New Perfume Review Huitieme Art Parfums Liqueur Charnelle- Snifter Stylings

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Pierre Guillaume has successfully spread himself over three distinct lines each containing their own aesthetic. Huitieme Art Parfums has come to be the one in which M. Guillaume experiments. He has featured new raw materials or attempted to create specific accords new to his palette. For the latest release Liqueuer Charnelle it is a “cognac bouquet” he is working towards.

glass-of-cognac

Cognac is one of the more complex bouquets to try and capture because it is a complicated process which leads to the bottle. After taking grapes and allowing them to ferment it is distilled multiple times to concentrate and raise the alcohol level. This concentration has an effect of also making even the most subtle of aromas when it was more dilute now more prominent. After being aged in oak barrels it is blended to produce what goes in the bottle. When drinking a snifter of cognac I spend as much time inhaling the sweet slightly fruity fragrance as I do sniffing it. To re-create this is not so easy because the pleasures of a fine cognac is the fragility of the bouquet. To turn it into a perfume was going to take precision and patience.

Pierre-Guillaume_2Pierre Guillaume

M. Guillaume takes the approach of allowing a few of the components of the eventual accord to have a little time by themselves in the early moments. As a result the opening carries a mix of pink pepper and black pepper. Then the other pieces of what will eventually form the accord begin to assemble. A bit of violet and a pinch of astringent green. A touch of elemi along with a soupcon of raspberry. These allow for vanilla, oak, and tobacco to form the spine upon which these notes will flesh out the cognac accord. There is a moment about an hour in where Liqueur Charnelle rises like the finest cognac being swirled in a snifter. As Liqueur Charnelle proceeds to the end the cognac accord decays and what you are left with is sweet tobacco and wood.

Liqueur Charnell has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.

There is a fantastic atmospheric feel to Liqueur Charnelle that made me feel as if I should be sitting in a private club while wearing it. That the cognac accord is so well realized is part of it but it is also the richness of the perfume itself. It feels elegant in a very louche way. I like the way it makes me feel refined while in my everyday clothes instead of a smoking jacket. If you like boozy fragrances Liqueur Charnelle is one of the best in this category.

Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by Huitieme Art Parfums at Pitti Fragranze.

–Mark Behnke

Colognoisseur Pitti Fragranze 2014 Final Wrap-up Part 2- The Top 10 New Fragrances I Tried

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I think I did pretty well for my first Pitti Fragranze as I tried 90 new perfumes over the three days. There were some which I had tried prior to Pitti but I don’t include those. The other thing to keep in mind is to try this many perfumes the surface area of my available skin was the most prime real estate inside the show hall. Therefore all of these impressions come from a much smaller sampling that I usually do. I can tell you all of the perfumes below will be worn extensively and duly reviewed. In alphabetical order here are the Top 10 New Fragrances from Pitti Fragranze 2014.

Aedes de Venustas Copal Azur– This literally was the very first new perfume I tried at Pitti standing outside with Francois Duquesne. He told me this was perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour’s most intense incense fragrance ever. If you love M. Duchaufour’s previous incense perfumes this is going to blow you away.

Huitieme Art Parfums Liqueur Charnelle– Pierre Guillaume’s cognac laced perfume has the feel of being in an exclusive club with a roaring fire. In one hand is a snifter. In the other a pipe ready to be lit. The surrounding wood has been buffed to leave a subtle scent in the air. I think is going to be one of my favorite winter fragrances this year.

Laboratorio Olfattivo Patchouliful– With a name like Patchouliful you might imagine perfumer Cecile Zarokian would have loaded up on the titular note. Instead Mme Zarokian goes entirely in the opposite direction with a patchouli that feels diaphanous and opaque. It has been a long time since I thought of a patchouli fragrance as light but Patchouliful carries off this style incredibly effectively.

Map of the Heart Black Heart v.2– The single most unique perfume I tried the whole weekend. This is a journey into a heart of darkness, composed of eucalyptus, black pepper, and smoke; by perfumer Jacques Huclier. The other members of this collection are going to be easier to wear but Black Heart snarls and crackles with eldritch energies as it feels like a curse is being twisted via smell. You might not want to wear it but you won’t forget it. I can’t wait to wear it.

Maria Candida Gentile Leuco– It seems like every other stand I stopped at had a new tuberose. Maria Candida Gentile found a way to rise above the crowd by pairing her tuberose with beeswax. It creates a tuberose that is luscious and soft which embraces you instead of dominating you. The magic combination of these two ingredients gives Leuco a style all of its own.

masque-russian-tea

Masque Milano Russian Tea– The concept of a tea fragrance is nothing new. Even the concept of a Russian tea fragrance is nothing new. How then did perfumer Julian Rasquinet, in his last perfume as an independent perfumer, find a way to create something which uses tea as a focal point for fascinating grace notes throughout? It is like a Russian tea service in a bottle.

Olivier Durbano Promethee– Olivier Durbano has been guiding his brand with a sure aesthetic for ten years. With Promethee all of that experience has come together to result in the best fragrance within his collection. Every time I smell this I am pleased to see the level of assuredness which went into its creation. It feels like the moment of triumph as Prometheus is freed from the rock.

Peccato Originale Antidoto– You know how citrus doesn’t last? I have an antidote for that. This new perfumes from Silvia Monti has a mesmerizing intensity of citrus notes that take hours to unwind to reveal mate and rum underneath. You want a citrus to wear in the middle of winter? This is the one.

S-Perfumes Musk-S– Maybe it’s because I spent a few months writing about the different musk molecules in Olfactory Chemistry but perfumer Carlos Benaim has blended a splendid musk cocktail. There seem to be more synthetic musks here than you can shake a stick at. Once they all settle down you get the smell of sun-warmed skin underneath a linen shirt.

Zarkoperfume Molecule 234.38– Okay yes I am a sucker for any perfume which has molecule in its name. Zarko Ahlmann Pavlov the creative director and perfumer behind the entire Zarkoperfume line wanted to take a single aroma molecule of molecular weight 234.38 and let it unfold on the wearer. It is not Iso E Super it is something else but it shares that peek-a-boo quality of Iso E Super. For those who have liked the single molecule perfumes from other lines you have to add this to your collection. For the chemist it is a must have.

This was a very hard list to compile and there are another ten I have which are also great. Keep your eyes opened for upcoming reviews of all the things I brought back from my first Pitti Fragranze.

–Mark Behnke

Read Part 1 of my Final Wrap-up here.

Daily wrap-ups live from Florence can be found here; Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.