I love learning about new perfume ingredients. Once I encounter something, I look forward to it being used in a perfume. I had the opportunity to smell the ingredient Noreenal. It is an exclusive ingredient for the Mane perfumers to use. My chance to smell it came about through a discussion with a Mane chemist about the effect adding branching and double bonds to long chain aldehydes has. What Mane discovered is if you add both branching and a double bond you get an unusual scent profile for an aldehyde. It still has the effervescence typical of these molecules. In the case of Noreenal it adds a fresh citrus-like scent to it. This is like a stiff breeze from out of a citrus orchard. I expected to encounter it in a Mediterranean style perfume. Instead it is used as a nose-catching opening for a classical rose and musk perfume, Armani Prive Musc Shamal.
Julie Masse
It seems appropriate that the first perfume I am aware of to use Noreenal is named after a Middle Eastern wind, shamal. I wonder if perfumer Julie Masse was waiting for a brief which mentioned a fresh wind to add Noreenal to. It fits ideally in a perfume named Musc Shamal.
That Noreenal is where Musc Shamal opens. Mme Masse uses enough to capture the natural effect it is mimicking. The freshness fused on the kinetic energy of an aldehyde makes this compelling. Mme Masse amplifies the citrus quality to add to the desired effect. The breeze crashes into a floral heart of deep rose before the other ingredient on the label flows into sight. Mme Masse forms a mixture of musks capturing both fresh and animalic aspects. The cleaner musks reiterate the opening Noreenal breeze while the deeper musks combine with amber and vanilla for a warmer accord.
Musc Shamal has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.
My affection for Musc Shamal is due to the way Mme Masse unleashes a new breeze across a classical fragrance form.
Disclosure: this review is based on a sample supplied by Neiman-Marcus.
–Mark Behnke
Recent Comments