Pierre Benard Challenge Day 10- Citrus

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I’m going to end this where I began it with a scent of my childhood. In the South Florida neighborhood I grew up in we had a small citrus orchard nearby. It was run by Mr. Meeks who would hire us as his pickers when the fruit was ready to be harvested. It was the first money I would earn for myself. After a day of work I got a crisp dollar bill for my effort. When we took a break for lunch, we would sit in one of the trees and pick an orange for dessert.

The scent of those days was beautiful. The sun slanted down through the green leaves as we picked the fruit and placed it in a crate. Mr. Meeks would come by and pick it up. The green woodiness of the trees and the leaves combined with the citrus for a scent which can take me back to those days over fifty years later.

Citrus within modern perfumery has become synonymous with warm weather. I have a natural attraction to the best of them especially when they connect with my memory.

When it comes to orange there is no perfume which has ever found that place for me better than Atelier Cologne Orange Sanguine. This was the star of creative director Sylvie Ganter’s debut cologne absolue collection. Ten years on it is probably the flagship of this very successful line.

For lemon it also is from Mme Ganter’s brand with Atelier Cologne Citron d’Erable. This is the definition of a cooler weather citrus perfume. Adding maple syrup as the sweet counterweight to the lemon is a brilliant choice. This is the chill of sunset sitting at the top of the lemon tree watching for the flash of green.

Chantecaille Vetyver has my favorite grapefruit paired with the other warm weather perfume ingredient, vetiver. In this case the sulfurous nature of the rind is allowed to find harmony with the sharp green facet of vetiver. In between is the tart pulp of the fruit. There was a study that wearing grapefruit makes people seeing you as younger than you are. I wonder if they see my inner ten-year-old when I wear this?

I’ll have some closing thoughts about the whole challenge tomorrow to bring this to a close.

–Mark Behnke

Atelier Cologne 101- Five To Get You Started

Posted on by in Mark Behnke, Perfume 101 and tagged , , , , , , .

There are certain brands which I feel are “mine”. What I mean by that is once I started writing about perfume more seriously, and regularly, there were some brands that were starting out at the same time. I and those brands have grown-up together so they are “mine”. Most of those won’t be ready for the 101 treatment for a few years; Atelier Cologne is.

sylvie christophe

Sylvie Ganter-Cervasel and Christophe Cervasel

Atelier Cologne started in 2010 with five releases. Creative director/ co-owner Sylvie Ganter-Cervasel and co-owner Christophe Cervasel have created a brand which has flourished in the last five plus years. The concept was simple to up the perfume oil concentration in a cologne architecture to create long-lasting colognes which they call cologne absolues. They have worked exclusively with two perfumers Jerome Epinette and Ralf Schwieger. As I constantly mention, that kind of consistent creative relationship can be very good for a brand. It creates a signature which a buyer can come to rely upon. There are few brands who have defined themselves better than Atelier Cologne. I think they are one of the best current examples of how to start and grow your perfume brand. With the release of Musc Imperial they have released 25 perfumes in just under six years. If you need a place to get started here are the five that should be top of the list.

When I met Mme Ganter-Cervasel for the first time she stuck a strip of Orange Sanguine by Hr. Schwieger under my nose. It was probably the moment the mix of orange and blood orange hit me that this line imprinted itself on my consciousness. If you want a citrus perfume which lasts all-day this is the one as it moves through a floral intermezzo of geranium before ending on sandalwood. All kept at a perfect pitch throughout.

It would be a year later with Vanille Insensee by Hr. Schwieger where Atelier Cologne would show even the deeper notes in perfumery could be given the cologne absolue treatment. Hr. Schwieger creates a fantastic transparent vanilla which opens with lime and coriander to jasmine and vetiver down to oak and vanilla. A strong green thread runs throughout and by the time the sweet of the vanilla shows up in the base it seems like it should always have been the basis for a cologne.

atelier rose anonyme

Rose Anonyme by M. Epinette might be the best single fragrance in the entire line. He uses one of the best rose raw materials I have experienced as the centerpiece. Ginger on top provides the intro to the rose and an earthy accord of patchouli, bezoin, and papyrus give you the sense of the plant growing in the soil. In a field as crowded as rose perfumes this one is in the very upper tiers of that category.

M. Epinette would again display another set of fantastic floral raw materials in Silver Iris. A Florentine orris and mimosa from Grasse form the crisp floral heart. A “kir royale” accord comes before getting to that. This provides the chill snap of fizzy fruity champagne. The florals provide a pillowy contrast to that. It all ends with patchouli and tonka singing a sweet lullaby.

I really love fig perfumes but there hasn’t been a good one in the last few years until earlier this year Figuier Ardent by Hr. Schwieger was released. This all starts with a green fig swathed in cardamom, anise, and pepper. Like a time-lapse photo the fig ripens on my skin into a lush rich creamy experience surrounded by orris, tonka, and cedar. This is the best fig perfume of the last five years.

A final note on this brand. I am often asked for “office-friendly” suggestions. Atelier Cologne is right at the top of my list for those recommendations. Because these are cologne constructs they don’t overwhelm in any way. The higher perfume oil concentration just makes them last all-day and then some. I think if you haven’t introduced yourself to “my” line the five above are a good place to start.

Disclosure: This review based on bottles I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

My Favorite Things- Orange

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The smell of oranges is the smell of lazy summer days spent in the branches of orange trees near my home in South Florida as a boy. When done well there is almost no other smell which triggers as strong a scent memory as an orange focused fragrance. One of my five favorites is Diptyque L’Eau de Tarocco but I just included that in the recent Diptyque 101. I’ll give you five more of my favorite orange perfumes.

Probably the very first orange fragrance which triggered this atavistic memory was Hermes Eau D’Orange Verte. It wasn’t the perfume but the bath product which I was using at a luxury resort in the 1980’s. It had no label and I had to find out from the front desk the name. I bought a bottle upon my return home and it is still compelling nearly thirty years later. Perfumer Francoise Caron combines the full spectrum of orange notes on top of green muguet. It all produces an evocation of sitting among the leaves of the orange tree while peeling one open.

It would be twenty years until another orange fragrance would make a dent in my monogamous relationship with Eau D’Orange Vert. Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle Bigarade Concentree is arguably the simplest perfume in that collection. It succeeds in the same way an artist’s still life succeeds. Perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena paints in olfactory watercolors a still life of orange. It is given nuance by aldehydes, cardamom, and hay. It is the smell of a fresh ripe orange picked off the tree before cutting into it.

randgboisdorange

Roger & Gallet Bois D’Orange is one of my favorite bang for the buck orange fragrances as you can find 100mL bottles for less than $40. Perfumer Dominique Ropion was inspired by the gardens of Alhambra in Spain. M. Ropion takes that inspiration and provides an intense citrus accord led by the orange which is matched by an equally deep floral accord lead by jasmine and rose. There is also a prominent green underpinning to tie all of it together.

Atelier Cologne Orange Sanguine was the first one I tried when Creative Director Sylvie Ganter introduced the line to me a little over five years ago. It is a brilliant orange cologne that has the bonus of lasting a long time on my skin because of the Cologne Absolue concentration. Perfumer Ralf Schwieger evokes that moment when I would bite into an orange and the juice would flow from my mouth over my chin. Using the green floralcy of geranium on top of a sandalwood base it is near perfect. Except the new Atelier Cologne Mandarine Glaciale is now vying for my attention within the brand. The next time I do this list there might be a change here.

Thirdman Eau Nomade finishes my list and this one does not remind me of my youth. Perfumer Bruno Jovanovic uses a fabulous green cardamom in conjunction with blood orange as the nucleus of a cologne which is meant to remind one of a spice market. This is the one I keep in the refrigerator to wear on the most sweltering dog days of summer. It has become the olfactory equivalent of a cold glass of lemonade.

None of these suggestions will provide you with any vitamin C but they will all add some needed energy this summer. Give them a try if you haven’t already.

Disclosure: This review is based on bottles I purchased.

–Mark Behnke