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05/11/2019
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Trip to the niche retort: Today: "Persian Earth"
Yeah, I admit it, I'm a name fetishist. Or what do you call people who already like the title of a perfume to test the fragrance? Pah, do I hear some people say, "What's in a name?"
There are even perfumes, which are consciously called "Untitled" or only adorn themselves with a number ... - the most famous example is of course Chanel No. 5. An established, world-famous company like Chanel could certainly launch a perfume today and call it "Chanel No. 0.3" or "Chanel No. 68" and be successful with it.
But what is the owner of a design company in the French city of Boulogne-Billancourt doing, a certain Mr. Thierry Lemahien, who graduated from the Ecole Supérieure de Design in the 1980s and was looking for a new business idea four or five years ago? He founds a perfume label.
Unfortunately I don't know M. Lemahien personally, otherwise I would ask him why he called his "Brand" just like an ancient Persian sport, the "Chaugan", a forerunner of the Polo game. The term "Chaugan" didn't mean anything even to me as a half Persian (well, I'm not athletic anyway and I'm only interested in football, here especially in Fortuna Düsseldorf... - but let's not do that).
On YouTube you can find a video recorded in Milan at the perfume fair, in which M. Lemahien explains what "Chaugan" means, the inspiration behind his perfumes (i.e. Persia, the ancient culture and of course Persian fairytale princesses!).
Merci, the frame is now defined.
Since I like rose scents, but not princesses and the whole incomprehensibly redundant cliché formation behind them (1000-and-one-night, Schehrazadeh, Isfahan, Sesam-Öffne-Dich etc.), the scent "Terre de Perse" appealed to me more than the other perfumes of Chaugan.
But what does this term "Persian Earth" evoke?
Imagine if I came up with the idea of designing my own fragrance line (I had enough ideas, by the way, but I lack expertise, I'm not a perfumer) and had an eau de parfum in my portfolio called "Terre allemande"? I couldn't do that without being politically placed in a very bad corner. But apart from this thought game, I suspect that "Terre de Perse" quite deliberately means "Perse" and not Iran. The designer from France explicitly refers to the old Persian culture, not to the Mullah regime that has existed since 1979.
So M. Lehmahien immediately aroused my interest. The name fetishist in me wants to know what the scent smells like. Maybe he's quite, quite great and could find his way into my collection? After all, I feel a very strong emotional attachment to my father's homeland. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have an olfactory conversion of "Persia" in a bottle?
Gandix, who had already tested the fragrance, was so kind as to send me her bottling. (Many thanks for that!).
She saved me from a blind buy, because I admit... yeah, it was itching in my fingers already.
The notes read very promisingly.
Lemon in the top note, pepper - that's my thing.
And really, the fragrance is off to a brilliant start. After the pepper follows very quickly other spices, which I also love very much, e.g. cardamom, ginger, cinnamon. Especially cinnamon and cardamom are important components of Persian cuisine.
A chord of carnation and magnolia allows a very slight hint of flowers to grow, but this is very quickly replaced by the soft, lush base of amber, tonka and musk.
Anyway, the base. Very cuddly. Much too sweet.
Who would like to draw comparisons to the "Terre" of HERMES, I can say to him that the two show no similarities at all. No vetiver in Terre de Perse. Also no galbanum (which would have been a very Persian ingredient). The "Persian earth" seems to me like a very well-behaved, unimaginative attempt to bring a slightly "pleasant" scent to those affluent customers who are always greedy for new products from the luxury sector.
By the way, I couldn't find out which perfumer was behind the scents of "Chaugan".
It is probably a French company that carries out contract work for industry.
When the briefing is over (in this case: "Give me a fragrance that is spicy but doesn't disturb anyone and mix in some spices that have a Persian vibe") the execution is certainly a piece of cake.
There are innumerable such supposed "Niche-brands", which only sell scents in "rare distribution", without own perfume ideas, without artistic impetus. These products serve desires and evoke so-called "scent worlds", in this case Persia, or what is commonly imagined in Europe under this country. One can exchange the frame easily, if we take Africa, for example, then other associations would immediately wake up and the fragrance would be called "Terre d'Afrique" and probably contain a new solar note from the chemistry laboratory (but I suspect "Terre d'Afrique" already exists, "Terre de Perse" was still free).
I haven't tested the other fragrances of the "Chaugan series" yet, as I said, but after the first encounter turned out to be so uninspiring, the other eaux don't really appeal to me. I can imagine exactly what the rose princess from Isfahan smells like. Quite nice, not too synthetic, but ultimately without a unique selling point. Without recognition value. Just like "Terre de Perse", a very pleasant EdP from a design smithy in Boulogne-Billancourt. The company has also designed packaging for Dessange hair care products.
In terms of price, the Chaugan fragrances are in the upper midfield. "For love of fragrance" is currently (May 2019) available for about 98 Euro, but I have already seen some offers for 79 € and also for 69 € (French websites). You can also add 110 € for 50 ml "Terre de Perse".
Conclusion: Just because of the name, I don't buy perfume. And no matter how emotionally charged I find him.
There is usually only a clever design company behind it anyway
There are even perfumes, which are consciously called "Untitled" or only adorn themselves with a number ... - the most famous example is of course Chanel No. 5. An established, world-famous company like Chanel could certainly launch a perfume today and call it "Chanel No. 0.3" or "Chanel No. 68" and be successful with it.
But what is the owner of a design company in the French city of Boulogne-Billancourt doing, a certain Mr. Thierry Lemahien, who graduated from the Ecole Supérieure de Design in the 1980s and was looking for a new business idea four or five years ago? He founds a perfume label.
Unfortunately I don't know M. Lemahien personally, otherwise I would ask him why he called his "Brand" just like an ancient Persian sport, the "Chaugan", a forerunner of the Polo game. The term "Chaugan" didn't mean anything even to me as a half Persian (well, I'm not athletic anyway and I'm only interested in football, here especially in Fortuna Düsseldorf... - but let's not do that).
On YouTube you can find a video recorded in Milan at the perfume fair, in which M. Lemahien explains what "Chaugan" means, the inspiration behind his perfumes (i.e. Persia, the ancient culture and of course Persian fairytale princesses!).
Merci, the frame is now defined.
Since I like rose scents, but not princesses and the whole incomprehensibly redundant cliché formation behind them (1000-and-one-night, Schehrazadeh, Isfahan, Sesam-Öffne-Dich etc.), the scent "Terre de Perse" appealed to me more than the other perfumes of Chaugan.
But what does this term "Persian Earth" evoke?
Imagine if I came up with the idea of designing my own fragrance line (I had enough ideas, by the way, but I lack expertise, I'm not a perfumer) and had an eau de parfum in my portfolio called "Terre allemande"? I couldn't do that without being politically placed in a very bad corner. But apart from this thought game, I suspect that "Terre de Perse" quite deliberately means "Perse" and not Iran. The designer from France explicitly refers to the old Persian culture, not to the Mullah regime that has existed since 1979.
So M. Lehmahien immediately aroused my interest. The name fetishist in me wants to know what the scent smells like. Maybe he's quite, quite great and could find his way into my collection? After all, I feel a very strong emotional attachment to my father's homeland. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have an olfactory conversion of "Persia" in a bottle?
Gandix, who had already tested the fragrance, was so kind as to send me her bottling. (Many thanks for that!).
She saved me from a blind buy, because I admit... yeah, it was itching in my fingers already.
The notes read very promisingly.
Lemon in the top note, pepper - that's my thing.
And really, the fragrance is off to a brilliant start. After the pepper follows very quickly other spices, which I also love very much, e.g. cardamom, ginger, cinnamon. Especially cinnamon and cardamom are important components of Persian cuisine.
A chord of carnation and magnolia allows a very slight hint of flowers to grow, but this is very quickly replaced by the soft, lush base of amber, tonka and musk.
Anyway, the base. Very cuddly. Much too sweet.
Who would like to draw comparisons to the "Terre" of HERMES, I can say to him that the two show no similarities at all. No vetiver in Terre de Perse. Also no galbanum (which would have been a very Persian ingredient). The "Persian earth" seems to me like a very well-behaved, unimaginative attempt to bring a slightly "pleasant" scent to those affluent customers who are always greedy for new products from the luxury sector.
By the way, I couldn't find out which perfumer was behind the scents of "Chaugan".
It is probably a French company that carries out contract work for industry.
When the briefing is over (in this case: "Give me a fragrance that is spicy but doesn't disturb anyone and mix in some spices that have a Persian vibe") the execution is certainly a piece of cake.
There are innumerable such supposed "Niche-brands", which only sell scents in "rare distribution", without own perfume ideas, without artistic impetus. These products serve desires and evoke so-called "scent worlds", in this case Persia, or what is commonly imagined in Europe under this country. One can exchange the frame easily, if we take Africa, for example, then other associations would immediately wake up and the fragrance would be called "Terre d'Afrique" and probably contain a new solar note from the chemistry laboratory (but I suspect "Terre d'Afrique" already exists, "Terre de Perse" was still free).
I haven't tested the other fragrances of the "Chaugan series" yet, as I said, but after the first encounter turned out to be so uninspiring, the other eaux don't really appeal to me. I can imagine exactly what the rose princess from Isfahan smells like. Quite nice, not too synthetic, but ultimately without a unique selling point. Without recognition value. Just like "Terre de Perse", a very pleasant EdP from a design smithy in Boulogne-Billancourt. The company has also designed packaging for Dessange hair care products.
In terms of price, the Chaugan fragrances are in the upper midfield. "For love of fragrance" is currently (May 2019) available for about 98 Euro, but I have already seen some offers for 79 € and also for 69 € (French websites). You can also add 110 € for 50 ml "Terre de Perse".
Conclusion: Just because of the name, I don't buy perfume. And no matter how emotionally charged I find him.
There is usually only a clever design company behind it anyway
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