Scent of Mummy, the Egyptian kind, that is...

In one of my newest historical articles for Fragrantica, amassed under the collective title of 1001 Past Tales, I discuss the infamous "scent of mummy", or "mumia", coming off the Egyptian mummies which were actually used in the preparation of apothecary formulae for external use as well as -most poignantly- internal consumption.

wiki commons

Perish the thought that people actually consumed mumia internally, but this is what they did from at least 1000AD onwards: vital energy at its most macabre. Egyptology might not have been born, yet people knew these corpses were old. The ground matter of the corpses, black, firm and putrid smelling, defies modern logic, as do most arcane and animistic practices that come from the prehistoric world. Eating a worthy opponent or an ancestor is an ancient practice in order to graft their excellence unto the eater.

You can read the entire article on this link.

Berdoues Cologne Grand Cru Selva do Brazil: fragrance review

You emptied the soapy suds onto the polished wooden floorboards by accident, knocking the full bucket in one tug of the broom. The planks got soaked, a mess all around, hair on end, screaming.
I later apologized. You were furious I held this against you. "We're building a nest, baby", you said. Made me feel small, so small; not a feeling I often get. I don't know if it was your tone or the comforting soapy feel, recalling new beginnings, but I allowed myself to feel optimistic.

Wearing Selva do Brazil feels small, so small, and comforting in an optimistic way. The soap, the woodiness, the polished woodplanks, the summer air all around, the vetiver cologne in the distance, at the crook of your neck. It just felt like home. And I was sold.

Perfectly shareable, leaning slightly masculine, more than Maison Berdoues Scorza di Sicilia, but pleasantly borrowed by women. If you like subtle woody scents, this is for you. Beautiful bottle too, as usual.

A note on terminology: Though "cologne" might evoke either short lasting power or a masculine effect I assure you that it's a rather decent eau de toilette duration scent that could be worn by either men or women in warm weather (I suspect it'd get drowned in the cold).

Best-selling Fragrances in France & Worldwide: First Half of 2016

"Familiarity breeds contempt" goes an old saying, but in what has to do with fragrance it looks like what people are choosing to wear (and buy for gifts) depends quite a bit on familiarity, both in terms of known and well-liked accords, as well as compositions which have received positive feedback. This is the real reason behind perfume best-sellers, I'm sure, and this is why I have dedicated a specific corner of the Perfume Shrine project to these best-selling perfumes lists (more of which you can see per country and per year on the right hand column of this blog).

For the first half of 2016 the situation is without great ripples, cementing the thought that the mainstream division is going ahead on what is essentially the cajoling of a sweet tooth and of a steady, somewhat sterile, notion of masculinity. Without further ado, here are the results.

For women:
La Vie Est Belle by Lancome is the top best-selling perfume in Europe, as well as the third best-selling globally, behind Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel and J'Adore by Christian Dior. [Compare and contrast with perfume best-sellers in France for 2015 on this link].

It's interesting to note that according to the social media barometer NetBase the French are especially responsive to the brands of Christian Dior, Adidas and Chanel, so this result accounts for more than bargained for.

For men:
Bleu de Chanel is the best-selling global performer in masculine fragrances, behind Acqua di Gio by Armani (surely a case study for its sheer duration) and One Million by Paco Rabanne. [For French results of previous years, please see this list]

The results are officially based on data publicized by L'Oreal and LVMH, first and second respectively in placement for sheer volume of luxe feminine fragrance products. (L'Oreal still holds the first place in masculine scented products volume globally).

Still the big conglomerate companies are the first to admit that without the spectacular rise in niche fragrances, many of which they're acquiring, the perfume sector would be doomed to a decline that mainstream sales wouldn't quite make up for it.

New Face of Chanel No.5 Perfume is Lily Rose Depp

The news came from the famous offspring of Johnny Depp and Vanesa Paradis herself, via her Instagram where she was seen kissing off a huge dummy bottle (that's a factice, guys) of Chanel No.5, and the industry's bible, WWD.
History re-writing itself, as Vanessa Paradis, Lily Rose Depp's mother, had been the face of Coco by Chanel perfume two decades ago and counting, trapped within a bird's cage.

pic of Lily Rose Depp from i-D 

Seeing as we had announced the upcoming Chanel No.5 L'Eau fragrance a while ago with the tag line "meant to appeal to millenials" (and the sneaking suspicion its face will be Kristen Stewart who has signed with Chanel already), it seems that Chanel is embracing this demographic tighter than generally anticipated for. But then Chanel did almost the same thing during the early 1980s when Karl Lagerfeld essentially took a dying house and injected it with youth.

The good thing is that with Lily Rose Depp being quite inquisitive about her own sexual direction and open about it, this is a rather good chance for mainstream media and pop culture to delve a little deeper into how we define such fluid terms as femininity. I know it's a little hip, even in academic circles, but all the same it might serve as the nudge that would shift the scales off balance in how we envision fragrance; a gender bender fragrance opportunity in what is ultimately both a means of identity and of a calling card.

Parthian shot: Is it my own perverted mind who sees the bondage link between the two?

Berdoues Cologne Grand Cru "Scorza di Sicilia": fragrance review

Maison Berdoues is well known for their classic violet fragrance, Violettes de Toulouse, as de rigeur retro as a finicky collector would demand of their collection. But modernization, and Scorza di Sicilia is part of that project, is the name of the game for an old company to survive the times. Berdoues have been busy producing a collection of colognes, called grand cru to reflect wine phraseology, in order to catch the attention of the niche buying perfume lovers with an eye to heritage.

via

There's a dearth of fragrance reviews in the year that has been put between the original release of the grand cru colognes, 2015, and today, so I took it upon myself to write some on them having tested the line in detail recently. And so I'm beginning with Scorza di Sicilia, i.e. Sicilian rind. 

Contrary to the gorgeous sliced citruses painted on the columnar bottles (truly nice in person as well as in the photos) Scorza di Sicilia is not about citrus per se, even though the citrus is perceptible throughout. In fact the scent's character is quite floral indeed, taking lily of the valley as the sharp floral note that assembles the references that an Italian summer fragrance would normally evoke: the sun, the breeze, the lightness, the clarity...We all need a slice of sunshine in our lives, don't we.

Lily of the valley with its sharpness, clean aspect and green underpinning can act as an effortless bond between the bergamot top note (a Calabrian, if not Sicilian, reference) and the grassy-woody coolness of the vetiver of the base. I suspect white musk makes for the same cohesive glue, giving Maison Berdoues Scorza di Sicilia the starched, fresh aura that makes it so very amenable to a hot day somewhere where the houses are white-washed and the roofs tiled rather than thatched.

A note on terminology: Though "cologne" might evoke either short lasting power (and citruses are notorious for that) or a masculine effect I assure you that neither is applicable in this case. It's a rather decent eau de toilette duration scent that could be worn by either men or women in warm weather (I suspect it'd get drowned in the cold).