Paraphrase Perfume

FIN DE SIÈCLE

ROSE | The king of flowers. Rose can range anywhere from jammy, sweet, light and powdery to rich and opulent. Fin de Siecle was formulated to replicate a now unavailable Morrocan rose absolute that I loved. Spicy and deep, it is a deep dark evening.

CASSIS | Black Currant fruity, tart and animalistic. The currant notes gives life to Fin de Siecle. Many chypres use a heavy dose of sweet and juicy citrus but Fin de Siecle uses currants to give it life. Cassis is fruity in a tart and animalic way that feels adult.

OAKMOSS | Chypre’s are created by the tension between lighter and juicy citrus and the darkness of oakmoss and labdanum. The tension between the two create a union that is deep, rich and alive. Oakmoss is earthy, woody and green can fill out foresty accords with a real atmospheric woodiness.

PATCHOULI | Relative to the mint plant, patchouli is a leafy plant that produces a complex, earthy aroma. Patchouli in chypres act alongside oakmoss to create a deep and earthy base to counter the bright & juicy citrus notes.

LABDANUM | Labdanum resin from the cistus bushes of the meditteranian create a deep, sweet and resinous excretion to protect their leaves from the intense heat of the region. This resin is balsamic, sweet and woody with some styrene like qualities. It can smell medicinal, herbal, dry and floral and very sticky sweet. In Fin de Siecle it creates a rich, density that anchors the entire scent.

Call it debauchery, call it shadow work. We all carry deeper parts of ourselves we keep hidden. What can be learned from letting the mask slip, even for a second?

With so much dialogue about work that isn't even made with our own minds it is a joy to be able to do work with our hands. Small things that on the surface may not seem to add up but to us, they make the product. Things that we could ( and may one day need to) automate or outsource. Caps, labels, lids, boxes. All these touches that add up to an experience. Making products on a small scale is really not the way the world is set up. It is more expensive, inefficient and leaves us out of a number of opportunities. It is a lot of planning, a lot of doing, a lot of our lives that go into putting these bottles together. It is also a joy to make use of the body we have been given and work with our hands. It may not make sense but it is a joy and a pleasure and I am so glad to be able to do it.