She looks rather roguish. So it is quite possible that Mrs. Senior Perfumer Violaine Collas is capable of doing something crazy. Something really crazy. Was it at a lavish party that got a little out of hand late at night? Who came up with the idea was probably not comprehensible later. But what you'll hear is that everyone suddenly found themselves in their - of course best equipped - laboratory and had a lot of fun mixing fragrances that don't match at all.
Violets and coffee, for instance. "Woah!", you shake it
"And bergamot," shouts someone in the second row. "Bergamot must be in the top note! They always do that with Guerlain "Eh, double eh."
"And vanilla!" "No, Patchouli!!! That's it." "I've got it, even better: Iris!"
They outdo each other in hair-raising concoctions. Violaine shakes it almost to the point of nausea. A celebrated perfumer like her doesn't have to sniff a blend to perceive its fragrance. The abstruse suggestions are perfectly sufficient for her to imagine the result only too vividly.
But that is not all. It's gonna be mixed and matched until dawn. Somebody must have been filming the whole thing. No one would have memorized the scents otherwise.
You mix, you laugh, you have fun. Have fun. Like children who cook, stirring together everything that is within their reach. Even if the result is a disgusting taste and nobody wants to eat it.
"I'm going to bed," Violaine says at some point. "Wake me when you're done." But can you ever be done with such an experiment?
The birds are already beginning to sing and the girl serves hot latte and crispy croissants.
Violaine throws herself over her silk kimono when she is awakened by loud cheers. "Yay! That's it! We got it!"
"And what has it become?"
"We're not quite sure," someone says. "What do you think?"
You hand her the bottle. It's spraying. "Mmmm, violets," she smiles. "And bergamot. But very weak." "It's always the same with Guerlain," shouts someone from the second row.
"Coffee?" Violaine cheerfully grabs her forehead. "That's actually latte. Coffee with milk and violets.. She turned away shuddering.
"And the iris?" "Vanilla"? "Patchouli"?
Violaine has sniffed enough. "Good work," she mumbles and slips the embroidered sleeping mask over her eyes. She smiles happily. She'd sleep late tonight. The job that had worried her for so long was done.
But "Stop, stop", she still thinks of it. "A name. We need a name! And don't everybody yell at me, I can't hear you. "The One"? There already is." "But what was that, you back there?" "The Only One. What else?", gurgles it from the second row. "Perfect. That's it." No one else would ever create a perfume like that. Violaine snuggles happily into her pink merino blanket.
Soon afterwards it can be seen in all relevant shop windows. And Emilia Clarke, the sweet blonde with the sinfully red lips, in person, is the face of the advertising campaign. And the voice. "Dimmi quando tu verrai, dimmi quando ... quando ... quando ... quando ...", she warbles cheerfully in a Roman trattoria. "Tell me when you will come, tell me when, when, when... "The year, the day, the hour, when you might kiss me." Everything is cheerful, everyone is happy, the world is beautiful and life is like a song of Abba. All you have to do is buy this scent and spray it on. 45 Euro for 30 ml is not much for so much happiness and lightness of being.
I don't even have to buy the scent. He has appeared before me on his own accord. As a generous rehearsal, with which I can now extensively test whether I want to commit myself with The Only One - be it for a few weeks or forever.
I spray it on. Mmm, violets, I think right away. A violet carpet of flowers unrolls itself before me. The fragrance is sweet, floral and graceful. Just violets. Shouldn't there be bergamot in the top note? I sniff and sniff. But no bergamot. Instead the coffee note slowly spreads. Violets and coffee - I had imagined this to be incredibly daring. Practically an olfactory No Go - and that's why it's so attractive. Like everything forbidden.
Coffee with milk, I noticed. He now shares the arena with the violets. In contrast, the iris arrives at most as something dull, indefinable. Or better: Of course it can't compete with this lattesoup with violets. Whether this was really intended in the same way?
What a sensation that could have been: Violets, coffee, Iris. And then even vanilla and patchouli.
I'm waiting. Namely, vanilla and patchouli. But somehow they don't want to come out. Not today, not tomorrow. It remains with violets that swim in the latte.
As is well known, popular revolutions never take place. I feel the same way with The Only One, this daring blend, which in the end has become nothing more than a gourmand floral scent for young girls, which is really weak from the top note onwards, i.e. has hardly any sillage, intensity and durability. I have the feeling that I have to spray every 10 minutes to be able to perceive something of The Only One.
I can't believe it. I am still waiting for the sensation, the aha-experience. But there's nothing more to come. What could have become of this composition? Wasn't the courage enough to do something innovative and really special? The Only One has become a pleasing all-purpose fragrance. It's nice, but he's not going to be remembered. At least not in mine. He weakens so much that one has already forgotten him before one can enter into dialogue with him. Bummer!
Maybe I'm too demanding? On the other hand, I don't normally have any fear of contact with the mainstream and certainly not with fragrances that make us believe how beautiful life is. And this is to be taken quite literally. Because the likewise flowery, gourmand sweet success scent La Vie est Belle somehow reminds me of The Only One. Whereby The Only One actually still seems more original to me.
At least The Only One has to be a success, too. Otherwise would they have brought out a fruity-sweet remake in 2019, "The Only One 2"? Here, too, violets and coffee meet, eh klar, never change a winning team. Patchouli is also back, but also blackberry, freesia, pear, rose, tonka bean and fine woods. Emilia Clarke is once again the face of the advertising campaign. But I'm gonna have to pass on this one. The Only One 2 - somehow the name is almost ridiculous, I mean, either something is "the only one" or not ... - I don't know yet. I also do not know whether Violaine was also at work here and how this creation came about. Both are consistently concealed. I wonder why
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