Stéphane Humbert Lucas Mortal Skin

Posted on July 11, 2015 by Kafkaesque

Woods and herbaceous fields, spices and sweetness, incense and leathery smoke — those are some of the various strands of Mortal Skin, the latest release from Stéphane Humbert Lucas. It is a scent that echoes some of his other fragrances for me, but it is ultimately its own creation, and one which I think will appeal to lovers of spicy, smoky, woody orientals.

“Collection” is written under the snake. Source: Stephane Humbert Lucas.

“Collection” is written under the 777. Source: Stephane Humbert Lucas.

Mortal Skin is a new parfum or extrait that initially looked as though it were being released under Stéphane Humbert Lucas’ own name, unlike the 777 fragrances. That confused me at first, so I asked Monsieur Lucas about it and about the significance of the “777” being omitted from the packaging. He explained that “777” is merely one collection within his overall brand, which should officially be considered as “Stephane Humbert Lucas” as a whole. The Snake Collection is a separate line altogether and has its own signature aesthetic. He provided the images above to underscore how the packaging emphasizes that “777” is merely a collection, not part of his brand name. He also brought up Kilian, who has various unrelated lines, like the Arabian Nights, the Addictive State of Mind, or the Asian Tales.

Photo: Roberto Greco for Stephane Humbert Lucas. Source: Roberto.

Mortal Skin is the debut release in The Snake Collection, along with the new Harrods Exclusive, and it will be slowly rolled out at all regular SHL retailers over the next 6 weeks. Luckyscent already has it, with Osswald NYC to follow in a few weeks. In Europe, I’ve been told that it is already out at Harrods. The fragrance originally debuted at the Esxence perfume show in March, but that was an earlier version that has been substantially altered since then. Monsieur Lucas told me that, in total, Mortal Skin has gone through roughly 200 or so modifications before being finalised after Esxence with the version that will be hitting stores shortly. I’ll explain the specific changes in a moment.

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Grab Bag Round-Up – June 2015

Posted on June 28, 2015 by Kafkaesque

Hello everyone, I hope you’re all having a good weekend. It’s time for this month’s Grab Bag, with a look at random things from news articles on popular fragrance genres, top Arabian perfume brands, synaesthesia, and the science of smell, to the more personal things occupying my attention this month.

Scientific Articles on Smell & Scent:

The Guardian had something really interesting to me: “Smell, evolution and the sex brain: why we’re monogamous and use perfume.” The piece argues that “Today we have a global fragrance market equal to the GDP of a medium-sized country, because of a gene mutation that made smells less sexy to us.” Basically, we used to have a gene — nicknamed “Adam” by its discoverers — that transmitted sexual scent messages (largely about ovulation) to our brains, but we lost it about 16m years ago because of evolutionary pressure to maintain monogamy and the family bond. However, the neural pathways that responded to such messages will still respond to “sensual perfumes made from – among other things – the sexual signals of musk deer, beavers and civets.”
From Science News: “Sense of smell is strictly personal, study suggests.” The article’s focuses primarily on genetics, neuroscience, and how we have “olfactory fingerprints,” thanks to a “new test [that] can distinguish individuals based upon their perception of odors, possibly reflecting a person’s genetic makeup[.]” However, there are obviously indirect implications that support what most perfume bloggers always say, that smell is subjective and subject to wholly personal variables.
From Aeon Magazine, a really fascinating piece asks “Are we all born with Synaesthesia?” It covers synaesthesia in literature (Nabokov’s Lolita, Mary Shelley, and the Enlightenment philosopher, Rousseau) before looking at the neuroscience, child psychology studies, and different forms of synaesthesia (musical notes, numbers, letters, or one poor woman who reacted viscerally to mere fabric textures). It’s a really interesting, in-depth piece that covers some unexpected issues.

Source: artsfon.com

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Art, Beauty & Perfumes: Roberto Greco Part II

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Kafkaesque

“Girl and Grapes.”

Last year, I wrote about Roberto Greco, a photographer whose works transcended mere pictures and involved actual Art reminiscent of oil paintings by the great Masters. With his camera, he could replicate the look of a Vermeer still-life or the textural feel of a woman’s naked skin in a Rubens. I was left speechless. Yet, there was also great range to his talent, one that extended to other styles of art like Surrealism, Warhol Pop Art, and the baroque. Many of those photos involve perfume, which is an original twist in and of itself. Instead of the trite, typical images of a Commes de Garcons perfume that you’d see in mainstream advertising, he had a more symbolic representation where Amazing Green was a living entity unexpectedly sprouting hair that was twisted to grow like living bushes, all in the candied simplicity of Pop Art psychedelic colours.

Photo with Olivier Schawalder, hairstylist.

You can see that photo and many others in last year’s article, Part I, but I wanted to highlight Mr. Greco’s latest work today because I think he’s grown even further as a photographer when it comes to perfume, intersecting commercialism with art in a manner that makes him stand out in the field. I should disclose that Mr. Greco has since become a personal friend, but that is not the reason for today’s post. I truly believe, from the bottom of my heart, that he is brilliant, enormously talented, and should be the first choice of every perfume house when it comes to capturing their creations in print. In today’s busy world, people are flooded by images, data, and information, so they rarely stop to give something a second or third look unless it really grabs your attention. Roberto Greco’s photos do that. Others go even further in their impact. Some of his images (like the jewel-toned ones you will see below for Room 1015) have made me want to try a fragrance when I previously had zero interest — and I think that is the ultimate compliment to a photographer, not to mention a positive inducement for other companies to retain his services.

Personal photo of Musc Tonkin by Parfums d'Empire.

Personal photo of Musc Tonkin by Parfum d’Empire.

So, today, I’d like to share some of his latest work for Bogue, SHL 777, and Frapin, amongst others, as well as his more purely artistic, non-perfume photos. One series that you will see is a personal project that sought to portray the inspiration behind various Serge Lutens fragrances like Iris Silver Mist or MKK, and the women whom he sees as symbolizing those scents. Others range from editorial work for magazines or metaphoric art pieces for gallery exhibitions. In all cases, I’d like to thank Mr. Greco for kindly permitting me to share so much of his work, a lot of which is not currently shown on his main business website. He’s an incredibly sweet man with enormous modesty and much shyness, but he is a talented artist above all else and I’m grateful for the opportunity to showcase his work.

So, onto the photographs, starting first with the new, upcoming trio of fragrances from Jovoy:

Jovoy. Jus Interdit.

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2014 In Review: 30 Personal Favorites

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Kafkaesque

Source: designzzz.com

My list of favorite fragrances that I’ve tried this year is quite different from yesterday’s list of the best new releases of 2014. The latter centered largely on scents that I thought were good, very elegant or interesting representations of their genre, regardless of whether they were my personal cup of tea, and they were only things that debuted in 2014. Today’s list is purely about what I really enjoyed and does not consider the date in release at all. So, this time around, there are very few qualifications and caveats, and the vast majority of these fragrances are things that I bought for myself, am thinking about buying, or would love to buy were their price not a consideration.

You will notice that a good number of the fragrances are not complex masterpieces at all, but quite simple in nature. One reason for that is that I love cozy, comfort scents, and they are generally not very nuanced or multifaceted to begin with. Plus, mindlessly simple but really well-done fragrances that combine richness with soothing warmth are, in all honesty, a huge relief to me after a long day where I do nothing but analyse every nuance and change in a scent for hours (upon hours) on end.

Ferdinand Leeke, “The Last Farewell of Wotan and Brunhilde,” (1875). Source: Wikipedia.com

A few other points. As always, I have to repeat my mantra regarding the subjective, personal nature of reviewing in general, and how a list like this is even doubly so. With regard to the rankings, it’s always an utter nightmare, but the Top Ten chosen here are generally quite firm in order. There is a bit more leeway with the next 10 names, as a tiny handful could go up or down one to two places of where they are at the present time. I’m most undecided about the placement of the last 10 which are the most subject to fluctuations in order. One reason why is because perfumistas are a fickle bunch who can change their mind from one month to the next, and I’m no exception. The other reason is that I’ve gone back and forth on a few scents, switching their places repeatedly until I just gave up in the end. So, for now, this is where things are, for the most part. Finally, you will notice that some of my summary descriptions are verbatim from my list of best, new releases of 2014 or from my mid-2014 best or favorites list. My apologies in advance. Covering almost 60 fragrances in two days is rather an exhausting process, so I hope you will forgive me.

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