The moon plays a leading role in conducting the rhythm of life in the Middle East, her ethereal appearance hailing the beginning and end of all festivity. Yet in Arabic, invoking the moon is also an allusion to romance — ‘my moon’; an adoringly grandiose term for one’s beloved that speaks of beauty and eternal devotion.
Exuding a warm, opulent quality, rose, oud and frankincense meet a surprising abundance of ripe red berries. In subtle evocation of the fruit-flavored shisha enjoyed across the region, the profusion of redcurrant and raspberry notes adds sweetness and color.A potent new moon.
Uncompromising, bold, filled with enigmatic charm.
Based on master perfumer Maurice Roucel’s personal cologne, Uncut Gem is an unapologetically manly scent, diamond-hard and absolutely fresh. Clear, spicy top notes of ginger, bergamot, mandarin, angelica root and nutmeg lead you to the sensual fire within: a leathery accord, vetiver, frankincense, generous amounts of amber, and a musk that vibrates with the skin. This is a scent that plays with the tired codes of masculinity while extracting their telluric force to create something beautiful and irresistible.
Maurice Roucel started his career as a chemist at Chanel’s Fragrance Laboratory in 1973. A self-taught perfumer who describes himself as “an explorer wandering amidst formulas”, his style is that of a sensuous aesthete and his signature is generous composition, in which he retains only what is essential.
Bright and lush, mysterious and provocative, Synthetic Jungle is a stylized landscape in technicolor greens. An ode to cult perfumes of the 1970s, Synthetic Jungle offers a modern vision of nature reimagined.
Flipo retained the opulent basil of the original composition, along with a recomposed bouquet of hyacinth, lily of the valley, natural jasmine, and Ylang Ylang oil.
To modernize and sharpen, she then added synthetic black currant and styralyl acetate, effectively putting the bouquet through a glossy, sparkling filter.
Flipo simplified the Chypre and leather notes, resulting in a cleaner, more streamlined accord. Finally, she added patchouli.
At the fore, an emphatic reinterpretation of rose; pure, streamlined, uncompromisingly modern. Blended with a unique extraction of timut pepper, geranium bourbon and a note of cassis for freshness and spice.
Yet a quiet storm lies beneath: vetiver and cedar forms an earthy bed of dark, mysterious leather with IsoButyl Quinoline at the center – an intensely bitter molecule, largely forgotten since its use in the daring perfumery of the Jazz Age.
At once sparkling and sober, a recognisably floral composition is shadowed by a dramatic, yet controlled sensuality.
In the Middle East, a promise made between two people is accompanied by the strictest honor code.
Frédéric Malle celebrates this principle with a promise of his own, whose beating heart is made of two precious varieties of rose: rose essence from Bulgaria and rose absolute from Turkey are lifted by apple, pink pepper and clove, and bound to a sensuous base of patchouli, cypriol and labdanum; an accord as unbreakable, and invisible, as a vow.
The essence of an extraordinarily charming man. One who is magnetic without even seeming to try: every gesture infused with a sense of humor and sophistication. Not a rugged, shouting masculinity, but an irresistible whisper.
A charismatic field of woods: an unprecedented dose of Haitian vetiver woven with sandalwood, cedar and cashmeran. Bound to the skin by oak moss and musk, and lifted by pink pepper, bergamot and bitter orange in a whiff of captivating freshness.
Reminiscent of 1930s Paris, a time of innovation and breezy luxury; when design was sharp but art was the stuff of dreams, and family secrets were drowned wildly in champagne.
Rare Cassie flower and mimosa absolute form the beating heart of this intoxicating perfume, rounded with jasmine absolute, sandalwood, vanilla and musk. Cut with aldehydes for the clean edge of minimalist design, and dipped in rose oil for a pampered kind of freshness, Une Fleur de Cassie is high fashion and perfect composition.
Top note: rose
Middle notes: cassie, mimosa absolute
Base notes: sandalwood, vanilla
Consider perfume a portrait of its wearer: the sound of her voice, her gaze, the way she plays cards. At once timeless and resonant with today, here is a scent that speaks of her innate sophistication. Charm that emanates from within, boldly depicted without; an expressive portrayal of modern grace.
At the fore, an exuberant dose of Turkish rose — 400 flowers per 100ml bottle, no less. Beneath, a bed of patchouli heart imbued with sandalwood and frankincense. An accord of clove, blackcurrant and raspberry binds the perfume together for a final characterful brushstroke.
Depths of black.
Composed like a Rothko painting, where layer upon layer of somber notes form a deeper, more textured darkness. A thick coating of spices rests on a wooden base of sandalwood and patchouli; top notes of orange and geranium are subtly illumined by rose, which, like all masterful paintings, reveal that even darkness is made of light.
Unafraid of the dark.
Top notes: orange; geranium,
At a party on Paris’ rive gauche, a woman’s fur coat is lifted from her bare shoulders, exposing her neck to the candlelight. Aware of many eyes upon her, she pauses, smiling to herself, before emerging like a conqueror from the shadows.
A sensuous body of lavender is warmed by patchouli, amber and vanilla, and transformed by notes of pineapple and mandarin.
Musc Ravageur enhances the magnetic aspect of musk with amber, vanilla, patchouli and sandalwood, at the total exclusion of floral notes.
Having caused a scandal when the perfume first appeared in 2000, Musc Ravageur is now celebrated in all its sensuousness as the Sistine Chapel of the soft Amber tradition.
For the man who wears a pinstripe suit with ease and self-assurance, whose highly sophisticated virility is tinged with artistic flair, and whose ruthless pursuit of seduction is somewhat of an aesthetic endeavor.
This perfume reveals the style behind impeccable appearance: patchouli is the pinstripe suit, with a cocktail of rum absolute and mandarin in hand, for a distinct flavor of late nights in dark corners; as cedar, suede and incense are the underlying sensual pulse, warmed by vanilla in a small acknowledgment of intimacy.
