There are times when I write about a perfume and I have to guess about the emotion behind it. It is nice when I know the people behind a new perfume who can provide those answers to me. Back in the middle of November I was invited to an online premiere of Masque Milano Ray-Flection. Creative directors Alessandro Brun and Riccardo Tedeschi along with perfumer Alex Lee shared the story behind it.

Riccardo Tedeschi (l.) and Alessandro Brun

Ray-Flection is the first release in the Fourth Act of the perfumed opera. According to them we are now in the Act of Dreams. The next set of perfumes begun by Ray-Flection are dreams, fictional constructs. The creative team was thinking about the idea of an “alien flower”. There is even a little big-eyed alien on the bottle. I’m not sure they got into orbit. I found Ray-Flection to be a perfume grounded in the joy of making perfume.

Alessandro, Alex, and Riccardo in Tanneron

Ray-Flection is a honeyed mimosa perfume which takes the gold of the puffy flower and floats it on a golden flow of honey. The perfume started with all three men making a trip to Tanneron, France where mimosa is harvested. If I must stick to the extraterrestrial flower theme the golden puffballs look like spores from an alien plant. Except mimosa is a gorgeous powdery gold. Mr. Lee uses an overdose of mimosa to accentuate all that can be found here. He is equally inventive with his source of a honey accord. He uses yellow mandarin and beeswax to form it. This is used in overdose because Sig. Brun couldn’t get enough. It pushed Mr. Lee into some interesting choices to retain a freshness to it all.

Alex Lee

It begins with that aspect on display. A top accord of aldehydes and cardamom fizz off my skin closely trailed by a cloud of mimosa. This is a lively opening where sunlight seems to infuse it all. There is a slight vegetal tint to mimosa that is rarely encountered except at overdose. Mr. Lee uses some violet leaf to tighten it up and enhance the freshness. The honey accord comes next as the mandarin imparts a sweetness to the subtly animalic beeswax. This is my favorite part of the perfume. This is not that treacly version of honey although it carries weight. It is an active flow of honey as the mimosa floats on top of it with some effervescence bubbling up from below. When Ray-Flection hits this point there is an unbounded happiness in the air. A bit of cedar and musks provide the base.

Ray-Flection had 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.

As I said I don’t usually know the emotion behind a perfume. When this creative team presented the perfume there was a palpable joy which came through the screen. They might have wanted me to think aliens but all I get is a jolly good perfume done with pleasure for perfume.

Disclosure: This review is based on a sample provided by Masque Milano.

–Mark Behnke