Bottle Design:
Pierre Dinand

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Body Paint Vilhelm Parfumerie 2020

7.1 / 10 30 Ratings

A perfume by Vilhelm Parfumerie for women and men, released in 2020. The scent is fruity-citrusy. It is still in production.
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Main accords

Fruity

Citrus

Green

Spicy

Fresh

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Lemon

Pear juice

Red chili

Green pepper

Heart Notes

ISO-E-Super Nutmeg

Nutmeg

Clove

Base Notes

Cedar

Oakmoss

Ambroxan

Perfumer

Marc-Antoine Corticchiato

Ratings

Scent

7.130 Ratings

Longevity

7.725 Ratings

Sillage

7.424 Ratings

Bottle

8.032 Ratings

Value for money

5.721 Ratings

Submitted by OPomone, last update on 01/05/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Pear Inc.

Reviews

3 in-depth fragrance descriptions

06/18/2020

10Scent 8Longevity 10Sillage

Artistscent
18 Reviews

Artistscent

1

Probably the best offering from Vilhelm yet (if you don't care for creations by Jerome Epinette)

One of the best offerings from the house, Corticchiato knows how to mix crowd-pleasing while maintaining a unique narrative. Body Paint is adeptly named, this perfume acts as a second-skin, enveloping the wearer in a solid colour of synthetics, it even smells paint-like at time.

Opening with lemon, peppers and juicy pear, it doesn't take long for the refreshing top notes to disperse and to make way for the cloves and wood - I feel, at this point, that the perfume takes on an almost Caronnade-like presence, rooted in a twist of antiquity. I wish the opening lasted a little longer because it is a beautiful hydrating tonic that would work exquisitely in the hotter months.

The cloves and lemon hang around a little bit at the end of the fragrance's life but the dry down is rooted in the peppery woods of Iso-E Super, it's not novel, but if someone loves the molecule and wants a little more depth than anything from the Escentric series then this perfume is for them

03/15/2024

Intersport
115 Reviews

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Intersport

Top Review 23

Modern Clove

Body Paint was a long-time phantom; when I heard over three years ago that Marc-Antoine Corticchiato had designed something new for a brand that had not particularly excited me up to that point (and still hasn’t), I naturally wanted to test it: easier said than done, as I spent about a year visiting one 'Vilhelm Parfum' point-of-sale after another, my inquiry about Body Paint consistently met with astonishment: no, never heard of it, no, I surely mean Chicago High from the same year (which was also speculated to possibly be by Corticchiato), no, there is no such perfume. In a store in Vienna, a printed 'Vilhelm Stock & Release' list was even presented as quasi-official proof: Body Paint does not exist… What was going on? A fragrance, although listed on the company's website, completely unknown in the dedicated sales outlets!?

I don’t know, just that I was probably not alone in this, Gentilhomme, apparently had a similar experience, merci beaucoup for your decant back then, extremely helpful, I could have searched much longer. When I finally had Body Paint in front of me, it quickly became clear that the scent is an alien, a foreign body in the Vilhelm spectrum.

The opening, a mix of solvent, wall paint, and pear, blended with something plant-like and vegetable (sliced green and red bell peppers here), slightly chlorinated on top of that. The press text mentioned the year 1988, which makes me think of the early versions of Maître Parfumeur et Gantier's Garrigue and its slight chlorinated note, or the contemporary interpretation of it, Pluie Noire (2017). The whole thing feels like a ritualistic-scenic cleansing, which gradually makes way for a much more classical, aseptic note, here in the lead role - the clove: very clear, almost monolithic, yet without the often accompanying oriental warmth, the still-present top notes seem to set limits for the clove here. This is supported by other spices, for me rather dried mace flowers than nutmeg per se; and yet, a kind of nutmeg note as celebrated in the dry Cacharel pour Homme (1981) of the 80s is not entirely out of the question. Other references, the clearest of which might be Comme des Garçons' Guerilla 1 (2008) where the combination of clove & fruit (pear) plus champaca and overall darker spices could shine. Body Paint remains consistently more transparent, finer, yes, more modern across the board, a slightly translucent oakmoss note lends the fragrance a seriousness in the drydown that counters the initial sprightliness, only on fabric do I notice slight artificial wood residues the next day, which I could have done without.

Even though Body Paint sounds quite solitary with all these references at first, I gradually had to place it closer to a variation of Corticchiato's works: the notes I referred to as pear/solvent could easily pass as Eau de Vie, that is, something high-proof, distilled, as the perfumer first introduced with the delightful triple-mastic gem Corsica Furiosa (2014), later picked up in the ambrette-heavy Cri de la Lumiere (2017) [which in turn spins off the ambrette/spirit note from Jacque Polge's magnificent Chanel No 18 (EDT version!) (2007)], and most recently appeared in the lovelier, less high-proof, but thoroughly potent Salute! (2019). The spirit note from Corsica Furiosa could serve as an 'organic' counterpoint to Body Paint's solvent facet. Naturally, such a note is rather fleeting, and overall I would describe the volume of the composition here as narrow; it quickly feels intimate, but I sense it reviving again and again over hours…

All in all, Body Paint oscillates between the long tradition of clove-heavy fragrances, earlier Comme des Garçons artificiality, and Corticchiato's own spirit distillates. A modern, completely devoid of any citrus, fresh and somehow spring-like perfume, suitable for non-picky individuals who enjoy well-executed Eau de Vie / solvent notes, as well as for neo-clove fetishists who want to renounce the Caron magic of past decades.

05/14/2022

7Scent 9Longevity 8Sillage

DarkWinterCS
291 Reviews

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DarkWinterCS

3

Scent Art vs. Art Scent

Body Paint is the first Vilhelm from my sample pack to receive a detailed review and probably the one that appears the most artistically on my skin among all the samples. It hasn't happened to me often that I realized right from the first second how unbearable it is for me, yet it displays a very creative DNA.
I can't think of any situation where I could wear this fragrance, as it exists somewhere between gourmand spice and ritualistic attitude. The first impression was even a bit "weird," as I thought of Etat Libre d'Oranges Fat Electrician. Burnt cables, sharpness, and something like soft plastic. Absolutely wild. Fortunately, I quickly recognized which notes this fragrance wanted to reveal to me and was able to interpret it better.

Body Paint is a scent that lives through its very intense spices and places them quite monotonously on the skin. Three things particularly emerge after the strange impression: nutmeg, clove, and chili.
While the first two give the fragrance its unmistakable aroma, the chili serves to integrate sharpness and a warming component. Of this trio, the clove stands out particularly, as it conveys the scent of sniffing a freshly opened packet of ground cloves. Pungent in the nose, intense, and with pure aroma. The whole thing is somewhat softened by the nutmeg, which appears sweeter and places a duller note in the background. The aroma of a freshly cut chili also joins in when you sniff the core, plus the sharpness of the pod. Here, however, it’s not the full blast of heat, but just the impression you get when you let a piece dance on your tongue without biting down.
The warmth still manages to be present on the skin and evokes an unfamiliar feeling when testing a fragrance.

However, I have so far omitted one note that conveys the impression of soft plastic from the initial association: pear.
Not a really juicy pear, as the sweetness is completely missing here, more like an unripe one that still has slightly green traits in the fruit. Combined with the chili, this must have been the catalyst for the association.

As mentioned above, the fragrance is quite monotonous, and thus there is no real scent progression. Everything moves in the sharp-spiced state with the pear in the background and remains in this state throughout the entire longevity. Due to the very intense aromas, the sillage is also quite decent and projects well about a meter in the first two hours. Whether one wants to stand out more with this "work of art" is questionable.

In my opinion, the name of the fragrance fits very well with the aroma it radiates, as it is indeed like a painting, very artistic, very experimental. Should the scent then reflect the body from the name?
The chili represents the warmth of the body, the clove for the smells in a strained state, and the pear for a freshly washed body.

One does not know. However, it is worth testing this special fragrance just for the experience.