As you all know I enjoy finding new perfumers and brands. I have been recently blessed with an abundance of this. For the next week or so I am going to be introducing you to three new brands I have enjoyed for the first time over the last couple months. I begin with Christele Jacquemin Impermanence.
Christele Jacquemin
Christele Jacquemin describes herself on her website as “photographer-perfumer-traveler”. Her three debut releases showcase her fusion of all three. When an independent perfumer seeks to meld multiple influences it can be difficult to find the right balance. In Impermanence Mme Jacquemin finds it.
Impermanence was inspired by a month she spent at an artist’s residency in a suburb of Shanghai called Jin Ze. There she created a collection of seven photographs which make up the Impermanence visual collection. The connecting theme is a blue background of several shades. Mme Jacquemin creates a fragrance of different shades which my synesthesia-challenged senses experience as blue. It feels like her photos have found their way into a perfume bottle.
She opens this with an overdose of ginger. I like ginger at this volume there is a graininess to it which is appealing. The green of hinoki leaves and rosemary add a different shading to the ginger along with some unexpected depth. The heart transitions through an intermezzo of acerbic yerba mate. This fits into the other notes providing connection to a clever base accord. Mme Jacquemin uses the rose surrogate palmarosa and vetiver. Palmarosa is a very green rose analog which makes it an ideal partner to vetiver. This green harmony of floral and grassiness is awesome on a hot day. I wore this on a day we had heat advisories and this combination shimmered on my skin.
Impermanence has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.
Mme Jacquemin does a fantastic job of turning the visual into perfume. By taking her shades of blue photographs she realizes a perfume with visions of blue.
Disclosure: This review is based on a sample provided by Christele Jacquemin.
–Mark Behnke
