For anyone who has ever lived in a big American city there is usually a special place which inhabits the hours around dawn. Every city I’ve lived in has one. It is the morning market. If you know of it, you can mingle with the chefs and stylists of your town. I’ve always thought of these markets as the demarcation between days. Once these arrive the morning reset has taken place. The scents are equally indelible. The one which always made me smile was walking through the fresh fruit into the section where the flowers were. I’ve always found that natural fruity floral more compelling than any perfume version. The latest to try and find that balance is Chatillon Lux Sunrise on LaSalle.
In his Scent Notes blog post accompanying the release independent perfumer Shawn Maher was inspired by his own early morning market in St. Louis. It is a flower market on LaSalle Avenue. Mr. Maher takes us on a stroll through it via perfume as a new day begins.
Shawn Maher
I am not sure if there is a fruit market as part of the flower market. I believe it must be so because Mr. Maher opens this with a densely intertwined pear accord. A lot of times pear is either fleshy or crisp. What he does is to create a fleshy core around which he wraps crisper, more focused sources of pear. He uses that juicy part first. Then he uses a couple of the aromachemicals which have extremely focused pear effects. To make them even more defined he wraps geranium, mint, and a fruity rose. Each of these amplify the crisper pieces. Together it is like picking up that nearly ripe pear from the vendor and bringing it to your nose. This is not to mean it is photorealistic. Mr. Maher is more impressionistic in the way he imagines this accord.
The flowers come next. He uses the expansive airy versions of jasmine. It is just the scent of flowers on the morning breeze. It as if you are at the entryway breathing in all the color on display. He adds some heft through clearwood. Making sure this doesn’t float away on a floral cloud. It comes together with clean cedar and fresh musks. These continue to add volume to everything. One of the wonderful surprises that happened late in the days I wore this was a lovely tea note peeks out around the flowers and fruit. It made me think of sitting at my kitchen table afterwards with my wrapped flowers and mesh bag of pears next to my freshly brewed tea.
Sunrise on LaSalle has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.
If you just take a cursory sniff of this, you will miss a lot of the nuance Mr. Maher has built into it. Sunrise on LaSalle releases its pleasures gradually. If you wait for them, you will find an uncommon fruity floral waiting. Because this had me thinking of all the early morning markets, I’ve been to I also realized something else. For perfume lovers wearing fragrance is our morning reset. Sunrise on LaSalle is a great way to start the day.
Disclosure: This review is based on a sample supplied by Chatillon Lux.
–Mark Behnke
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