New: Seville à l'Aube (B. Duchaufour & D. Beaulieu for L'Artisan Parfumeur, 2012)

French blogger Denyse Beaulieu, better known as Grain de Musc, has just published a memoir on perfume titled "The Perfume Lover". Next to the book, and to tell the olfactory memory of a magical sunrise in Seville, L'Artisan Parfumeur has given her the opportunity to work with Bertrand Duchaufour to compose just the smell of that magical moment. I am speaking of the scent because I received a small decant and I've been wearing it for several days, and now I look forward to be in July to buy it.

I must admit I have a very soft spot for orange blossoms. I like both the fresher facet, typical of neroli, and the heavier, indolic notes of heart/base, characteristics of orange blossom absolute. But I'm not fond of having all of them together. Although there are perfumes exploring the note in all its complexity, which necessarily are almost soliflore (this note is difficult to treat, since tends to overwhelm all others), as the beautiful Prada's Fleur d'Oranger (private collection), the majority of perfumes used orangle blossom side by side to other flowers, thus giving the perfume a "soapy" feel I find fairly uninteresting. Especially if there are also aldehydes somewhere near.

Here, of the orange blossom has been used only the cool/bright /sunny opening while the other part ... well, simply is not there! Might it be the result of a successful fractioning? (fractioning is the procedure whereby, in the distillation process of a raw material, you just take the part you're interested in. For example, patchouli is used today mostly fractioned, that is, without that earthy facet that many consider too reminiscet of the "peace & love" era).

Bertrand's marvelous technique was able to interpret this "loud" flower in an extremely nice and shiny way, keeping up its natural loveliness and perfection and taming its overt exuberance.

The note is associated with petitgrain citronnier (ie, obtained from twigs of lemon, thus with a bitter green facet), beeswax absolute, incense and benzoin resinoids. And Lavender Luiseri, a type of lavender found in southern Spain (consistent with the main theme of the fragrance) a rich note -practically a perfume in itself- featuring an unusual minty-green and fruity top, followed by licorice, honey facets and a tobacco/cistus labdanum base. 
Seville à l'Aube is an exercise in bridging together rich and contrasting notes: the pungent/honeyed accord of beeswax and Luiseri with the smokiness of the caramelized benzoin works wonders, while petitgrain citronnier and Luiseri create a perfect accord with incense, spraying a crystal light on the composition and emphasizing the "push".

The result is a mesmerizingly fresh, transparent and deliciously green scent, with a hint of licorice and chestnut honey  over a resinous base.

Being part of the L'Artisan Parfumeur line, Seville à l'Aube  is evocative, delicate and totally unobtrusive, while living several hours on skin.

This isn't a complicated or intellectually engaging scent: its bright light and carefree optimism have conquered me over, at first sniff. 
Pic: www.gardenpictures.com