When I was a kid one of my prized possessions was a candy apple red Hot Wheels miniature car. It had this mesmerizing sheen to it. I had the car before I ever encountered my first real candy apple. When I was holding the stick with this glossy orb on the end of it I was also entranced as I rotated it letting it catch the light. Eventually I brought it to my mouth and began to eat. Whenever I think of candy apple red I think of high gloss red paired with a sugary sweet fruity smell. I haven’t thought about the color or the confection for many years but for the last week it has been front and center in my conscience as I have been wearing the new slumberhouse Sadanne.
Josh Lobb the creative force behind slumberhouse has been one of my favorite stories in perfumery over the last few years. He has allowed word-of-mouth to bring people to his perfumes. Mr. Lobb works with exquisite one of a kind materials and his fragrances are unique. I look forward to each new release. Sadanne is Mr. Lobb’s attempt to push himself to work with the floral notes he is not so fond of. Another thing I admire about Mr. Lobb is he experiments with ways to compose his fragrance. In an e-mail he told me he used sillage to help him decide from mod to mod what was required next. After he finished a mod he asked his friend to put some on and then to walk by while he listened to music over his headphones. It seems to me it would give a different perspective on how your modifications were working in a more expansive way. Sadanne is different from almost everything in the slumberhouse line as it has a diffusive quality to it that none of the previous perfumes have.
Usually Mr. Lobb provides a copious list of ingredients to marvel over but for Sadanne he has eschewed that. This time he is leaving it to the wearers to discover. I am going to do my best to honor that as I attempt to describe Sadanne without going into distinct notes. It is easy because there are really three distinct phases on my skin and while I can pick out some of the ingredients it really is the effect that is paramount in my enjoyment of Sadanne.
The first phase smells like freshly made candy apples. There is a crisp fruity quality encased in a glistening sugary shell. It immediately returns me to the six year old clutching his tiny car in one hand with a sticky red apple in the other. Mr. Lobb has imparted olfactory lens flares throughout this opening phase as there are bright glints throughout.
Jennifer Lawrence in "American Hustle"
The second phase is, maybe, Mr. Lobb’s commentary on florals as he takes some of the most recognizable floral notes and he makes them bitter. It reminds me of the line from the movie “American Hustle”, “It’s like that perfume that you love, that you can’t stop smelling even when there is something sour in it.” The floral accord in the middle of Sadanne has more than a few bitter things in it and just like the quote I keep returning to it even though I know it should put me off. This really is Mr. Lobb at his best as he uses the sour notes not to damage but to make the wearer recalibrate their thoughts about floral notes.
Bootsy Collins
The third phase is a complete tonal shift into a fabulously dirty musky base. Every time I have worn Sadanne there is a moment where the bright candy apple and the florals just seem to fall apart and what you find was underneath is this funky filthy animalic beast. This is where Sadanne finishes and I love this part of the development. This is my kind of funk. It is like Bootsy Collins’ bass line on Parliament Funkadelic’s “Flashlight”. It reaches right down and grabs you in the low places.
Sadanne has overnight longevity but for those who know the brand it is the least long lived on my skin of the entire brand. The sillage is also greater than most of the other slumberhouse fragrances which makes sense considering how it was composed.
Sadanne is going to test the patience of those who think they know what slumberhouse smells like because Sadanne is like nothing else in the line. Sadanne is a perfume which requires an active wearer. I think by not releasing the note list he is forcing anyone wearing it to have to participate more fully in the experience. After four days of wearing it I have found it to be more engaging every time I wear it because I am participating more viscerally in the wearing. It is another winner from slumberhouse, for me.
Disclosure: This review was based on a bottle I purchased.
–Mark Behnke
