PET

Home - a big word and everyone associates something different with it. It can be the smell of your mother, a special dish from your grandmother, a particular circumstance, a room, a landscape, a place or an apartment. All of this also has a smell.

In this case, we are dealing with a fragrance dedicated to a tree species in the Swiss Alps. Many people also associate it with a sense of home. Especially in the post-war period, the Alps were a popular excursion and vacation destination for Germans. An ideal world that was then also found in households. Who doesn't know them ! The landscapes with mountains and lakes, with deer and farm workers.
The felt hats with feathers and the grandparents' loden coats. Shelves and living room cupboards were filled with wooden figures.
There were also plenty of movies in the idyllic mountain world.
That's all gone today and most of it ended up in the bin or was sold off at flea markets.
What a shame, really! Because who still remembers? Frank Leder from Berlin has done an excellent job of translating this theme into clothing. His collections can be seen in great pictures on his website. He even has "red press sack" soap in apothecary bottles.

Another clue comes from the history of mankind. Not so long ago, we lived in forests, close to nature and at one with our surroundings - timeless
Trees were an important part of our lives. We built houses with them, the wood made the living room warm and food was cooked on the stove.
In this sense, the smell of wood has something archetypal about it (if you're interested in the subject, I recommend one of my favorite authors - Wolf Dieter Storl), but that's just by the way.

The topic of the past grabbed me again when I visited an exhibition by the artist Midori Mitamura many years ago.
She had the idea of an installation "Green of the Mountain" on the occasion of finding old black and white pictures. It was essentially about the question of what remains of us when we leave this life. Does something happen in the present when someone looks at our pictures? The installation was accompanied by music which I will attach here at the end.
A certain melancholy crept over me at the time, which may have been due to the peculiar Ave Maria.

But now I've digressed a long way and come to the scent of the Swiss mountains.
It starts very citrusy, although not listed here... light resins and definitely bezoin give a sweet light woody scent. It definitely doesn't smell to me like what I imagine "forest" to be about. Anyone who visits the forest will agree with me - it rarely smells like freshly sawn wood there. Rather, it smells of dry leaves, moss and earth.

The scent reminds me in some ways of "ARC | Mallo", which I find funny as I have only tested this one.
You could say it's a "light" version, as the sillage is very restrained.

All in all, Arve is a beautiful if light fougere.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xDNJMlObD5A&pp=ygUdR3JlZW4gb2YgdGhlIE1vdW50YWluIG1pZG9yaSA%3D

In the light of Vedanta".

If you go to Mallo's website, you will see a summit as a portrait of ARC. This booklet came to my mind because it interestingly combines European and Indian culture. It reflects the view of an Indian scholar on the Sermon on the Mount.
Two cultures have also combined to create the fragrance. A probably stands for Antonio and R for Rajesh. The latter describes ARC as his seventh perfume, which brings us back to the number of completion.
Rajesh is therefore likely to have had a major influence on the composition and ingredients, as quite a few of them come from his home country of "India".

Now to the perfume itself. The fragrance starts brute! (40%) .... Brutal herbs! I can well understand the association of the previous speakers with sauna infusions.
Slowly a sweetness is added, lavender - jasmine - benzoin. The herbs reach far in and the fragrance remains powerful. Gradually it becomes more and more herbaceous, sweeter and fresher. In the drydown, it almost seems like a lemon spice cake, which is probably due to the increasingly strong cypriol.
I was a bit taken aback by the fragrance at first, but now I think it's great! In the sense that it's a real fougere and I don't normally care much for the subject.

The fragrance is very natural and anything but ordinary.

What makes it so special is the fusion of the two perfumers. Rajesh, who very consciously selected the ingredients from his homeland and set the theme, and Antonio, who skillfully weighed and interwove them.

There is a lot of love behind this fragrance and you can smell it.

"One day during harvest time, HE invited us and His
other friends to go on a trip to the mountains. The earth was fragrant; it displayed all its jewels like a king's daughter at her wedding. And
the sky was her bridegroom
When we had reached a hill, HE stopped in a laurel grove and said: Rest here,
relax your minds and open your hearts, for I have much to say to you
we lay down on the grass, surrounded by the summer flowers that grew on it,
and HE sat in our midst."

Khalil Gibran

Ali Erkekli, alias Al Manlé, once co-founder of Fort&Manle, is the lone fighter behind the Anka Kuş brand. The phoenix pulls its shield out of a precarious life situation.
for 7 years, he poured his life energy, money and dreams into the Fort&Manle collaboration. When the brand was launched, they were awarded second place at awards ceremonies in Berlin. At the same time, the partners fell out and Manlé had to leave the company. As a result of this difficult time, he founded his own company like a phoenix from the ashes.

Ali loves the arts and designs all his bottle artwork himself. He also loves every one of his creations, and it shows.

Bleakley Park is an unusual and wonderful fragrance.

A sea of flowers, not overloaded, somewhat cool and a little watery, which is probably due to the lily plants (bulbous plants). The base is a soft leather and ink. All in all, a very fresh, fruity, slightly cool floral fragrance. An unusual fragrance that I really enjoy.

I'm a big fan of Ali because he really gives his all to his passion. No two creations are the same and I've never had anything like it under my nose before.

I'm already looking forward to his future projects and wish him all the best!

This reminded me of this fragrance experiment, a collaboration between the photographer and artist Roberto Greco and the perfumer Christopher Sheldrake, as the fragrance starts with the base notes and is gradually joined by the overarching building blocks of the pyramid.
If you take the time to browse Greco's website, you will find a series of photographs that repeatedly depict flacons. Without having done any further research, I suspect that Greco works for the perfume industry. However, the gracefulness of the images on his site relate purely to his interpretations and his type of art.

The images convey a physicality that borders on offensive and yet conveys a lightness and warmth. Plants at the end of their life on the verge of wilting... when we want to put them in the compost. At this stage, the flowers usually have a somewhat carnal scent to which the smell of stagnant water is added.
And according to the words of the creator, this scent should capture the homage to transience conveyed in the images in a fragrance.
I am correct in assuming that the fragrance at the vernissage of the paintings was intended to serve as background music and an extended sensory impression for the visitors.

Here we now have a limited edition of 500, a vernissage for the home with booklet.

The perfume was created by Master Sheldrake and his experienced hands fulfilled Greco's every wish.

The fragrance starts leathery and smoky. I am reminded of a leather sofa that has been through a lavish party. The sweetness of acacia hovers over it. Gradually, the bud of the black currant and the violet leaf join in, giving the fragrance a tart green note. The "mushrooms" add a kind of cellar.
Overall, there is a slight indolic note, but it is kept well in check, which reminds me of "Pistil | Miskeo", but the floral carnality brought me to my knees.

After about two hours, the fragrance becomes softer and more floral, the narcissus comes in and creates a conciliatory effect.

I've never had a fragrance like this under my nose before!
In which the pyramid emerges up and down, criss-cross.

A true work of art has been created here that uncompromisingly shows us our transience and yet strikes such gentle tones.

Chapeau to the two gentlemen.

So is this how the father and namesake of sadism is supposed to have smelled, or does it not refer much more to ingredients of his time that were often worn with perfumes?
Or should a bridge be built to the content of a sexual preference or actions with, let's say, an animalistic scent?
I think this is deliberately left open by the publisher of the fragrance in order to give free rein to the imagination of buyers and interested parties.

I haven't read any of the Marquis' writings, because Opus Pistorum by Henry Miller was instructive enough for me to know what the Sade writings are about. Although with Mr. Grey, the subject has reached the hearts of many and become socially acceptable.

My own association with this fragrance is a gentleman who knows how to live the good life. He doesn't miss out on any vice and enjoys good company. Wears exquisite clothes and drinks champagne. All in all, a connoisseur that Sade would undoubtedly have been.

For me, it's a fragrance for an evening at the theater. Noble. The ingredients form an overall composition, nothing pushes to the fore. A chypre without oakmoss, which some noses find off-putting.

For me, the fragrance actually has something gourmand about it. It reminds me of that buttery cake with dried fruit that you get at Christmas time.

Histoires de parfums is a French fragrance house par excellence.
The mostly classic formulations immediately transport me to France. There are some really great creations that everyone should try and that I can only recommend to everyone!

Vive la france!