All You Ever Wanted to Know About Gérald Ghislain

Regular Fragrance Bouquet readers probably already know of my admiration for the Histoires de Parfums line of fragrances, as they have been reviewed with love and attention and also featured in one of the latest fragrance-Top 10 articles. If you too have been following the line with interest, you will love this interview of Histoires de Parfums' Gérald Ghislain, conducted by Lucie, the press contact for the brand on the official Histoires de Parfums blog.

Lucie conducts a marvelously in-depth interview with Gérald Ghislain, asking him literally every question that has been playing on my mind ever since I got introduced to the line, such as the choice of name for the line and most importantly, the reasons behind the choice of the characters representing each beautiful perfume. Even better, she doesn't stop there, but proceeds with asking the devillishly handsome Gérald a number of personal trivia questions which he goes on to answer with a sense of humor, candor and intelligence that delights. To read the interview, please click here.

1740 & 1873 by Histoires de Parfums : Perfume Reviews

In favor of rounding off our exploration of the Histoires de Parfums library instead of breaking the series up, today’s scheduled Forget me Not feature will appear later this week. Today, we sit down with two more tomes from this intriguing line of fragrances.

· 1740: Whether the outward manifestation of the powerful emotions the libertine writer Marquis de Sade provokes in those who attempt to gain some insight into the workings of his mind is anger, repulsion, or wonder, the truth is that this is a man that has kept the public fascinated one way or another for more than two centuries. Histoires de Parfums draws inspiration from this almost mythical persona and translates it vividly, turning ugliness into beauty in one of the most gorgeous scents of the library. 1740 is at once pungent and filmy, aged and modern, skillfully sketching the profile of a true classic. Richly spiced, with powerful accents of black cardamom, coriander and cumin, this fragrance manages to instantly awaken exotic fantasies and stir deep desires. It has this beautiful ability of alternating between the scent of a hot, dry north-African wind blowing gently through an exotic spice market and the more rounded, flavorsome, passionate aroma of viscous red dessert wine. Its core is pure, raw animalic dirtiness, caressed by the deep scent of good, heavy leather. Hints of immortelle, birch and vanilla slightly sweeten this magnificent potion to the point that it becomes absolutely addictive. 1740 is labeled as a masculine, but I know that all you ladies who enjoy deep, woody, spicy, dirty things are going to love this too. It is stunning.

· 1873: 1873’s opening is shockingly timid, considering that it is a perfume inspired by the admirably unafraid Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, a woman of unquestionable intellect and sensuous temperament. 1873 starts out with the gentle, sweet and musky freshness of the original Mühlens’ 4711 colone. It is a simple and delightful opening with light petitgrain, gentle spices, citrus freshness and musky warmth. It is hard for me to imagine it will turn into anything more than this familiar, lovely smell, which while perfect for the summer as well as retro-chic by nature, is not exactly groundbreaking. But how wonderful it is to be wrong! Excitingly, 1873 acts like a witty conundrum – a striptease in reverse. It starts out almost naked, but soon starts tantalizingly decorating herself with lacy, gauzy garments and jewelry. The fruit becomes juicier and juicier, drenching the neck with the nectar of sweet, never tangy oranges, tangerines and lemons loved by the sun. The warmth of the skin makes the generous, feminine bouquets of white florals bourgeon and bloom on the skin, but their scent seems to be coming from far away, carried to the nose by a pleasant breeze. They are light and airy, playfully skipping around their crowning glory, the orange blossom. There is a feeling of whiteness accompanying this scent, bringing to mind strands of pearls. Behind the lightness in turn, hides a sumptuous core that feels edible, like the curve of a peach you’d want to sink your teeth into. The drydown sees the emergence of a rounded, gourmand musk, whose inexplicable and fascinating piquancy delights and puzzles the senses. A beautiful fragrance whose development keeps me interested for hours.

Even though our three-part series comes to a close today, we will for sure return to the Histoires de Parfums line in the future, as there are still gems in the line I would love to explore more with you, such as the absolutely dirty Noir Patchouli and the surprising transformer, 1828 (Jules Verne). As a closing remark, I’d like to say that I can’t wait for more tomes to become available in this scented library, especially in the section of biographies. The date that I am personally most eager to see in the collection, is 1908, Simone de Beauvoir. How about you?

Images: commons.wikimedia.com

Ambre 114 & 1969 by Histoires de Parfums : Perfume Reviews

It’s Friday and as promised, we’ll once again be visiting the Histoires de Parfums library. The two perfumes we'll explore today are Ambre 114 and 1969; together they form the “Cult Books” subcategory in Histoires de Parfums' collection of tomes.

· Ambre 114: If you are a fan of amber fragrances, and especially if you like huge, golden holy dragons of scents, like Maître Parfumeur et Gantier’s Ambre Précieux and Artisan’s Ambre Extrême, then you definitely need to try Ambre 114 – you’re going to love it. Ambre 114 pays great emphasis on its gorgeous ambergris note, around which everything seems to revolve with inevitable attraction. It is a wonderfully aromatic take on amber, no doubt due to the use of thyme and nutmeg in the composition. The potion gradually changes from herbal luminescence to a mysterious darkness dimly lit by an incandescent heart of gold. Throughout the development the nose is seduced by a progressively intensifying, exotic smokiness, which finally disperses in the drydown to reveal the most gorgeous vanillic tolu-tobacco accord. Comforting and sensuous at once, this warm golden scent will be perfect for the colder months, ideally in front of a roaring fire.

· 1969: As a teenager, I spent a good number of years obsessed with song lyrics and titles – analyzing them, devising games to play with my friends and often, quite embarrassingly I must admit, replying to questions with them. Something that I discovered through this minor quirk is that numerous songs in both English and other languages are titled 1969. Even more songs reference 1969 in their lyrics. People are fascinated by this year, which has attained a power akin to a magical number in our culture. I am not surprised to see the date crop up on a perfume bottle; 1969 is indeed, as the perfume’s box indicates, a mythical year:

The Beatles give their last public performance.
Boeing 747 makes its maiden flight.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono conduct their Bed-In at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal; they record “Give Peace a Chance”
The first message is sent over ARPANET, the forerunner of the Internet; a few months later the first link is established.
The world watches as man takes his first steps on the Moon.
Cold War.
Vietnam.
WOODSTOCK

Perhaps it is that last reference, Woodstock, which has me expecting a patchouli-ladden, headshop extravaganza, done in the most sophisticated manner possible bien sûr, but 1969 is anything but. It is a surprise, much like every event in the unexpectedly significant last year of the decade it pays homage to. It smells like a quaintly decorated shop of sweet culinary delights and fruits. At the very same time, it smells like freshly washed shiny hair, warmed by the sun. It smells edible, but not quite, like candied fruit bewitched. The opening is intense and fruity, like citrus fruits preserved in sugar. And ever so slowly it becomes softer and softer, until the intensity of the fruit dissipates and unfolds, to reveal a perfectly blended, lightly sweet softness underneath. Smelling close, there is something lovely and strange emerging out of the smooth sweetness – something cooling, like mint. The passing of time brings floral notes to the fore, a gentle rose and a shy, mild carnation that become the most salient features of this scent, until finally, in the drydown we are left with a bed of cacao opening its arms to receive the shower of flower petals. This fragrance seems deceptively simple at first, but becomes more and more complex as you get to know it. Its most striking feature, the way it combines coolness with warmth, is definitely worth getting to know.

While we continue to discover the Histoires de Parfum line together, I would like to bring your attention to the fact that the lovely Marina over at Perfume Smelling Things is running a raffle today! The lucky winner will receive a sample packet of all 12 Histoires de Parfum scents.

Images: www.music1969.com and www.histoiresdeparfums.com

1826 by Histoires de Parfums : Introduction and Perfume Review

Histoires de Parfums, an artisanal, family owned, niche maison de parfum, was created by the devilishly handsome Gérald Ghislain, entrepreneur, art lover, chef, restaurateur and ISIPCA trained nose. I have been discussing this line of fragrances for about a week now with my closest friends and the comment I most often hear first is that the name of this house is the most beautiful they’ve ever heard. Not only is the name indeed beautiful, it is also original and clever: a play on words, Histoires de Parfums means both “History of Perfumes” but also “Stories of Perfumes”.

I recently received a lovely little press-packet from Histoires de Parfums, containing a sample pack of their 12 fragrances. I’m usually powerless against temptation and find myself heedlessly sampling as many new fragrances as possible in a single day when presented with such a bounty of novelty, but these scents are so special that I have managed to actually contain myself for once. I am not even halfway through the dozen – the development of each of these beauties is so divinely complex that I would do not only them, but also myself injustice, were I to gobble them up with the gusto of a bulimic. The upcoming reviews here on Fragrance Bouquet will focus on slowly exploring this so far very impressive line of perfumes.

It is quite counterintuitive for me to start with my favorite of all the Histoire de Parfums fragrances I have so far sampled – I’d normally keep the best for last. However, I have fallen so hard for 1826, I simply can’t delay gratification: I need to talk about it! Let me start by saying that I don’t know what has happened to me in this past year: Slowly but surely, I have turned from a patchouli hater to a – gasp! – patchouli lover, so much so in fact, that I have lately caught myself mentally composing my very own top 10 patchouli fragrances list. (Yes, I admit it. My erstwhile fellow patchouli-hating brethren can now feel free to put me against the wall and stone me.) Enter one of the best patchouli fragrances I’ve ever smelled: 1826 belongs to the Main Characters collection of seven “volumes” in the line, which tell the stories of famous people, influential for their generation, and take their names after their respective dates of birth. This one in particular is inspired by Eugénie de Montijo, wife of Napoleon the third and last Empress of France. Empress Eugénie was an elegant, beautiful woman who’s name became homonymous with good taste, leading the masses to follow her every step in fashion, just like future generations would follow the trend-setting steps of other famously stylish First Ladies. Not just a pretty face, the empress was a highly opinionated, very well educated, intelligent woman who kept herself busy with French political affairs, becoming an influential figure who acted as a Regent during Napoleon’s absences. 1826 tells her story sotto vocce, focusing on a theme of patchouli, whose trail she reportedly loved.

This is a perfume that rustles and whispers, never raising its voice more than needed. Its opening is soft and subdued, making the wearer experience sweet, feverish, tantalizing impatience until the warmth of the skin finally awakens this shy fragrance and makes it slowly unfold. Through the mysterious, unidentifiable, pillowy softness of powdery florals, emerges a strange, deep nuance: a peculiar coconut-oil dirtiness that makes the perfume veer definitively into animalic territory. It calls to me like the erotic smell of skin, like the scent emerging from the crown of a lover’s hair as I lean in to plant a kiss on their forehead, eyes closed. And slowly the beautiful scent keeps evolving, languorously blooming with sweet, aromatic accents of aniseed, cinnamon and leafy patchouli. As time goes by, the shy patchouli becomes stronger, its darkening tendrils exploring the skin with quiet lustfulness, until they finally meet their true match in ambery vanilla, with which they form the most beauteous, delicious embrace.

1826 is an absolutely marvelous patchouli perfume – in fact I have wanted a full bottle of it ever since the first time I tried it on my skin. I find myself craving its gentle, sensual luxury every day now. If you’re not scared of temptation and wish to sample these gorgeous eaux de parfum too, the full sample collection can be purchased for just 5 euro from the official Histoires de Parfums website. Please let me know if you have tried any of these beauties and how they work on your skin and I’ll see you all again this Friday, when we’ll leaf through another tome or two.