, such as bergamot and rose, are quite recognizable. Magnolia contributes a subtle white floral accord, while ‘Ambrinol’ adds the leathery and animalic facets of ‘Ambregris’. A hint of unsweetened vanilla gives the fragrance a certain roundness without pushing it excessively in an oriental direction, and violet and raspberry leaves provide a touch of green freshness.
The glue that holds all these notes together - to return to the art form ‘Kintsugi’ - is the aforementioned ‘Patchouli Coeur’.
The creators of the fragrance wanted it to transform into the gold lacquer and decoratively cover the individual notes, analogous to the cracked ceramic.

Has this endeavor succeeded? Is the entire inspiration comprehensibly implemented?
I believe so, very well indeed.

Purists will grumble that ‘Kintsugi’ is not a Chypre at all, as there is no oak moss in sight. Yes, they are right. But even the dome of Florence was criticized for not being a real dome, as it was not completed in the Gothic style, but in the new forms of the Renaissance.
There are times when fundamental changes occur, and in the realm of Chypre fragrance, it seems that a time has come with the replacement of oak moss by patchouli. Sure, the new, modern Chypres smell a bit different; especially in the base, patchouli leaves a slightly different undertone. But everything that makes a Chypre, the typical herbal bitterness, the ink-like mineral-salty dampness, the earthy-woody undertones - it’s all there!

It should also be mentioned that ‘Kintsugi’ can be worn by all genders. Men might find the fragrance too feminine due to its floral components, while women might perceive its dark-bitter tone as too masculine - but wasn’t that also the case with ‘Mitsouko’?