As I’ve mentioned multiple times I’m not a candle guy. Although because I write about fragrances I get a few sent to me anyway. Of all the ones I’ve received there was one which even I could tell was at the pinnacle of quality; Cire Trudon. I know at the time I wondered how interesting it would be for the creative mind behind the candles, Executive Director Julien Pruvost, turned to perfumes of the liquid kind. With the release of the first five perfumes in the Trudon Parfums collection we see if the waxen brilliance can be translated to something without a wick.
Julien Pruvost
A couple of things which pleased me before I even spritzed a drop. Mr. Pruvost kept the first set of releases to five. Another positive is there is no desire to make sure they check every box on the style of perfumes checklist. These five span the deeper part of the perfumed spectrum. Finally, he chose to work with only three perfumers. Lyn Harris did three; Deux, Mortel, and Olim. Those three have an interesting coherence when taken together which is why I’ll cover them in Part 2 tomorrow. For today I’m going to look at the other two; Bruma and Mortel.
Antoine Lie
Bruma was composed by Antoine Lie. Bruma is translated as “solstice” from Latin. Solstice is also either the shortest day or night of the year; Bruma looks for the light before the darkness arrives. M. Lie embodies his daylight with beautifully rooty iris without a hint of powder. It is kept illuminated by peony, lavender, and jasmine. It is that last ray of sun expressed in iris. The darkness comes forward in a gorgeously constructed leather accord it wraps the sunny florals in a cloak of twilight. Vetiver comes along to extinguish the light leaving the earthier aspects of the orris as the remains of the day.
Bruma has 10-12 hour longevity and moderate sillage.
Yann Vasnier
Mortel was composed by Yann Vasnier. M. Vasnier is also playing with themes of shadow and light but Mortel is more twilight than one or the other. It has been a long time since I have tried a new incense perfume as good as Mortel. It was my first love in niche perfumery which Mortel reminded me of. Great incense has a shimmery metallic covering over the resinous core. The incense M. Vasnier chooses is all of that. He spices it up with black pepper, nutmeg, and allspice. They blend in adding shadow to the slightly monolithic nature of the incense. That solidity gets broken down even more as the sweetness of myrrh and benzoin modulate the chilly frankincense into a softer warmer resin accord as the shadows deepen.
Mortel has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.
Both Bruma and Mortel are excellent fragrance representatives of this most esteemed of candle brands.
I’ll return tomorrow with reviews of the other three.
Disclosure: This review was based on samples provided by Trudon Parfums.
–Mark Behnke
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