Bertel

The brand Ella K. was recently introduced to me at the Albrecht perfumery in FFM. "The lady originally comes from the industry," the saleswoman whispered knowingly. And lo and behold, Sonia Constant, the nose behind her newly founded brand, was, to my shame, unknown to me, but she has primarily worked at Givaudan for houses like Narciso Rodriguez, Tom Ford, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Burberry, creating a number of respectable fragrances such as Tom Ford's "Noir pour Femme" and Carner's "Cuirs," as well as some versions of "Valentino Donna" - here, 83 perfumes by her are listed with an average rating of 7.6, which deserves respect.

And now, Ella K., her own brand. Although the fragrances are usually marketed as unisex, the website paints a picture of a confident yet artistically and spiritually oriented woman who surrounds herself with the scents on her travels and expresses her facets. Marketing, of course, but not bad and not overly done.

"MÉLODIE D'ALTAI" is now described as "Voluptuous Woody Leather," and in terms of impression, this fits quite well. At first glance, it is a soft, expansive, dense, rather dark-toned fragrance, a bit of a dark sweet-sensual cloud with decent sillage. Even though this note is precisely missing from the pyramid at the top, the first impression for me is strongly ambered, cloudy, and rich. The description accompanying the fragrance speaks of "animalistic," "wild," and "back to nature," even "violence of carnal pleasure," but these impressions do not manifest for me at all; quite the opposite - the leather is the softest exquisite suede, somehow dark brown or deep violet, and briefly, one might perceive a slight note of smoldering rubber in the background that quickly integrates as a lightly smoky-resinous note, more like exquisite incense than sticky tree resin. Fur, as mentioned above, seems to me to be fitting here not necessarily by smell but by the almost tactile impression. And definitely patchouli, from head to base.

What fascinates me personally, however, is another aspect that only became apparent to me after repeated wear in the top note: a dense, almost deeply fruity quality that emphatically fills and rounds out the cloudy-fuzzy character; I see a glossy dark brown liquid before me, as if derived from dried fruits, with a certain touch of heavy cognac, overall a deep, rounded, full emanation that constitutes the core of this fragrance for me and makes it very attractive and enchanting. This combination of deep full ripe juiciness and fuzzy-wild leathery cloudiness is, in my perception, a very special quality that defines the fragrance for many hours.

Sorry for the somewhat flowery and esoteric word choice this time; I feel this is the best way to approach the fragrance and describe its perception, hope this can be conveyed a bit ;-)

In my test series of the soon-to-be-available-for-a-month "City Exclusives," I have chosen "Gaiac 10" as my next one.

And this fragrance absolutely delivers; it is exactly that: guaiac wood, almost photorealistic, of the swampy-resinous-smoky kind, with that slightly sour quality that reminds one of the intersection of mangrove swamps and finely fermenting oud.

However, this is in no way an oud fragrance, to locate the poles, not of the silvery, animalic, or medicinal kind, but for me clearly a resinous specimen, strongly leaning towards elemi and all those resins and sticky-viscous creatures. Fascinating, earthy, profound, dark brown-green, slightly animalic - and for me, as an oversensitive creature of civilization, not wearable. The description below as a clean scent is incomprehensible to me; on the contrary, I perceive this beast as quite an attack - not reconcilable with my previous understanding of Asian and especially Japanese (non-)fragrance culture.

Sure, over time "Gaiac 10" becomes milder, gentler, more elegant, eventually fading in the drydown after many hours (endurance!) with a musk-dampened woodiness, but I can't hold out that long... To be clear: this is in no way a rough, wild, raging monster but a finely balanced resin fragrance; the concept just doesn't quite work for me personally, especially with the reference to Tokyo. But it doesn't have to :-)

Conclusion: those who appreciate resinous elemi creations with culture and intellect and value a finely balanced, nuanced interpretation of this theme should definitely take a whiff of "Gaiac 10." However, those who have been socialized with Shiseido et al. regarding Japanese fragrance concepts (like me) may find themselves a bit puzzled here.

As every year, the opportunity arises again on September 1st to get the "City Exclusives" from Le Labo outside of the respective city where they are otherwise exclusively available for the remaining 11 months of the year.

So too with "Baie Rose 26," the fragrance that is usually only available in Chicago.

I am a confessed rose fan and appreciate the different facets of this very broad and diverse genre. "Baie Rose 26" reliably surprises me in its opening with what I find to be almost a "dirty," audacious, dark-rough rose character, and the aldehydes I love so much dance vigorously along. This rose has not only thorns from the very start but definitely does not want to play. It makes it clear where it stands and what its demands are, somehow rural and placed in the rough nature, expansive, distinct, present. Great :-)

However, this phase does not last excessively long; the metamorphosis begins soon, and in my perception, it runs through the entire fragrance progression. It becomes fuller, rounder, darker, significantly more accessible, almost velvety, deep, and sensual as well.

Many fragrances teach special insights. This one fascinates me time and again with the almost shocking realization of how closely rose and clove can lie together in essential (= relating to the inner essence) aspects. In the heart of this fragrance, they intertwine and sway around each other; sometimes I think I catch one note stronger, sometimes the other, but overall, the clove, in combination with pink pepper, does its best to present the overall rose in the most beautiful light. Especially in the heart, it is full of richness, opulence, depth, not a shy and delicate plant, but the thorns and stubbornness have also receded, creating a robust presence, now lush and very "there," but not overshadowing the environment, rather caressing the wearer.

This goes on for several hours, 6-8 for me, until the rose finally gently sinks onto a bed of musk and distant cedar. At the latest in this phase, it becomes clear that this is definitely a fragrance that can be perfectly worn by men as well.

Last year, I let this wonderful rose sit again because I really have enough alternatives - but this year it is due, its special character and progression deserve it; anyone who likes can join in the sharing shortly :-)

I am a proud owner of number 212. Out of 333 copies. It is marked with a little cross on the front of the packaging (see photo below). Well, that's nice ;-)

Limitation is of course not a value in itself, but it does tend to catch one's attention, arousing desires through artificial scarcity - the "strictly selective cosmetics GmbH" from Niederkrüchten does this very skillfully and knows how to play virtuously on the exclusive marketing piano. "At the end of the day," as they say in such jargon, what counts is the product, the material content, that is, the scent.

Although I also find the bottle super beautiful - it is the reason I became aware of "Aeon 001" some time ago. Removed from the impression of round wood, it somehow looks like protective glass (which it actually is, handmade from borosilicate glass) for highly explosive radioactive high-temperature reagents, extremely cool and stylish due to its technical and aesthetic finesse, I think. But enough, we wanted to talk about the scent ;-)

And it almost needs such a protective container. At first glance, it comes off as rough, rugged, massively invasive, and heavily brushed, yet reveals to the careful and sensitive observer a very fine and delicate heart.

The scent in EdP concentration practically jumps at you from the first second, with a powerful, complex, dark citrus and slightly dark berry opening note that quickly becomes distinctly resinous-oily and somewhat smoky, slightly sour-bitter and pronouncedly gnarled-woody through vetiver. This rough and bulky citrus-woody-resinous and mossy, at times almost a bit "dirty" character essentially defines the palisade wall that is visible or perceptible at first glance - but when you step closer, zoom in on the details, and do not let yourself be intimidated by the almost threatening facade but instead look at the fine and delicate aspects, you perceive a dense, fine, delicate, graceful bright and friendly flora among the resin droplets, the lichens, and the wood and shrub splinters, hundreds of tiny delicate white flowers, not at all lush and cloying, but each one of the many quite lovely and tender, almost pure, exuding their own gentle scent, creating a delicate yet dense and bright woven carpet. In combination, this additionally gives rise to an almost honey-like note, not bright and sweet, nor the creamy variant, but dark, full, containing all components of beeswax and honeycombs, etc., quite unsweet in my opinion. Despite its floral notes, the scent does not really come off as sweet and white overall; its overall appearance is rather dark and quite opulent and voluminous. Hardly identifiable spicy notes like clove, etc., add a mediating and rounding touch. After hours of flawless performance regarding sillage and longevity, the scent gently turns its dials back over time and returns to its now soft, almost creamy-sandalwood vetiver base as a resting place for the relaxed and by now finally reconciled conclusion.

I was presented with "Aeon 001" after a marathon of hours of scent testing, with the words "well, and then we have something really special, it's not for everyone, you'll just have to see" - and I knew immediately upon spraying and especially after a few minutes of intense immersion: "This is it!" :-) I don't have the overall overview, but I couldn't name a scent that could represent the counterpart of raw oily-smoky-resinous woodiness and delicate-soft-bewitching floral charm in such a way and captivate me so skillfully. (EDIT: "Maai" by Bogue is said to be similar in its animalistic chypre character, according to Kafkaesque.) If one were looking for the opposite of an aquatic scent, then Norma Kamali's "Incense" and "Aeon 001" would probably be the two hottest candidates, both expansive and complex, with plenty of depth and density - where Ms. Kamali descends into darkness, Aeon (we still do not know who the perfumer is here, this will only be revealed with the release of the next scent - however, it is speculated that it is Bertrand Duchafour) reaches for the light and the stars and lets the bright-delicate flowers gently shine, for those who take the time and engage with it. A wonderful scent, from which I will certainly continue to learn and discover and deepen further facets for some time to come.

Wow, what a scent! As often, completely unbearable for me, but an event in itself:

Clearing in the resinous pine forest. Dense, red-yellow-brown foliage, aromatic and musty. A lonely, gnarled cabin. You open the door, a massive fire in the fireplace has just burned down, it still smells of all facets of smoke, ash, and smoldering embers. Cozy, archaic, very alluring and at the same time still extremely dangerous. On the table sits a huge juicy smoked ham. Huge, massive, just like everything about this scent.

I didn't know that Neil Morris was capable of such things. What a massive, intense, as I said completely unbearable yet fantastic scent, not unlike early Norne and Akkad. Gloomy, threatening, voluminous - the hunt for autumn clearly took place through slash-and-burn. It may also be that the smoldering forest cabin belongs to the witch; I couldn't directly identify those notes, the main thing is that Hansel and Gretel managed to get to safety in time.

I urgently need a watery-clear Ellena scent for reanimation, or a ham-hawthorn ;-)