It took me a while to appreciate what independent perfumer Francesca Bianchi was doing with her perfumes. I have found a frame of reference which has found me eagerly looking forward to her releases. Her latest, Hedonik Divine Perversion is her thoughts on leather.
Sig.ra Bianchi created a new brand, Hedonik. Here she would marry her fragrance aesthetic to her design of wearable leather. What makes this early collection interesting is it is all accessories. Leather studded with metal and crystals meant to create a versatility described on the website as, “pop-fetish, dark, rock, punk, fun.” They allow you to let any or all those aspects to be on display or hidden away. There is something great about hidden desires or extroverted challenge.
Francesca Bianchi
Sig.ra Bianchi also had to add a perfume to this debut collection. Divine Perversions also finds a line where darkness is hidden and displayed. It fits ideally the way she has designed her fragrance aesthetic over the last couple of years. She has found a fascinating balancing point where she is on the verge of going too far without going too far.
The leather accord she creates is at the center of this. It is a rough-edged leather which is given some refinement in the early going through orris. She adds a light layer of iris powder over the animalic accord. Some rose also acts to soften the accord.
In the earliest moments a sense of flirtatious gourmand-like fun reigns. Some raspberry and baie rose push up against the leather with a berry infused sweetness. What comes next is called “caramel” in the note list. What I perceive is a gooey hot fudge. Warm thick chocolate sauce covering the fruit and the leather. This is especially apparent as the tarry pieces of the leather accord grab the chocolate right down into the grain. This is the Divine
As this develops the gourmand pieces are washed away with something lustier. She is using some of the animalic musks to take that leather accord from Divine to something more enticingly sensual. This is where that approach to the edge of excess occurs. Those animalic pieces take this from fun to something which might have the snap of a leather crop. She completes her base with an exuberant amber which pushes all this deeper towards Perversion.
Divine Perversion has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.
Sig. ra Bianchi captures the fun and lustiness of her leather creations perfectly within the fragrance inspired by them. This is another great perfume from her.
Disclosure: This review is based on a sample I purchased.
–Mark Behnke
