Comme des Garçons 3

Comme des Garçons 3 available at LuckyScent

The events of the past week have been deeply discouraging, and though I've been embedded in that reality on my other social media networks, in this blog today I'd like an escape.  The perfumery of Comme des Garçons is a portal into another world, an androgynous, angular, abstract future that I long to fast-forward to.  From the minimal bottles to the synthetic notes, they create an otherworldly space to inhabit now.  The brand's layered, complex compositions eschew tired traditions in favor of bold new styles all their own.

Mark Buxton, master perfumer and self-proclaimed hedonist

Mark Buxton's 3 is the third generation of the original CdG perfume line, and it holds a special place in my heart for its strange and wonderful atmosphere.  It's slightly masculine of center, with its woody, spicy, smokey notes, yet like almost all CdG perfumes, it could smell wonderful anywhere on the gender spectrum.  The masculine tag is likely affixed due to the initial impression of basil, clary sage, and mandarin against Lebanese cedar, birch essence, and sandalwood.  These notes remind me of cool summers in New England forests, my feet in the dirt and my skin covered in herbal bugspray.

Yet, also present is a surprising floral bouquet of rose, jasmine, magnolia and cassis which adds an aura of beauty to this otherwise stark composition.  The generous heaping of rose oxide is striking, and Thomas of Escentual describes it best:

"Utilising an “overdose of rose oxide” blended with cassis, CDG 3 is a sharp, cold and milky perfume that evokes the image of a sparse, minimalist and futuristic environment. It is perhaps one of the most underrated perfumes to be released by the brand."

I couldn't agree more.  Perhaps the fame of the first and second CdG perfumes by Mark Buxton overshadowed the third, or perhaps it is simply too peculiar for the mainstream.  There are so many facets to this unique composition, and all of them take me away from this world to an ideal future, a place of innovation and equality. Unlike the many florals I review that have an eye to the past, 3 has no interest in what has been, and is rather looking towards what could be: flowers that have not yet evolved, a society that has not yet been realized, planets that have not yet been discovered.  Let's go there.

Azaelia Banks' Chasing Time

Frederic Malle's Une Fleur de Cassie

Frederic Malle's Une Fleur de Cassie

Frederic Malle's Une Fleur de Cassie, a wonderfully modern composition by Dominique Ropion, is at first blush disarmingly girlish and lush.  My initial impression is of a powdery floral bouquet, harkening back to a mid-century lady's perfume, but reimagined in a distinctly contemporary way. I'm drawn in by a developing complexity between the innocence of the mimosa flower and the sensuous quality of the cassia absolute.

Perfume Shrine describes mimosa's scent as:

"that precious trait of innocence we associate with childhood, the sugar-spun scent close to heliotrope without the almondy nuances, soft like a cloud, dreamy like the first ray of spring sun on the February tree branches, lively and luminous like a promise of happiness."  

Perfume Notes praises Une Fleur de Cassie as the "gold standard mimosa," and Fragrantica's Elena Vosnaki delivers an incredible description of the relationship between mimosa and acacias, from which the essence of cassie is derived,

"Acacia is this enigma: a floral, seemingly innocent component but nuanced with human warmth, comforting yet with an almost too intimate facet if you give it enough attention."  

While mimosa is jubilant and sweet, cassie is mysterious, nuanced, and carnal.  These two emotionally complex notes are draped in rose and jasmine, played against the counterpoint of carnation, and grounded by a base of vanilla and sandalwood.  Spicy, peppery carnation, as a counterpoint to florals, is now considered somewhat old-fashioned and reminiscent of a different era of perfumery.  Perhaps it is that, and the refined note of bergamot, that give this scent its retro appeal, yet cassie's bold allure is my final takeaway.  However classic the construction, its sum total is decidedly modern.

a perfect scent for FKA Twig's concert tonight at the Regent

By Kilian's Beyond Love

I moved to Los Angeles, because

There is a perfume for every mood and every moment, including this grand new chapter.  J'Adore, my signature, is always appropriate, but there are times when I want to experience the comfort of what I know and the allure of the unknown simultaneously.  I want to be true to my roots while moving forward; I want to be true to myself while transforming into someone new.  This impossible combination is possible thanks to the French master perfumer Calice Becker, who is responsible for J'Adore and almost all the By Kilian perfumes.  If my signature is "I love", then By Kilian's Beyond Love is the logical sequential progression.

By Kilian's Beyond Love © LuckyScent 

By Kilian is the niche perfume brand of Kilian Hennessy, heir to Hennessy Cognac and grandson of the founder of LVMH.  Calice Becker did a lovely interview with Michelyn Camen of CaFleureBon, who asked her to give a "Kilian anecdote."  Calice Becker described Hennessy's "love at first sight" reviewal process of Beyond Love:

During the development of "Beyond Love," there was this moment that was most amazing. It was my first trial and Kilian smelled it and proclaimed it was "the one." It was love at first sight... or smell! He said to me, "Leave it. Don't ruin it. It is perfect." This was a magical moment.  He is the only one in my career that has ever done this and I imagine the last!

Karen Black, Day of the Locust

And it is perfect, in an uninhibited, spontaneous, divinely inspired way. It begins with excitement- a bright, rash opening of green notes, coconut, and fiery tuberose.  The heart of Beyond Love is tuberose upon jasmine upon tuberose, an accord that seems to build in volume on my wrists, begging to go out and paint the town red.  Some have called this gorgeous scent the child of Fracas and Carnal Flower.  Its youthful opening lacks the haughtiness of Fracas or the lewdness of Carnal Flower, yet it is undeniably tuberose, a flower summed up by Roja Dove as the "harlot of perfumery."

Lindsay Lohan, The Canyons

Tuberose has the distinct quality of being both light and dark at the same time; a bright white flower that smells of blood and meat when it rots. The energizing opening that demands to be taken out and into the night quickly darkens on the skin, transforming appropriately for a night of decadence. The first few spritzes of ostentatious euphoria deepen to an earthier, muskier, almost raunchy base.  As if these complex florals couldn't become any more intense, ambergris (an evocative note which I've spoken about when describing Guerlain's Après L'Ondée) adds a sense of longing, even sorrow.  As the night progresses, softer, melancholy jasmine pairs with warm ambergris to accentuate the ever expanding tuberose. This ongoing romance is intoxicating and addictive and tragically beautiful.

I try not to use the word "romance" when I speak of perfumes unless it is absolutely necessary, but in this case, it is absolutely necessary.  There is something about this creamy, dreamy scent that captures my heart.  Tuberose sums up the contradiction between what we expect women to be and what we want from them; the grace they must embody for polite society and the gory realities of the work their bodies perform.  It conjures this conflict without dissonance, just as we expect a woman to.  It is a powerful, yet supremely elegant perfume.

I have actually worked my way through a very large decant, and this entry marks the last drop.  It is an unusual event for me- besides J'adore, I never finish bottles, decants, or even imps.  Now that I have finally made it to LA, all roads lead to Lucky Scent.