Eleven Exquisite Experiments: IFF's Speed Smelling Collection 2014 (Part III)

Third and last part of my IFF Speed Smelling impressions… Click here to read Part I, and here for Part II.

Reminiscing in Sophie Labbé’s Space-age Eden

The 1972 Silent Running, directed by Douglas Trumbull (who’d designed the visual effects of 2001, a Space Odyssey), is the story of an orbiting greenhouse sheltering the last surviving specimens of flora and fauna from the now-barren Earth.  Even though Sophie Labbé never heard of the film, she’s been wondering what the garden in an orbital station smell of. What space settlers would take along with them to remember Earth?

Mandarin, basil, lavender, ginger, pink pepper, cassis bud, but also the pared-down LMR vetiver heart and carrot heart feature in this intergalactic garden, along with jasmine and rose, obviously – no perfumer would leave home without them. And a lick of honey, since all of those plants need to be pollinized. The zero-G atmosphere is conjured with an IFF captive, the aptly-named Edenolide™, a highly faceted musk with tremendous volume and enough lifting power to get the whole greenhouse into orbit. A faintly metallic-ozonic-drying concrete note hovers in the background.

In trying to imagine this future remembrance of things past, Sophie has composed an olfactory paradox – or perhaps, a time warp – since it is both evocative of vintage fragrances and convincingly space-age-y; a proper fragrance and an eerily dematerialized anti-perfume…

Exploring Planet Citrus with Aliénor Massenet

Another foray beyond our orbit, Aliénor Massenet’s The New Planet is an olfactory transcription of an eponymous piece by theDanish artist Olafur Eliasson, shown at the Paris FIAC this year – an oddly space-distorting work, suspended from the ceiling and gently revolving upon itself, that seems to tug the viewer backwards as she moves around it.

The tear-shaped drop with its metallic and yellow facets called for citrus. In structuring her composition, Aliénor also sought to address the most basic issue of hesperidic accords: their fleetingness. New Planet revolves around an AmberXtreme™ axis (think spiky woods on steroids) to conjure the metallic glint of the Eliasson piece. Its core is built with two citrusy long-lasting molecules, nootkatone – which smells of grapefruit and is contained both in grapefruit and vetiver --, and khusinyl, reminiscent of rhubarb and the more citrusy aspect of vetiver. The overall effect is bracing, modernistic and non-linea: mission accomplished.

Diving into the Amazonian jungle with Domitille Bertier

Domitille recently signed the delightful B. Balenciaga, a green-themed scent with a quirky “edamame” accord. Here, she follows the chlorophyll trail all the way to the Amazonian jungle, with a composition whose development from top to base notes is also a dive from canopy to humus. The scent features the sole natural containing aliphatic aldehydes, polygonum. Built around an overdose of green notes -- the moist earth and cucumber violet leaf and the darker, more resinous/mushroomy galbanum – with a haze of white floral notes, the composition has an exhilarating naturality and more than a ghost of Vent Vert.

Sipping monsoon coffee with Nicolas Beaulieu

The source of inspiration is a niche classic – a trip to India, more specifically to the Southern state of Tamil Nadu. Cardamom? Check. Sandalwood, jasmine sambac? Obviously. Monsoon coffee is a more unusual olfactory souvenir. The process was developed in India to replicate the taste of coffee beans aged in the damp holds of merchant ships during their six-month journey to Europe. Today, the green coffee beans are exposed to the moisture of the monsoon.

In Nicolas’ composition, this monsoon coffee accord, acting from top to bottom, acts like a patchouli. Its roasted notes – partly provided by sesame absolute -- enhance the smoky creaminess of sandalwood; cardamom, a natural partner of coffee since both crops are grown in the same plantations, but also because it is used to flavor coffee in the Middle East, provides a green-metallic edge to the blend.

The Speed Smelling coffret will be available at Luckyscent in February, and at Harrod’s in London at a later, as-yet-unspecified date.

Onze expériences exquises : La Collection Speed Smelling 2014 d'IFF, 3ème partie

Suite et fin de cette exploration de l’édition 2014 du Speed Smelling d’IFF. Cliquez ici pour lire la 1ère partie, ici pour la 2^ème partie.

L’Eden intergalactique de Sophie Labbé

Dans un film de 1972, le réalisateur Douglas Trumbull (responsable des effets spéciaux de 2001, Odyssée de l’espace) imagine une serre orbitale abritant les derniers spécimens de flore et de faune d’une Terre désormais stérile. Sophie Labbé ne connaissait pas le film, mais elle en a imaginé l’odeur : ou plus précisément, elle s’est demandé ce que sentirait le jardin d’une station orbitale. Qu’emporteraient des pionniers de l’espace pour se rappeler leur planète natale ?

Réponse de Sophie : une palette représentant les grandes familles olfactives, où figurent mandarine, basilic, lavande, gingembre, poivre rose, bourgeon de cassis, mais également un vétiver et une carotte cœur de LMR. Et, forcément, le jasmin et la rose, qu’aucun parfumeur n’imaginerait abandonner. Plus une lichette de miel, parce que la vie n’existerait pas sans les abeilles. Quant à l’ambiance « zéro gravité », elle est évoquée par la bien-nommée Edenolide™, molécule captive IFF de la famille des muscs, très facettée et assez puissante pour envoyer une serre entière en orbite. Des relents ozoniques métalliques avec une touche béton-qui-sèche traînent dans l’air… En tentant d’imaginer le futur antérieur, Sophie a composé un paradoxe olfactif et temporel, à la fois évocateur de la parfumerie classique et résolument futuriste, vrai parfum et anti-parfum dématérialisé.

La planète jaune d’Aliénor Massenet

Les explorations olfactives d’Aliénor Massenet l’ont également propulsée hors de l’orbite terrestre, pour graviter vers The New Planet, œuvre de l’artiste danois Olafur Eliasson montrée à la FIAC 2014. Une goutte géante aux facettes jaunes et argentées suspendue au plafond et tournoyant lentement sur elle-même, dont la forme et le mouvement semblent engendrer une distorsion de l’espace : alors qu’on avance pour la contourner, elle semble nous tirer vers l’arrière…

En centrant sa composition sur les notes hespéridées que semble appeler le jaune, Aliénor a dû travailler sur le problème principal posé par ces notes : leur faible ténacité. New Planet pivote donc sur un axe vertical d’AmberXtreme™ (bois qui pique sous anabolisants) qui évoque les aspérités métalliques de l’oeuvre d’Eliasson. Le noyau de la planète se compose de deux molécules évoquant les citrus, l’une et l’autre agissant en tête, cœur, fond : la nootkatone à odeur de pamplemousse (qui la recèle d’ailleurs, tout comme le vétiver), et le khusinyl, également apparenté au vétiver tout en étant proche de la rhubarbe. L’effet est bel et bien celui d’un jaune froid, tonique et moderniste : mission accomplie !

La jungle amazonienne de Domitille Bertier

Avec le réjouissant B. Balenciaga, Domitille Bertier a récemment signé un parfum vert des cimes aux racines, égayé d’un accord « edamame » proche du petit pois frais. Elle poursuit la piste de la chlorophylle jusqu’au Brésil en imaginant une plongée verticale dans la jungle amazonienne, de la canopée à l’humus. En sollicitant au passage le seul ingrédient naturel de la palette à contenir des aldéhydes aliphatiques (ceux du N°5), le polygonum. Overdosé en notes vertes – violette feuille aux facettes de concombre et de terre humide, galbanum résineux champignonné – et embuées de notes florales tropicales, cette composition pétante de sève exhale une vraie naturalité tout en convoquant au passage le fantôme du regretté Vent vert… (Dans cette photo, Domitille "fume" de la feuille de violette via une pipe à eau).

Le café moussonné de Nicolas Beaulieu

La source d’inspiration relève des classiques de la niche – un voyage en Inde, plus précisément au Tamil Nadu, dans le sud du sous-continent. Cardamome, jasmin sambac, santal : les usual suspects de la région s’alignent dans la formule. Le café moussonné, en revanche, est beaucoup plus inattendu, même si l’une de ses facettes – dite « pyrazinée » en termes techniques, c’est-à-dire grillée-rôtie – s’insinue dorénavant plus fréquemment dans les pyramides olfactives. Le café en question, dont les grains encore verts sont exposés à l’humidité de la mousson, reproduit l’arôme des grains jadis fermentés dans les cales des navires marchands lors de leur long voyage vers l’Europe… Dans la composition de Nicolas, cet accord café moussonné, perceptible en tête-cœur-fond, agit en quelque sorte comme un patchouli. Ses notes grillées – suscitées en partie par une absolue de sésame – s’associent au fumé crémeux d’un santal indien cultivé en Australie. La cardamome, partenaire naturelle du breuvage à la fois parce qu’elle est cultivée en Inde sur les mêmes terres que le café, et qu’elle sert à l’aromatiser au Moyen-Orient, l’enrichit d’un contraste vert-métallique.

Un coffret contenant des vapos 15 ml des  onze créations sera disponible à partir du début de février chez Jovoy, à Paris.

Eleven Exquisite Experiments: IFF's Speed Smelling Collection 2014 (Part II)

More impressions of the Speed Smelling 2014 Collection, with a foodier bent… To read part I, click here.

Licking Juliette Karagueuzoglou’s geranium sherbet

I mean that quite literally. We were served a large spoonful of this uncommon treat as the perfumer explained she wanted to showcase the little-loved geranium by turning it into a cologne. A generous lash of IFF’s stellar Rose Essential™ -- a process which concentrates a wider range of aromatic molecules than other types of extractions – adds richness to the minty, frosty blend. This is so bracing, lively and light-hearted it just makes me grin. Which is exactly what I ask from a cologne.

Going on a gender-bender with Alexis Dadier

A new arrival at IFF (he was formerly at Symrise), the impish, ginger-bearded Alexis Dadier chose the cross-dressing Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst as his muse. In turn, Wurst’s native Austria suggested chocolate pastries and spruce-dotted slopes. The cocoa absolute and fir balsam accord, brought together by a dark berry cocktail, conjured both meanings of the Black Forest: the cake and the woods… Delving further still into the postcard, Dadier added the little-know essential oil of alpinia (actually an Asian member of the ginger family, which owes it name not to the mountains but to an Italian botanist), whose smell he compares to gentian. As the “femme” pendant to the virile spruce, a rose and iris accord flounces out after an hour or so, the former’s jamminess picking up the berry accord’s, while the latter’s chocolate-y facet wraps itself around the cocoa absolute into the drydown. Just like its mascaraed, velvet-bearded inspiration, Dadier’s composition shouldn’t work. But it does, and is strikingly original.

Lolling in Nelly Hachem-Ruiz’s velvet boudoir

After debuting as an analyst perfumer (i.e. analyzing fragrances and materials) and moving on to line extensions (adapting fragrances for non-alcoholic vehicles such as body lotion or shower gel), Nelly Hachem-Ruiz has joined IFF’s Paris team of perfumers. For her maiden Speed Smelling run, she drew her inspiration from the plush textures of a boudoir…

Though the sassy strawberry candy top note veers a tad recklessly into Pretty Baby territory, it does add playfulness and originality to the velvety apricot-leather accord. Built around osmanthus, hay absolute and carrot heart LMR – a velvety, iris, wood and apricot extraction of carrot seed featured in Mugler’s terrific Oriental Express, also an IFF product – Nelly’s boudoir scent is a stealthy charmer, ending on a musky, white chocolate-y note. I’ve been enjoying it more with every wear.

Taking the cure with Loc Dong’s cinnamon potion

He may be the only fine fragrance perfumer from Vietnam – he arrived in the US as a refugee at the age of 11. But Loc Dong’s roots have seldom, if ever, had a chance to express themselves in his commercial work, mostly done for intensely mainstream brands and celebrities. His three Speed Smelling creations, however, have easily been the weirdest of the bunch – a remark that makes him chuckle. After the smell of ink in 2012, an ungodly (but oddly enjoyable) yogurt and Coca Cola accord in 2013, this year he presented a concoction inspired by his herbalist grand-father in Saigon. The scent of a brand-new IFF material, Cinnamon Essential™, acted as his Proustian madeleine. “When people were sick”, he explains, “they went to my grandfather, who would give them a blend of cinnamon, rum and guava in a wooden bowl”. The heat of the concoction would help them sweat out their minor ailments. The sweet, burning composition can practically be tasted, and indeed, if you boil cinnamon bark in water and let it reduce to a syrup, add a splash of rum and guava juice, you’ll be able to sip Loc’s olfactory cocktail (and feel much the better for it). Just leave out the ambroxan, cashmeran and iso E super.

The Speed Smelling Collection coffret, including eleven 15 ml atomizers, will be available from Luckyscent in February.