08/05/2018
Profumo
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Profumo
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Strange setting...
Bhutan. The small South Asian country, with the famous gross national happiness and a supposedly breathtaking landscape, should smell so? About ethereal-fresh to animal-woody-earthy?
Hmmm... A 'Figment' probably, a product of imagination, a fantasy.
Anyway. Unlike many others, I can not quite relate here the associations with musty forest floor, pond and morass. For me, 'Figment Man' does not smell at all particularly earthy, muddy or even putrid. No, nothing like that. I can very well detect sandalwood, though, and incense. Reminds me a little of those infamous incense sticks that we used to torch in our shared rooms instead of airing out properly.
Framed is this central sandalwood chord of an initially quite sharp, unsweet fresh breeze that lasts for quite a while, and a woody-resinous base that resonates for hours.
So far, so good. Almost but also so banal, if there would not be another extremely distinctive chord lurking in the heart of the fragrance, which begins to blossom soon after spraying on and only many, many hours later very slowly fades away: a potpourri of animal notes. Whatever their origin may be: some suspect an overdose of civet, others a mixture of various musk compounds, some bring Costus into play, a fragrance that smells like wet (animal) hair, and also 'Animalis' of the company Synarome is brought into the field: a perfume base that was already used in Jean Carle's 'Visa', as well as in the fiercely controversial 'Kouros', and which is described as follows:
Odor: An animalic, musky, sensuous odor with costus-like connotation. Can be described as unwashed human hair, goat smell and dirty socks.
Sounds tempting, right?
But it is. At least for some, including me.
What stinks for some but already disgusting, is for others just a perhaps even narcotic aphrodisiac, in any case a fragrance. However, the tolerance threshold has dropped noticeably in recent decades, more precisely since 'Cool Water' and the triumph of fresh fougères, so that former heroes of the animalic fragrance world such as the aforementioned Kouros, or Montana's 'Parfum de peau' mutated from almost ubiquitous mainstreamer to rarely encountered exotic. That Amouage, in the never-ending age of clean fragrances, comes around the corner with such an animalic, broad-legged, sexually displaying fragrance bully, has a certain chutzpah, or at least defiance. Exorbitant sales figures are certainly not what Mr. Chong & Co. had in mind: this fragrance is certainly not a big seller, but they probably knew that: works like 'Figment Man' or Dior's 'Leather Oud' are not launched nowadays in the hope of making a killing. You launch them because you want to show that you can also dirty, that you are willing to go to the limits of the intolerable (and beyond), presumably not to get into the suspicion of the mainstream, to stand out, to remain in the conversation.
To have such a fragrance in the portfolio means: look here, we dare to do something, we make art, perfume art, even if it is art for art's sake.
Which raises the question: is this fragrance wearable at all?
I would say: yes.
No, since we are yet social beings who move among themselves and - at least tend to like each other. Since this fragrance, at least according to most comments, a majority should feel as half bad smelling, a public wearing largely excludes.
Yes, if you appreciate as a perfume enthusiast fragrances with a wider spectrum than fresh-clean-floral-vanilla and you can find a certain 'Hautgout' of dubious origin as stimulating, without having to throw up immediately. However, this should rather take place in a private setting, in a very private one probably, that is to say: between my arm and my nose. Because I appreciate this 'Figment Man' very much, as well as 'Kouros' or 'Leather Oud', Mazzolari's 'Lui', Dior's 'Jules' or Piguet's 'Oud', as well as the original 'Rose poivrée', before it was tamed animalistically, but wearing it in public and expose myself to the suspicion of possibly lacking body care, no, I would not like that then.
This Bhutanese (fragrance) tiger, I let nice at home to steam around, or take him only to tiny excursions with ...
Which would bring me, in contrast to pond morass toad, etc., to the following chain of association: a Buddhist temple, wafted by incense, in a predator zoo shaded by lemon trees.
Funny scenario.
Hmmm... A 'Figment' probably, a product of imagination, a fantasy.
Anyway. Unlike many others, I can not quite relate here the associations with musty forest floor, pond and morass. For me, 'Figment Man' does not smell at all particularly earthy, muddy or even putrid. No, nothing like that. I can very well detect sandalwood, though, and incense. Reminds me a little of those infamous incense sticks that we used to torch in our shared rooms instead of airing out properly.
Framed is this central sandalwood chord of an initially quite sharp, unsweet fresh breeze that lasts for quite a while, and a woody-resinous base that resonates for hours.
So far, so good. Almost but also so banal, if there would not be another extremely distinctive chord lurking in the heart of the fragrance, which begins to blossom soon after spraying on and only many, many hours later very slowly fades away: a potpourri of animal notes. Whatever their origin may be: some suspect an overdose of civet, others a mixture of various musk compounds, some bring Costus into play, a fragrance that smells like wet (animal) hair, and also 'Animalis' of the company Synarome is brought into the field: a perfume base that was already used in Jean Carle's 'Visa', as well as in the fiercely controversial 'Kouros', and which is described as follows:
Odor: An animalic, musky, sensuous odor with costus-like connotation. Can be described as unwashed human hair, goat smell and dirty socks.
Sounds tempting, right?
But it is. At least for some, including me.
What stinks for some but already disgusting, is for others just a perhaps even narcotic aphrodisiac, in any case a fragrance. However, the tolerance threshold has dropped noticeably in recent decades, more precisely since 'Cool Water' and the triumph of fresh fougères, so that former heroes of the animalic fragrance world such as the aforementioned Kouros, or Montana's 'Parfum de peau' mutated from almost ubiquitous mainstreamer to rarely encountered exotic. That Amouage, in the never-ending age of clean fragrances, comes around the corner with such an animalic, broad-legged, sexually displaying fragrance bully, has a certain chutzpah, or at least defiance. Exorbitant sales figures are certainly not what Mr. Chong & Co. had in mind: this fragrance is certainly not a big seller, but they probably knew that: works like 'Figment Man' or Dior's 'Leather Oud' are not launched nowadays in the hope of making a killing. You launch them because you want to show that you can also dirty, that you are willing to go to the limits of the intolerable (and beyond), presumably not to get into the suspicion of the mainstream, to stand out, to remain in the conversation.
To have such a fragrance in the portfolio means: look here, we dare to do something, we make art, perfume art, even if it is art for art's sake.
Which raises the question: is this fragrance wearable at all?
I would say: yes.
No, since we are yet social beings who move among themselves and - at least tend to like each other. Since this fragrance, at least according to most comments, a majority should feel as half bad smelling, a public wearing largely excludes.
Yes, if you appreciate as a perfume enthusiast fragrances with a wider spectrum than fresh-clean-floral-vanilla and you can find a certain 'Hautgout' of dubious origin as stimulating, without having to throw up immediately. However, this should rather take place in a private setting, in a very private one probably, that is to say: between my arm and my nose. Because I appreciate this 'Figment Man' very much, as well as 'Kouros' or 'Leather Oud', Mazzolari's 'Lui', Dior's 'Jules' or Piguet's 'Oud', as well as the original 'Rose poivrée', before it was tamed animalistically, but wearing it in public and expose myself to the suspicion of possibly lacking body care, no, I would not like that then.
This Bhutanese (fragrance) tiger, I let nice at home to steam around, or take him only to tiny excursions with ...
Which would bring me, in contrast to pond morass toad, etc., to the following chain of association: a Buddhist temple, wafted by incense, in a predator zoo shaded by lemon trees.
Funny scenario.
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