It is a familiar complaint from me. I do not understand why Prada likes to hide their exclusive line of perfume. I used to have to go to the Prada flagship in Manhattan where I knew more about their perfume inventory than the staff. The Exclusives have evolved in to the Olfactories Collection. In the summer of 2017 a four-perfume subset called Mirages was UK only. I was told the exclusivity was for a year. I was impatient enough to get one anyway and Soleil au Zenith did not disappoint. I was willing to be patient and wait out the year. Imagine my surprise as I was flipping through the Saks Fifth Avenue website to find they were selling not only the Mirages but the entire Olfactories collection. There is a forehead sized dent in my desk after seeing this. The one which interested me second most was Dark Light which I ordered.
Daniela Andrier
The entire set of Olfactories are composed by in-house perfumer Daniela Andrier. This collection is where Mme Andrier tries some different techniques and some different ingredients. In Dark Light she is trying to capture the moment just before a large thunderstorm breaks. The early moments show her ability to create something without using the usual suspects. Her choice of ingredients to capture the deluge is totally fascinating and different from what I expected.
It starts at the top. The moments prior to a thunderstorm is a common theme for perfumers to interpret. They want to capture the tension in the air the smell of the ozone from lightning with the weight of the dark clouds coming closer. Mme Andrier uses the peppery herbal nature of angelica seeds in place of the ozonic ingredients more commonly used. What she does is to explode them with lightning strikes of aldehydes. As a thunderstorm approaches it feels like the world smells sharper. The angelica seeds and aldehydes capture that. Then the deluge comes and instead of full on aquatic or geosmin or petrichor, Mme Andrier envisions a rain of resinous vanilla as vanilla and myrrh fall from the sky. This is a release of sorts, delightfully so. The promised amber arrives in the base along with musk which is the most traditional choice in this perfume.
Dark Light has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.
Dark Light shows Mme Andrier’s innovative streak to its fullest. I just want to stand and let the sweet lightning strike again and again.
Disclosure: This review is based on a bottle I purchased.
–Mark Behnke
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