lundi 12 janvier 2009

Two Jasmines (Green and Black): Parfumerie Générale Drama Nuuï and Bulgari Jasmin Noir


I’ve said it before: I love jasmine, but jasmine soliflores scare me, partly because of the gasoline-like, migraine-inducing fumes the absolute gives out, and partly because I have such vivid memories of jasmine-scented Sevillan nights. Still, I’m always game to try a new variation on the flower.

While we wait for Serge Lutens’ new Nuit de Cellophane which features jasmine prominently according to Elisabeth de Feydeau’s blog (along with mandarin rind, jasmine, osmanthus, myrrh, sandalwood, castoreum and civet, the scent could be a variation on Sarrasins – or not), I decided to dig up my samples of Pierre Guillaume’s Drama Nuuï (Parfumerie Générale’s latest launch along with Felanilla) and Bulgari Jasmin Noir.

As soon as I spritzed it on, Drama Nuuï made me feel somewhat like Patrick McGoohan’s character Number Six in the 60s cult series The Prisoner, forever pursued by that huge bouncing ball on some Welsh beach: I could smell nothing but what I’ve come to call the Big White Green Bubble, the muguet motif that seems to be placed inside so many contemporary fragrances to open up a space between the notes.

The BGWB is so central it seems to be forcing out the star player, until it just barely hangs on at the edge of the frame: a very delicate, green jasmine, shorn of any animalic note, with a hint of bitterness at the outset (absinthe is listed) and a pinch of spice. This is jasmine as virgin: lovely, fresh and shy.

Bulgari Jasmin Noir, by IFF veteran Carlos Benaïm along with Sophie Labbé, is equally subdued, as though the volume of this fragrance had been turned so love as to be almost imperceptible, at least to my nose. Apparently, I’m not the only one to be stricken by this peculiar anosmia. Robin of Now Smell This had the same experience: “It smells good, but it doesn't smell much", she writes. Like her, I find Jasmin Noir wears “incredibly close to the skin”; but what can be smelled is absolutely exquisite. As in Drama Nuuï, the headiness of the jasmine is cut with green (in this case a “green sap” note); but interestingly, instead of going for something like vanilla to bolster the woody-ambery base, Benaïm and Labbé selected a similarly burnt-sweet note, licorice, which gives the fragrance an almost leathery feel at times. Its cool anise-like accents are an ideal match for jasmine. The licorice and woods probably account for the “noir” in the name; although I can’t help thinking that it may have something to do with a black hole sucking out most of the sillage. As Octavian Coifan remarked in his 1000fragrances review, Jasmin Noir is so utterly poised and refined that it could pass for a Chanel. This is jasmine as introvert: chic, brooding and secretive.

Image: Magenta, Black, Green on Orange by Mark Rothko (1947), Museum of Modern Art, courtesy Wikipedia.


10 commentaires:

  1. Hi,
    We both seem to notice spaces or partitions in Drama Nuui. We need a chemist to tell us if that's hedione or something.

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  2. Cait, what ever it is, I keep finding it in lots of fragrances, or at least the structure of it, perilously skirting lily of the valley (ie air freshener) territory...

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  3. You made me giggle with Jasmin Noir. Now I really want to smell it, if only to detect the black hole...

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  4. March, I find it very beautiful -- when I can find it. As Robin has had the same problem I feel less lame (no one can say she's got problems with her sense of smell!).

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  5. I think the black hole of Jasmin Noir just left me with the unfortunate plastic/synthetic jasmine note at the top, and then a a fairly typical floral drydown that was not particularly unique. I got no woodiness (shame) or milky almond, or licorice to make things interesting. Maybe I should try it on a different day? Summer perhaps?

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  6. Pikake, it's frustrating, isn't it? I'll be saving the remains of my sample to try in hot weather too... If that doesn't work out, well, there are so many other jasmines...

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  7. So When IS that new SL Nuit de Cellophane coming anyway? :-)

    Seriously, I must find Jasmin Noir to try, you make it sound like it's just what I am looking for in a Jasmine scent - full of the floral character but not too heady to wear in public.

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  8. Flora, Nuit de Cellophane will be launched in March.

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  9. Jasmin & Rothko in one post!!!! I grow faint with happiness!!!

    I need to hop up to Saks & smell Jasmine Noir, although I like my jasmines big & bossy, not sulking close to my skin. The Lutens -- well, I greet all new Lutenses with a healthy dose of skepticism.

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  10. Amy, big and bossy this ain't. I have reasonable hopes for the Serge.

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