As someone who has lived in New York City most of my life,  I have spent many hours  exploring artistic  perfumes from all over the world in Karl Bradl and Robert Gerstner’s bijou boutique  AEDES de VENUSTAS which opened almost twenty years ago (before blogging or fragrance websites existed). Their attention to detail, to education, customer service and to encouraging olfactive  exploration has engaged me since 1999. A number of shoppes have tried (with questionable success) to launch their own House transforming a “space” into a vision and a brand. AEDES has accomplished this in 2012, when their eponymous scent launched blending rhubarb and incense; now a cult classic. The founders have worked with master perfumers Bertrand Duchaufour, Ralf Schwieger and Rodrigo Flores Roux  and  have taken us on journey back to the very origin of fragrance, burnt offerings of incense to the gods.

Aedes de Venustas’ first release of 2015 is Palissandre d’Or,  a collaboration with  Master Perfumer Alberto Morillas.  The idea for the house’s fifth offering was sparked off by the Indian rosewoodtree also known as Dalbergia sissoo, which has historically been the primary rosewood species of northern India. Rather than a specific essence, it was the word “palisander”, used in the intricate Oriental carvings and serene Asian groves, which provided the inspiration. Reading the ingredients, I envision intricate patterns hand carved into fine grain wood

Notes:  Ambrette, pink pepper, coriander, cinnamon,  nutmeg  a rare sandalwood extract from Sri Lanka,  copahu balm, amboxan and patchouli extract, a bold, a trio of cedar including Virginian cedar, Chinese cedar and a rare extract of Alaskan cedar and ambroxan

Palissandre d’Or Eau de Parfum will be available May 1st, 2015. Suggested Retail Price : US $245 / 210€ (100 ml Flacon),Purse spray and refills US $195 / 150€ (3×10 ml), Refills US $110 / 90€ (3×10 ml).

via Karl Bradl and press release

-Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

Editor's Note: Ouillet Bengale, Copal Azur were among our top 25 perfumes of 2014 and Iris Nazrena was a top 25 scent in 2013

Karl Bradl and Robert Gerstner Owners of Aedes de Venustas and Creative Directors of The Aedes de Venustas Fragrance Collection

It gives me great personal pleasure to review Palissandre d’Or, my second Aedes de Venustas parfum and their fifth after the dynamically odd and moreish Copal Azur in November last year, a collaboration with Bertrand Duchaufour I described as ..’a celebration of land and sea, of fire and blue shimmering depth, of smoke on water’.  Karl Brandt and Robert Gerstner, the Creative Directors of Aedes have re-defined the essence of scent boutique ownership in their series of stylish and critically acclaimed house masterpieces. I have the plush, lush, Garbo-esque Iris Nazerena in my collection, their collaboration with one of my favourite perfumers, Ralf Schweiger. I adore it and smother myself in it when I’m alone, feeling self-absorbed and blue.

@aedesdevenustas instgaram Palissandre D'Or

Now we have another master perfumer at work, this time, Alberto Morillas, seemingly at the height of his powers and like another mainstream master Olivier Cresp, revelling and excelling in the relatively unshackled world of niche perfumery, producing finely tuned, refined work. Palissandre d’Or is quite magnificent, described by Aedes as ‘olfactory marquetry’, ostensibly inspired by the glories of Indian rosewood and the olfactory redolence of intricate scented wooden carvings. The Aedes PR material draws a smoky thread of frankincense through their releases to date which I’m not entirely sure holds up to close scrutiny, however, the fragrances it is true do possess a certain sacred offered quality of fumy atmospherics amid the savage oeillet, iris, copal and saline spray. Palissandre d’Or is different however; it is a polished essay in the perfumed importance of sacred wood.

Nogoro-nuri lacquer tray by OHTA Shuji, Japan

Wearing Palissandre d’Or is a lesson in layered aesthetics and for me with a background in Asian Fine art I am put in mind of Nogoro-nuri, my favourite expression of Japanese lacquerware. It originated from the Nogoro-ji Temple Complex in Wakayama Prefecture and uses only the deepest black and bloodiest vermillion over the shitagi undercoats. Lacquer work demands virtuoso skills to produce surface effects but also to highlight the intrinsic form and beauty of the object enrobed in the precious (and poisonous) sap. With Nogoro lacquer ware, after the vital shitaji undercoats, multiple layers of black are applied and then masked with a layer of vermilion. Over time and with handling, the red colour starts to wear off in certain places, allowing the black to shadow through. This ‘beauty of usage’ lends the objects their power, value and allure.

 Nogoro-Nuri Temple objets TSF

I have always been obsessed with these rubbed and handled objets d’art, they are achingly beautiful. Their beauty and value is judged on the balance of black creeping through the fading red. Temple spoons, platters, penholders, bowls, tea utensils, censers and cups; all used, held, handled and respected. It is the rubbed subtlety of chromatic attrition that makes these objects so valuable and so it is with the aromatic layering and handling of woods, essence and associated materials in Palissandre d’Or. The effects have been carefully laid down over one another with precision and polished charm. The usual triangular structure seems to have been pared down into delicate strata of drifting facets; animalic ambrette unfolding over a sheer anisic pear eau-de-vie and milky nutmeg combination.  A second layer of sweet cinnamon, barky and smoked, smells a little like rolling tobacco in its moistness. Then the basso profundo woods, a lactonic sandalwood and the much vaunted triptych of cedars, Virginian, Chinese and Alaskan, each apparently bringing their own smoked, tea-stained and leathery nuances to the lacquered mix.

Nogoro Laquer -TSF

I cannot honestly tell you if this trio of woods has distinctly separate tonalities, but what I will say is that Alberto Morillas has created an aromatic layering of unusual profundity and contagious beauty. I find many contemporary wood scents trail off into hissy meh or leave a lingering sense of meagre shrug. Palissandre d’Or echoes Nogoro lacquer on skin, one can imagine the layers being handled and bruised to reveal texture, chromatic shift and shadow beneath the applications of colour. There is a cinnabar sweetness glowing in the loveliest of drydowns. It doesn’t have quite the lasting power I would have liked and I could have done with a little less Ambrox, distracting the glimmer, it feels like a knife scratching away at the lacquer. But these are small gripes for such an expansive and elegant essay in arboreal magnificence. Aedes De Venustas continue to maintain a beautifully high standard of perfumery with Palissandre d’Or, it is a work of honed, lacquered precision; a perfume to covet and glaze the skin with inclination and offering.

Editor’s Note:  Aedes de Venustas Copal d’Azur and Ouillet  Bengale (Rodrigo Flores-Roux) were both in our  top 25 fragrances of 2014

– The Silver Fox, Editor and Author of The Silver Fox

Disclosure – Samples kindly supplied by Beauty Entreprise & Aedes de Venustas

Photo: TSF

Thanks to Aedes de Venustas and Beauty Enterprises we have a 2 ml spray sample of Palissandre D’Or for a registered ÇaFleureBon reader in the EU, Canada or USA. To be eligible please leave a comment with why you would like to try Pallisandre D’Or, where you live and if you have a favourite  Aedes de Venustas fragrance. Draw closes May 13, 2015.

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume

New York City based Aedes de Venustus is one of the few retailers that has established a worldwide brand, beginning in 2012 with the signature Aedes de Venustus EDP, Bertrand Duchaufour’s dichotomous incense/rhubarb fragrance. Fabrice Pellegrin of Firmenich under the creative direction of Karl Bradl, co-founder of the bijoux boutique, now located on 7 Greenwich Avenue,  unveils the Company’s 6th perfume Cierge de Lune evoking the scent of the mysterious night- blooming cereus (Selenicereus grandiflorus). Known as the Queen of the Night,  the spectacular flower only opens after dark and wilts as the sun rises.Inspired by the fragrance of the mysterious flower – “spicy vanilla laced with wisps of incense” — Fabrice Pellegrin unveils the dark side of vanilla with an outstanding Madagascan absolute. When asked about the vanilla, M.Pellegrin said, “Our Madagascan vanilla absolute is the truest to the natural ingredient.

Notes include: Madagascar Vanilla, hedione, cactus blossom, ylang-ylang, pink pepper, black pepper, resins, dark chocolate accord, Ambrox, suede accord.

Available April 2016 

Suggested Retail Price: US $245 / 210€   (100ml/3.4oz)

via press release

Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

Detail from  The Penitent Magdalen, oil on canvas, detail (1640) Georges de La Tour.

My candle burns at both ends

It will not last the night;

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends –

It gives a lovely light. 

Edna St. Vincent Millay, "A Few Figs from Thistles", 1920

Aedes Perfumery (photo courtesy of Aedes)

New York’s singular baroque Temple of Beauty as the name Aedes de Venustas literally translates as was founded by Karl Bradl and Robert Gerstner in 1995 to showcase niche or hitherto hidden or elusive scents. Their boutique has recently completed a move from its previous location to 7 Greenwich Avenue. Aedes Perfumery (note the subtle name shift..) still retains that plush, charismatic sense of eccentricity and Village hush and charm that have made it such an important and influential destination for anyone who is seriously interested in what is going on in the world of luxury, art and artisan scent.

Creative Directors Karl Bradl and Robert Gerstner of Aedes de Venustas Perfumes and Owners of Aedes Perfumery (Photo Aedes)

This is the third Aedes de Venustas review I have written for ÇaFleureBon after the sacrificial ocean smoke of Bertrand Duchaufour’s rather extraordinary Copal Azur and the languid lacquer of Palissandre d’Or by Alberto Morillas.  As these exquisite Aedes house compositions have emerged, created in collaboration with some of the world’s most innovative perfumers, it has become clear that the guys at Aedes, Karl Bradl in particular have been exploring a particularly thoughtful and perceptive exploration of certain plant and vegetal matter twisted through oddness and veiled erudition. This started back in the Aedes signature leitmotif of smoke and incense, an olfactory emotion laid down in 2008 in special edition collaboration in 2008 with L’Artisan Parfumeur, also created by Bertrand Duchaufour.   

Aedes de Venustas Perfumes at Aedes Perfumery NYC (photo Karl Bradl)

Then in 2012 the serious business of evolving Aedes into an ultra luxe perfume house began with Bertrand Duchaufour’s incense and vetiver soaked Signature for the house, scattered through with typically Duchaufourian notes such as hazelnut, tomato leaf and rhubarb. This was followed by the luminous mothwing beauty of Ralf Schweiger’s Iris Nazerena, one of the best iris scents ever, the bruised ghostliness of the Iris Bismarckiana protected by sueded ambrette and a weird smoky juniper exhalation. Rodrigo Flores-Roux was the man behind the very disconcerting but triumphant Oeillet de Bengale that uses its name to suggest a spicy carnation but is in fact an leftfield interpretation of a china rose, Rosa indica caryopyhllea to be a little more precise. The petal edges seem to burn and smoulder over flowers and spices including an earthy hurl of turmeric as the bloom rests its rebel head on a base of welcome resins and balms. Throughout these and the Copal Azur and Palissandre d’Or rises and wreathes a common tendril drift of smoke, vapour and a rather mindful study of the various olfactive facets of incense. This is the Aedes signature, a direct link back to the origins of the word perfume itself: per fumum, through smoke, referring to the age old rituals of burning resins, herbs and sacred oils on altars to carry prayers up to the above in the sacred smoke.

Georges de la Tour, The Pentinent Magdalan

Now we have the most explicitly ethereal and vapourous offering yet in the ephemeral form of Cierge de Lune, created for Aedes Perfumery by the eclectic and busy Grasse-based perfumer Fabrice Pellegrin who joined Firmenich in 2008 after stints at Robertet and Mane. He also made the haunting Volutes for Diptyque, one of the finest scents in their collection, a nostalgic tobacco perfume inspired by a particular brand of pungent vintage Egyptian cigarettes. He worked with Chantal and Alexandra Roos on the quirky and elegant Dear Rose line and made the eccentric bestseller Blackberry & Bay for Jo Malone.

Job raillé par sa femme (Job Mocked by his Wife) (c.1650)  Georges de la Tour

There are two words in French for candle, la bougie and la cierge. However, the difference to a French person is that cierge refers to candles burned in churches, in ritual, on altars. We don’t have that level of sophistication in English and while you could argue that votive candle has the same meaning, it’s spiritual impact has been eroded by the world of commercial candle selling as it has come to refer to any small generic candle, larger than a tea light, smaller than a classic size. When I hear the word cierge, I see melted tapers on altars, prayer candles flooding stone floors with supplicatory wax, I smell beeswax and wood in my brain, dry empty naves.

 Cierge de Lune flower backlit by candlelight (Photo The Silver Fox)

This compelling new Aedes composition is an essay in woodsy Madagascan vanilla, pink and black peppers, a delicious suede accord and luxurious layers of glittering Ambrox and Hedione. The name refers to another one of Karl Bradl’s singular botanical preoccupations, Selenicereus grandiflorus, a species of night-blooming cactus. Selene was the Greek Moon Goddess and cereus is Latin for candle; so literally Moon Goddess Candle. The beautiful flowers of this strange, day-defiant cactus are known as Queen of the Night and emit a low sweet odour to entice moths and bats. It was rumoured to be a favourite oddity of the frivolous cocooned Marie Antoinette who supposedly summoned the renowned French botanical artist Pierre-Joseph Redouté to her Versailles chamber at night to capture its strange alluring charms. Whatever the truth, the night blooming cereus is the most divinely perfect Aedes inspiration: obscure, curious and of course botanically baroque with its bracts, wisps and erotic spines.

Girl with a Brazier – Georges de la Tour

The vanilla is one of the loveliest I’ve smelled in a while, super soft, crystalline with a delicate after whiff of forbidden lost Art Deco tobacco that echoes that wondrous drift of Agatha Christie ‘Death on the Nile’ smoke in Fabrice’s Volutes. Cierge de Lune is the quietest of the Aedes launches to date; a muted prayer of fragile aromatic assembling. It is dry, desert dry, lit by a cere moon.

Magdalene in a Flickering Light – Georges de la Tour

If the Cierge de Lune bottle with its subtle copper livery and gold zamak cap could dream… the dream would be of a woman in a desert nightscape, dressed in sfmuato gold, walking barefoot soft through the sand, spoor pulled into night. A single edifice stands on a promontory, windows glowing like fire. Inside, the roof is open to bruised sky, candles flow wax to sand scattered floors. Walls burn. On an upturned chair in the centre of the room, white petals blaze with the scent of ylang, amber and vanilla sky. Watching smoke rise, her eyes open, her skin is sweet with night love.

There is much romance and abstraction in the quietude of Cierge de Lune; some of you will be bemoan perhaps the lack of animalic raunch or huge shifts in olfactory tone as it weathers. But we live in a vulgar age and we should treasure whispered beauty like this. It is oh so rare.

 Disclosure: Sample kindly supplied by Beauty Enterprise/Aedes Perfumery. Opinions my own

 –The Silver Fox, Guest Contributor and author of The Silver Fox

Art Direction: Michelyn Camen The play on the word Cierge and Cereus inspired me to choose the Oils of George de La Tour a French Baroque painter  whose work is best known for candlelit subjects.

Editor's Note Cierge de Lune  was launched worldwide at Esxence in Milan last month 

Thanks to Aedes Perfumery and Beauty Enterprises we have a 50 ml bottle of Cierge de Lune for a registered ÇaFleureBon reader in the EU, Canada or USA. To be eligible please leave a comment with why you would like to try Cierge de Lune based on The Silver Fox’s review, where you live and if you have a favourite  Aedes de Venustas fragrance. If you would like to see Karl and Robert featured in our Creative Directors Series, please leave that in your comment; I have been after them for a year.  Draw closes May 9, 2015.

 We announce the winners on our site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume

Karl Bradl and Robert Gerstner co founders of Aedes Perfumery

In his second collaboration with Creative Director Karl Bradl  of the bijoux boutique Aedes Perfumery, reunites with award winning Master Perfumer Alberto Morillas of Firmenich, who signs  the new  AEDES DE VENUSTAS fragrance, the seventh  in the collection,  Grenadille d’Afrique. 

Palissandre D’Or

After last year’s Palissandre D’Or, the theme of wood is the olfactive thread that continues through M. Morillas and Karl Bradl’s newest exploration. With Grenadille d’Afrique, the journey is to a new region in the scent-map, the age-old landscape of Africa where woods and resins meet ink and stone in a tribute to ancient ebony.

painting courtesy of Aedes de Venustas Grenadille d’Afrique Tree of Life 

Each AEDES DE VENUSTAS fragrance is inspired by a  raw material. Grenadille d’Afrique uses the rare, costly Dalbergia melanoxylon (literally “black wood”) which yields one of the hardest and densest woods in the world. The Ancient Egyptians, called it h’bny, fashioned precious furniture from its heartwood, whose color ranges from deep purple to brownish black – the modern word “ebony” carries the memory of that distant past. In Tanzania, the Makonde people, who know it as mpingo, use it to create spectacular, highly prized Tree of Life carvings. In Grenadille d’Afrique – its French name the scent was created  to evoke  an arrestingly elegant olfactory sculpture.

Alberto Morillas

Alberto Morillas says, “It is a surprising, uncompromising and emotional scent”, the perfumer explains. “The materials are simple, stark and unadorned, like a very dense, very beautiful sculpture. It is through this density and simplicity that the fragrance turns into art”.

Grenadille d’Afrique expresses not only its namesake tree, but also the primal landscape in which it grows. Intriguingly described as “fossilized wood rubbed in a vanilla accord” by Alberto Morillas, this strongly contrasted composition sets its dark heart off with luminous notes.

“It is dusk or dawn? Sparkling bergamot captures the last rays of the sun, while a purple haze of lavender and violet spill their powdery moonlight on the savannah grasslands… Run through from twigs to roots with aromatic, juniper-scented sap, this olfactory portrait of the mythical African Blackwood tree is built around a “trunk” of Haitian vetiver. With its complex facets of wood, smoke, earth and flint, it is the vertical axis that draws together the fragrance’s vegetal, animal and mineral notes. Turned into combustible resin by a lash of ambery cistus labdanum, vanilla exudes its balsamic warmth. Bleached wood, skin-soft bark and sun-heated stone release the day’s heat into the ink-black night, cooled off by a breeze of musk…”

Retail Price : US $245/Available in October 2016.

via AEDES de VENUSTAS and Beauty Enterprises

Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

Editor’s note: AEDES DE VENUSTAS has recieved the CaFleureBon Best  of Scent Awards for their signature Aedes de venustas in 2012, Copal Azur and Iris Nazrena 2013,  Ouillet Bengale in 2014, 

 I will be attending the New York Press Launch  and will make a spray sample for a registered reader worldwide. To be eligible please leave a comment with what intrigues you about Grenadille d’Afrique, your favorite Aedes de Venustas fragrance and where you live. Draw closes  9/7/2016.

We announce winners on site and on our Facebook page- so like Cafleurebon  and use our RSS feed option … or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume

Petrified wood, photo by National Geographic

If you could see through ebony, it would smell like this.  

Grenadille d’Afrique (“African Blackwood”), the seventh perfume from Aedes de Venustas, is an elegantly lactonic woods fragrance possessed of an unusual transparency. Created in collaboration between Creative Director Karl Bradl and master perfumer Alberto Morillas (who was also the nose behind Aedes’ 2015 release, Pallisandre D’Or, also designed around a woods theme), Grenadille d’Afrique has a translucency that diverges from the usual opacity of woods-dominant perfumes.

Kaingo ebony forest (apped by MC), photo by Derek Shenton

Aedes de Venustas’ press materials describes Grenadille d'Afrique as an “olfactory portrait of the mythical African Blackwood tree.”  While the woods make up the heart of the fragrance, there is none of the cinnamon sawdust quality of cedar or the rich vanillic aspects of oak. Rather, Grenadille d’Afrique begins with a sparkle of bergamot and white tea that lifts the opening and sets the tone for the perfume’s unusual ability to impart lightness to hefty, earthy ingredients like vetiver, wood accord and labdanum.

Photo by Fashion Designer and Artist  Ikire Jones

A few minutes in, Grenadille d’Afrique expands into an amalgam of sweet cream and black licorice, an effect created by merging grey lavender with lactonic notes. A sensation of smooth, polished wood follows, the camphorous quality of juniper in the top notes giving a sly impression of lacquer. It is like sipping a milky anisette from a deeply carved ebony bowl.

Dieyna Ba, photo by Sevda Albers for Annabelle Magazine, June 2014

As Grenadille d'Afrique develops, an almost dusty vetiver opens out like a drop of olive green oil paint expanding on water. Often, vetiver adds a vegetal or leafy quality to compositions. Here, M. Morillas achieves an aromatic trompe l’oeil by using vetiver’s drier, branchy aspects to create a mineral note like sun-baked stone.

Sunset on the African Savanna (apped by MC) Photo by Jules Shenton

Grenadille d’Afrique dries down like a sunset, with the warm baked aromas of its middle stages softening out with vanilla and labdanum as the mineral note recedes.  The milky tea note of the opening resurfaces and the woods become less distinct. Grenadille d’Afrique quiets into milky resin and cool musk, the olfactory equivalent of sipping a white Earl Grey while watching the sun sink below the horizon of the savanna as the parched day wanes.

Notes: Bergamot, lavender, juniper, violet, African blackwood accord, cistus labdanum, vetiver, milky white tea accord, musk. Sillage is intimate and longevity is good — about 6 to 8 hours.

Sample provided by Aedes de Venustas – many thanks. Opinions are my own.

— Lauryn Beer, Editor

Editor’s Note: AEDES DE VENUSTAS has received ÇaFleureBon Best of Scent Awards for three of their signature perfumes: Copal Azur (2014) by Bertrand Duchaufour, Iris Nazarena (2013) by Ralf Schweiger, which was the recipient of the Fragrance  Foundation 2014 Award for Perfume Extraordinaire and Rodrigo Flores-Roux’s Ouillet Bengale (2014) –Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

Aedes de Venustas Grenadille d'Afrique, photo via instagram

Thanks to the generosity of Aedes de Venustas and François Duquesne the CEO of Beauty Enterprises, (the distributor of Aedes de Venustas perfumes) we have a 100 ml bottle of Grenadille  d’Afrique for a registered reader in the US, Canada or Europe. You must register here for your comment to count. To be eligible please leave a comment with what appeals to you about Grenadille D”Afrique based on Lauryn’s review, where you live, andif you have a favorite Aedes de Venustas perfume. If you think Karl Bradl should tell his story as the Creative Director for AEDES DE VENUSTAS perfumes (and working with some of the greatest perfumers in the  world) in our Creative Directors in Perfumery Series, leave that in your comment too.  Draw closes 11/5/2016.

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS feed…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.

Richard E. Grant, photo by WMNO Vergnault

The 1987 cult film Withnail And I put Richard E. Grant on the map. His performance as the dissipated, irascible out-of-work actor Withnail, railing torrents of witty abuse at the universe like a down-at-heel Oscar Wilde, is breathtaking. Now, 30 years later, Withnail remains one of the great eccentrics of British film. So it is unsurprising that Grant’s first foray into perfumery, Jack, carries more than a touch of his most famous character.

Richard E. Grant in the film Withnail And I, 1987

Jack, winner of the 2015 Fragrance Foundation UK award for best new independent fragrance, is what Withnail might very well have sported had he become a success. It was created in partnership between Grant and former IFF and now Symrise perfumer  Aliénor Massenet. The name alludes to that epitome of Englishness, the Union Jack, and the dozen other colloquial meanings Jack has in the English-speaking world.

Gucci Menswear 2015 Fashion Editorial, photo by Kiki Xue for Boycott

Jack could be described as a tonic with a hit of hemp; very modern and quite English; proper and quirky in equal measures. Its opening is as sharp as a Wildean quip, dominated by a top note remarkably like the bitter-fresh scent of just-cut grapefruit (an olfactory trick created by lime and mandarin). Hurrying into the top notes is a slightly smoky, herbal note that initially smells half basil, half juniper. It gives the sense of a perfectly made gin-and-tonic without smelling literally like one.

Coco Rocha, Curiouser and Curiouser fashion editorial, photo by Tim Walker for Vogue, Feb 2007

Stage two is all about the weed. The herbal note huddles down into an earthier place as the opening chords become more distinct. The grapefruit fades more recognizably into lime and the sweetness of mandarin is now discernible. The citrus notes provide a bright backdrop for the loamy cannabis, keeping the scent from dropping hazily into hippie territory. This cannabis is not the sly, fresh green note of DSH Perfumes’ Agrestic, nor the dreamy reefer of Parfumerie Generale Coze, but a smell of freshly turned earth and plant leaves, a quality emphasized by a bone dry vein of vetiver.

Tim Walker for W Magazine, Denmark, Dec 2016

Citrus-based scents often have a predictable descent into soapy musk. Not so with Jack. While there is musk, a smack of pepper and dry tobacco in the dry down add a warm, sturdy base to the herbal-fruit upper notes. I don’t pick up the oud or incense, but the ending manages to hold the lime rind/grapefruit note and herbs in balance while allowing them to stay front and center throughout Jack’s finish.

Photo by Alexander Neumann for L’Officiel, Paris, Jun-Jul 2012

Designed to be unisex, Jack is chipper, dapper, refined with an intriguingly likable louche note, like a Jermyn Street suit on a gigolo, or a rumpled crinoline on a garden party debutante. If you like your scents straight up with a twist, Jack is deliciously for you.

Notes: lime, cannabis, mandarin orange, cloves, pepper and nutmeg, agarwood (oud), vetiver, white musk, tobacco and olibanum. Sillage is on the modest side and longevity is average.

Sample provided by Aedes de Venustas – many thanks. My opinions are my own.

— Lauryn Beer, Editor

Steve Martin with Richard E. Grant

Editor’s Note: Aedes de Venustas held a party for the launch mid October 2016; celebrities such as Steve Martin, Joel Grey, Parker Posey, and Trudy Styler turned out in full force

Jack, photo courtesy of Aedes de Venustas

Thanks to the generosity of Aedes de Venustas, we have samples of all three Jack perfumes Jack, Jack Convent Gardens and Jack Picadilly 69  for 3 registered readers in the U.S. To be eligible, please leave a comment with what appeals to you about Jack based on Lauryn’s review, if you are familiar with Richard E. Grant and if you have a favorite Richard E. Grant film or role. Draw closes 1/9/2016.

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS Feed or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume

Nathalie Feisthauer of LABscent (digitalized MC)

Pélargonium  by AEDES DE VENUSTAS which launched at Esxence 2017, is Creative Directors' Karl Bradl and Robert Gerstner eighth fragrant offering since starting their eponymous collection in 2002.  Pélargonium was brought to life as a strikingly elegant and lively perfume by mega-talent Nathalie Feisthauer, who is also the first woman perfumer for the brand and a true olfactive artist. In the new Pélargonium fragrance the perfumer, perhaps fascinated by the interplay of light and shadow, has employed techniques similar to Chiaroscuro and Tenebrism in painting this perfume.

Still Life with Flowers by Willem van Aelst, 1665.

The profile of the new Pélargonium fragrance evokes the work of 17^th century "still life" painters; Dutch Masters such as Jan Steen, Johannes Vermeer, Willem van Aelst and Hans Bollongier, who were busy creating their art, even as the first Pelargoniums were arriving in Europe from Africa.

Egyptian Geranium photo Aedes de Venustas©

Pelargonium – often referred to as Egyptian geranium (not to be confused with the window box variety), yields one of the most versatile essences in perfumery.The leaves and stems of the plant have a fresh rosy fragrance, hence the vernacular name, “rose geranium”. The oil, distilled from the leaves rather than the flowers, has been used since the late 19th century, as one of the key elements of the masculine fougère.  Nathalie Feisthauer has taken the idea of the fougère and created a modern perfume that features the eponymous Pelargonium, stylized and composed with a surprising twist. Just as the Dutch Masters infused their "still life" paintings with implied, often mysterious, symbolism, Nathalie transforms an olfactory image of Pelargonium into a study of light shadow- an extraordinary perfume that is  much more complex than a typical soliflore.

The Painter's Studio – Michiel van Musscher

With my first spritz of Pélargonium I step out of the modern world and into a vision of a 17th century painter's loft, an artist's studio with a vast expanse of louvered skylights, all facing north, gathering and focusing the softness and delicacy of the cool, afternoon light. Paintings, in various stages of completion, rest on easels. I can see (and sense) how the interaction between light and shadow, creates an impression of three dimensional form, depth and perspective. 

William Kalf 1653, Still Life with Drinking-Horn detail

The palpable illusion created on canvas (and in perfume) is everything.  In the foreground of the Pélargonium fragrance painting I can smell the scent of light, flooding and highlighting the sparkling leaf. The perfume's initial olfactory image includes a bright, almost zingy lemon pepper, sweetened with the vegetal sugars of carrot and the crisp, herbal, spicy, every so slightly rosy qualities of the succulent geranium. Two "shades" of citrus (Thalo Yellow Green and Cadmium Orange), and touches of two "colors" of pepper (Sepia hue and Deep Napthal Red) grace the opening of the fragrance.  As Pélargonium develops, the peppery edge of the golden citrus melds with facets of green cardamom, breathy orris, arid clary sage and the vague honeyed smoke of guaiac wood, creating an arresting swirl of dusty gun powder (sans the sulfur) shot through with flashes of bergamot. This middle ground gives a stylized, fanciful, surprising twist to what would otherwise develop as a photorealistic Pelargonium. 

Floral Still Life, Hans Bollongier

After about an hour the semi-focused shadow is suffused and rounded with suggestions of amber, sweet woods, resinous elemi and musk.  I linger in the darker heart of the image for five hours or more. As the fragrance dries down, the earthy qualities of vetiver, moss and cedar (in colors of Raw Umber, Sap Green and Van Dyck Brown) add even more depth, dimension and shadow to the background of this elegant fragrance painting. The sillage follows the perspective as the vivacious, invigorating foreground retreats into the fading light and, after six hours, withdraws and disappears into the deepening shadows. If Pélargonium could be a visual "still life", perhaps it would be by Hans Bollongier  – the artist who created deceptively "literal" works of art that convey messages of stylized emotion and occult elegance. In creating  AEDES DE VENUSTAS Pélargonium Nathalie Feisthauer uses her fabulous fragrance palette to paint a unique, fascinating and sophisticated “still life" in scent.

Notes: Bergamot, mandarin, clary sage, black pepper, Sichuan pepper, cardamom, Egyptian geranium, orris, carrot seed, elemi resin, cedarwood, vetiver, guaiac wood, musk and moss.

-Gail Gross, Editor

Art Direction: Michelyn Camen, Editor-in- Chief

PÉLARGONIUM  Eau De Parfum

Thanks to the generosity of AEDES DE VENUSTAS and Francois Dusquesne of BEAUTY ENTERPRISES we have 5 samples of Pélargonium Eau de Parfum for one registered reader worldwide (be sure to register or your comment will not count). To be eligible, tell us what appeals to you about Pélargonium based on Gail's review, where you live and your favorite perfume from AEDES DE VENUSTAS or Nathalie Feisthauer. Draw closes 5/29/2017

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One of my top five fragrances of Esxence 2018 is the new Aedes de Venustus Musc Encensé.  It is the 9th offering in the collection that began with Bertrand Duchaufour's signature perfume in 2008 and the second by perfumer Ralf Schwieger (Iris Nazrena).  

"A meeting of two myths Aedes de Venustus Musc Encensé combines both spirituality   and sensuality, infusing its signature incense note  with a modern take on the long -lost Tonkin musk. Prized for centuries for its suave scent and the lift it gave to other ingredients, animal musk was imported from Central and Eastern Asia along the Silk Road. In Europe, the most valued variety was called Tonkin musk, after the ancient name for North Vietnam.Since 1979, the musk deer is a protected species and animal musk is no longer used in Western perfumery. But though synthetic musks have been available since the late 19th century, none achieves the depth and complexity of the real thing.

For Aedes de Venustus Musc Encensé, Ralf Schwieger draws inspiration from the long-lost ingredient by blending his own rendition of Tonkin musk. Aedes De Venustas Musc Encensé matches the most spiritual of ingredients, the house’s signature incense note,  with the most sensual of accords. The name is not just a play on the French encens (incense) and insensé (crazy). Encenser means both to scent with incense and to praise to the skies. Ralf Schwieger’s tribute to Tonkin musk takes on the Aedes De Venustas signature incense in a bold blend of the mystic and the animal." Aedes De Venustas Musc Encensé represetns the yin and yang of extremes-smoke and flesh.

Notes include: Incense, Musks, Ambery accord,Tonka,Clary Sage,Cashmeran

 Aedes De Venustas Musc Encensé, is an Eau de Parfum. Available in June 2018. Suggested Retail Price : 220 € (100 ml)/ $245

Via Aedes De Venustas and my own synopsis

–Michelyn  Camen, Editor-in-Chief

The post Aedes de Venustus Musc Encensé (Ralf Schwieger) 2018 –New Fragrance appeared first on Cafleurebon - Perfume and Beauty Blog.

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The post New Fragrance: AEDES DE VENUSTAS Grenadille d’Afrique (KarlBradl/Alberto Morillas) +Tree of Life Draw appeared first on ÇaFleureBon Perfume Blog.

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The post CaFleureBon Modern Masterpieces: Aedes de Venustas Iris Nazarena (Ralf Schwieger) 2013 +”Venustade” Draw appeared first on ÇaFleureBon Perfume Blog.