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10/16/2018
FvSpee
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FvSpee
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10
Odorato on vacation: Mini, Mumu and the recovered lemon
Odorato was both confused and amused. Well, Kerrisdale was a district with quite a high percentage of Asian population, but two Asian and modern grocery stores almost next to each other, with quite similar assortment and similar name, a "Miniso" and a "Mumuso", that was quite curious.
The Commissario's stay in Vancouver was off-duty, but he was also curious about his private life, and he didn't need a search warrant for a simple Internet investigation. The situation quickly became clear: The success of newer Japanese chains like MUJI and UNIQLO with all sorts of stuff from shirts to mixing bowls and wall clocks to paperweights and soap dispensers (why are they actually booming while in Europe Karstadt and Kaufhof are in crisis?) had inspired a Chinese businessman. So he rented a mailbox in Tokyo, hired a Japanese designer and, because "China" doesn't have a good image, founded the pseudo Japanese chain MINISO, which more or less functions according to the same concept. Only that the products (which is also openly noted on the product packaging) are manufactured in China (which is why the promises of "near-natural products" are probably even less credible than with the other chains), that the Japanese inscriptions were made with translation software (which is why they might sound unintentionally funny to Japanese from time to time) and that the prices are at a level that is also suitable for attracting visitors from one-euro shops. As far as the expansion is concerned, the infamous motto "Blocks, not spills!" obviously applies, with a hundred new branches every month being the target. Countries like India, Nepal and Malaysia are already full of them, Africa and Eastern Europe are being rolled up, and in the rich north the first test balloons are starting, besides Vancouver now also three shops in Berlin (in Rome apparently none yet). MUMUSO again seemed to be the copy of the copy, the same story, only that the rich Chinese businessman this time sells not pseudo Japanese, but pseudo Korean products.
After the virtual investigation, Odorato made an on-site appointment. The ambience in both shops interchangeable, very clean, very bright, very tidy, young Asian aesthetics, smiling saleswomen, cheap products with a tendency to pink playful, the inevitable plush ears to put on, not only for girls, in Asia they were probably also worn by rockers over the motorcycle helmet. There was a fragrance department in both stores, but Odorato sorted MUMUSO out at this point; too much off the road, the central database would probably not accept entries from this area at all. So MINISO: His choice fell to 30 ml of "Cedarwood & Lemon Men Perfume" ("Men Perfume"? Doesn't sound like correct English...) for anything around the 5 Canadian dollars. Extremely simple glass bottle, awkwardly painted lemon on the cardboard packaging, they should have let the Thais do that, these Italians from East Asia, specialists not only for coffee, but also for product design.
On the cardboard packaging (and on the company's website) the fragrance pyramid is indicated, and ecco, another curiosity: the fragrance is called "Cedarwood & Lemon", but in the pyramid neither the one nor the other ingredient is indicated (while in the other fragrances from this series the two ingredients giving the name have very well found their way into the list)
All that remains is the test: the fragrance opened brutally aquatically, as if someone had poured a glass of Cool Water into Odorato's face, but at the same time it was already very citric. After five minutes, every marine note has disappeared without a trace, but since the floral notes of the heart note have not yet got off to a good start, the sour lemon, flanked by a sour green apple (again, Odorato thought, I am followed by apples!) hangs in the air and spreads bad mood. Finally, after about 30 to 60 minutes, the jasmine comes into its own and captures the lemon nicely, which for about two hours results in a really very tidy (approximately round and almost beautiful) more soft and gentle than citrus-fresh scent. Before the whole thing ends after 5 hours in an extremely close, quite pleasant and then again greenish-fresh farewell phase, a super-soft-sweet intermezzo is inserted once again, during which Odorato is sure to perceive clear reminiscences of marzipan (perhaps from sugar and, instead of almonds, tonka beans?)
A simple case. Resolution:
1. The lemon and probably also the cedar wood have apparently simply been forgotten in the fragrance pyramid, which is in line with the fact that in terms of "quality work" this company rather works with the coarse trowel;
2. A scent with clearly definable scent phases and scent notes that can be easily understood on the basis of the pyramid, a very nice etude for scent novices, a very nice entry-level scent for a hairdresser or poster painter in a provincial capital in Zambia or Nepal, made acceptable by craftsmanship, but without magic and without ambition for something higher;
3. A fragrance explicitly aimed at "men" that is only a tiny little bit more masculine than the pink plush ears from the neighbouring shelf.
His assistant Schnüffli would have been able to do the same, he would not have needed a Commissario. But he was also on vacation and didn't want to overexert himself.
The Commissario's stay in Vancouver was off-duty, but he was also curious about his private life, and he didn't need a search warrant for a simple Internet investigation. The situation quickly became clear: The success of newer Japanese chains like MUJI and UNIQLO with all sorts of stuff from shirts to mixing bowls and wall clocks to paperweights and soap dispensers (why are they actually booming while in Europe Karstadt and Kaufhof are in crisis?) had inspired a Chinese businessman. So he rented a mailbox in Tokyo, hired a Japanese designer and, because "China" doesn't have a good image, founded the pseudo Japanese chain MINISO, which more or less functions according to the same concept. Only that the products (which is also openly noted on the product packaging) are manufactured in China (which is why the promises of "near-natural products" are probably even less credible than with the other chains), that the Japanese inscriptions were made with translation software (which is why they might sound unintentionally funny to Japanese from time to time) and that the prices are at a level that is also suitable for attracting visitors from one-euro shops. As far as the expansion is concerned, the infamous motto "Blocks, not spills!" obviously applies, with a hundred new branches every month being the target. Countries like India, Nepal and Malaysia are already full of them, Africa and Eastern Europe are being rolled up, and in the rich north the first test balloons are starting, besides Vancouver now also three shops in Berlin (in Rome apparently none yet). MUMUSO again seemed to be the copy of the copy, the same story, only that the rich Chinese businessman this time sells not pseudo Japanese, but pseudo Korean products.
After the virtual investigation, Odorato made an on-site appointment. The ambience in both shops interchangeable, very clean, very bright, very tidy, young Asian aesthetics, smiling saleswomen, cheap products with a tendency to pink playful, the inevitable plush ears to put on, not only for girls, in Asia they were probably also worn by rockers over the motorcycle helmet. There was a fragrance department in both stores, but Odorato sorted MUMUSO out at this point; too much off the road, the central database would probably not accept entries from this area at all. So MINISO: His choice fell to 30 ml of "Cedarwood & Lemon Men Perfume" ("Men Perfume"? Doesn't sound like correct English...) for anything around the 5 Canadian dollars. Extremely simple glass bottle, awkwardly painted lemon on the cardboard packaging, they should have let the Thais do that, these Italians from East Asia, specialists not only for coffee, but also for product design.
On the cardboard packaging (and on the company's website) the fragrance pyramid is indicated, and ecco, another curiosity: the fragrance is called "Cedarwood & Lemon", but in the pyramid neither the one nor the other ingredient is indicated (while in the other fragrances from this series the two ingredients giving the name have very well found their way into the list)
All that remains is the test: the fragrance opened brutally aquatically, as if someone had poured a glass of Cool Water into Odorato's face, but at the same time it was already very citric. After five minutes, every marine note has disappeared without a trace, but since the floral notes of the heart note have not yet got off to a good start, the sour lemon, flanked by a sour green apple (again, Odorato thought, I am followed by apples!) hangs in the air and spreads bad mood. Finally, after about 30 to 60 minutes, the jasmine comes into its own and captures the lemon nicely, which for about two hours results in a really very tidy (approximately round and almost beautiful) more soft and gentle than citrus-fresh scent. Before the whole thing ends after 5 hours in an extremely close, quite pleasant and then again greenish-fresh farewell phase, a super-soft-sweet intermezzo is inserted once again, during which Odorato is sure to perceive clear reminiscences of marzipan (perhaps from sugar and, instead of almonds, tonka beans?)
A simple case. Resolution:
1. The lemon and probably also the cedar wood have apparently simply been forgotten in the fragrance pyramid, which is in line with the fact that in terms of "quality work" this company rather works with the coarse trowel;
2. A scent with clearly definable scent phases and scent notes that can be easily understood on the basis of the pyramid, a very nice etude for scent novices, a very nice entry-level scent for a hairdresser or poster painter in a provincial capital in Zambia or Nepal, made acceptable by craftsmanship, but without magic and without ambition for something higher;
3. A fragrance explicitly aimed at "men" that is only a tiny little bit more masculine than the pink plush ears from the neighbouring shelf.
His assistant Schnüffli would have been able to do the same, he would not have needed a Commissario. But he was also on vacation and didn't want to overexert himself.
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