Pensive, meditative, soulful, abstract, and inspiring perfumes of Pitti, plus two bonuses from Sweden: I started my Pitti Fragranze 2019 reports with Roses, moved to Scents, Tastes, and Heritage of Mediterranean, and now it’s time for my last Florence 2019 report.
This took a bit longer than usual because I’ve been busy writing a couple of reviews in the meantime, traveling a bit, procrastinating a little, handling my regular work tasks, and generally slowing down as Autumn rolls in.
Excuse me, the truth is that I simply enjoyed wearing these fragrances and having some ME time with them!
This is just a quick overview – some of these new fragrances I’ve already reviewed, more shall follow:
Francesca Bianchi Perfumes
Two new releases were presented: The Black Knight recently reviewed for ÇaFleureBon and Lost in Heaven.
Lost in Heaven is still making me search for the right words: this is a story about innocence lost, adult love and its fragility, and both sides of a coin: lightness and darker hues meet gently in yet another breathtaking creation by Francesca.
She did it again – it’s personal, and yes, there is one accord not officially listed – I’ll tell you all about it when I finish my review.
Parfums Dusita
Pissara Umavijani proudly presented her newest fragrance, semi-officially launched during Pitti and TWFA Cannes: Le Pavillon d’Or.
Mint seems to be trending lately, but Pissara handles it differently, and my first impression was that this fragrance differs from all the previous ones in the line – just like Splendiris, and yet it shares recognizable Dusita‘s DNA.
Le Pavillon d’Or is not about materialistic bling-bling cover-me-in-gold: not that kind of shine. This is all about inner wealth derived from pure happiness and the joy of living.
Beautifully blended, starting fresh and green, featuring sweet Heliotrope accord over smooth orris, and including a lush floral-fruity bouquet where Boronia plays a significant role. Fig-leaves accord can be felt too all the way to the quiet, warm drydown shades of frankincense and myrrh combined, pearly-soft, warm, and woody-sweet at the end.
Le Pavillon d’Or feels like gentle and elegant floriental flower petals painted on my skin, and at the drydown I did get a feeling as if I was covered with subtle golden powder, making my skin feel smooth and glowing like honey. It certainly seems like it’s going to bring some joy in cold, damp, and dark Winter days approaching!
Mendittorosa
Talento inspired me to write a fable, a fairytale in one single night: the story about Mint and Rose.
I’ll spam you a bit more with photos of the bottle, one of the most beautifully executed ones I’ve ever seen, the whole art concept is wonderful inside out:
“Talent is the divine spark of light in us, Mendittorosa Talento is a fragrant ode to it.”
Olivier Durbano Parfums
New: SpeM PetraM, Numbered Limited Edition 2019 Eau de Parfum
inspiration: Maria Magdalena. Soulfulness. Stone of hope.
Poetry:
“Vial of Humanity with a sacred price,
given, received, Talent.
Poured Incense Tears of Joy.”
Olivier came from Grasse to Pitti to exhibit his work, to open his heart and share his creations with perfume lovers, introducing SpeM PetraM.
The spiritual, meditative, and philosophical approach Olivier represents in his fragrances revolves this time around Spikenard/Nard/Muskroot, an ancient perfume ingredient, and all the M’s are a reference to Mary Magdalene. Olivier chose a piece of jewelry to decorate the stand and illustrate the fragrance (see the photo above).
SpeM PetraM is cool and mineral- salty at the beginning, softened by bright incense and smoky woods with an interesting evolution, turning even bitter.
A pinch of sweetness slowly moving in can be felt later, a few rose petals rising out of balsam fir – sprinkled with traces of cinnamon as the fragrance becomes warmer, softer, but still with occasional whiffs of mineral sparkles and dimmed incense protruding every now and then.
Timothy Han
From the award-winning debut fragrance She Came to Stay (inspired by Simone de Beauvoir’s 1943 existential novel of the same name) I’ve had a soft spot for Timothy. The Decay of an Angel followed, inspired by Yukio Mishima’s 1971 novel of the same name. Books and perfumes, oh what a joy!
The new fragrance, presented at Pitti is Heart of Darkness – here you can see it’s the source of inspiration, an 1899 novella of the same name. This is a journey by steamer up the Congo River!
Dark, damp jungle woods, sapphire green river water, smoke and leather, wet earth and rain: a broody voyage into unknown.
27_87 Barcelona
Sonar is the newest 2019 release, the 6th fragrance in total! This brand doesn’t release dozens of new fragrances per year. One at a time, carefully threading its path – Romy is a smart and dedicated young woman, she’s come to stay.
You can find my 27_87 perfume reviews here, my favorite still being Hashtag (from Now Line, like Genetic Bliss) but Sonar (from Wild Line, together with Elixir de Bombe) is now seriously challenging that position.
Abstract, yet the connection is evident: Sonar is the electric music festival in Barcelona.
The atmosphere is laden with stage smoke, dance trance, people moving around the crowd with glasses of beer in their hands, vibrant joy. It smells like burnt rubber and electric wires on the floor, different kinds of party-till-you-drop scents, and yet it is so refreshing.
I had a chance to smell this fragrance on Romy while it was still in the pre-production phase about a year ago, and I knew that something good is brewing! I’m absolutely thrilled with Sonar!
Completely different tuberose – bright, solar, uplifting, refreshing, and very interesting! The more I wear it, the more I like it: “a little party never hurt nobody – come and dive into the strobe light and fume of the night!”
27_87 is also introducing small changes in packaging and collections labeling: 87 ml bottles and creative approach remain.
Bonus: From Sweden, With Love
is a new perfume brand founded by Janne Rainer Vuorenmaa from Sweden. Janne speaks with almost palpable passion about three perfumes to start the line with Beach Bizzare, Cabaret Nocturne (previously Pensao Amor), and Thousand Lakes, signed by Patrice Revillard, Cecile Zarokian, and Marie Schnirer.
Janne, you are ready to go!
I sat there in Florence, all ears, listening to him talk about Thousand Lakes with sparkle and haze of times lost and long gone in his eyes, reminiscing about his childhood memory encapsulated in this dark, broody, and a very intriguing perfume revoking Finnish forests, a dark lake, and sauna rituals.
Past and present mix like blurry dreams and sharp reality, memories are translated into pensive olfactory stories, reminding us that we are mere – visitors.
V/siteur is arriving soon!
“Demanding full freedom to create olfactory art, without any restrictions on the use of ingredients apart from the ethical rules I set for myself while maintaining total honesty and integrity, I created NOT perfumes.“
Very concentrated, radically honest artisan Extracts that come from Sweden with a warning. Yet, some crazy people like me offer their skin to them! The pleasure is mine.
Johanna Venables tolerates no-nonsense: her perfume descriptions on the website start with “Marketing Nonsense” texts, and fragrances are made in limited edition batches, depending on her access to raw materials. Fair and honest niche, at its best.
Just like SOMA: now sold out, might be in production sometime again. I wish it would because this enchanted gardenia left me drooling, and if you know me better you’d know that this doesn’t happen often.
Looking forward to exploring further this brand!
Zucker kommt zu letzt: The Wild Bunch!
I’m immensely grateful for this opportunity to meet, talk to, discuss perfumes, sniff each other, laugh and cry over perfumes with the beautiful people of Pitti!
Not everyone I’ve met is in this photo but you can get the feeling from just looking at those smiles!
Now I can take my time and focus on further testing, wearing, sniffing, and writing: I’m happy: Pitti 2019 was a good niche perfumes exhibition.
The Plum Girl
Elena Cvjetkovic
Photos: The Plum Girl, V/siteur, Not, 27_87
2 Comments
So many I would love to try here, Elena. Your evocative writing has that effect.
Thank you Richard, hope you do!