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08/26/2021
Profumo
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Profumo
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21
Eau de poison cupboard
Isn't the idea tempting?
To pack everything into a fragrance that has been banned in recent decades for the benefit of the consumer and yet supposedly smells so wonderful: nitro-musk compounds such as 'Musk Ketone' and 'Musk Xylene', for example, or oak moss containing Atranol, and without any limits. Especially for fragrance aficionados, who had to experience how their favorite fragrances were reformulated again and again following the latest specifications and restrictions, until they were sometimes only a shadow of their former selves, it must seem like a dream, when two perfumers join forces and simply show everyone the middle finger.
However, why Miguel Matos did not compose the fragrance himself (he is responsible for the 'creative direction'), but left the part to his mentor Christian Carbonnel (also known as Chris Maurice), I can only speculate. Possibly this has something to do with the almost 100-year history of the company Carbonnel S.A. in Barcelona, whose laboratories became the gateway to the realm of professional perfume production for the man from Almada, Portugal.
And who knows, maybe they have a kind of poison cabinet there, where everything is kept under lock and key, which met the ban beam of the authorities in the past decades.
Would the junior boss of the proud traditional house let a talented, but completely untrained self-made perfumer there ran?
Probably not. So it makes the Maestro personally and I could imagine with some fun, because the two understand each other well, knows to report in any case Miguel Matos, which has also become part of the new company of Christian Carbonnel, 'C de la Niche' for some time.
And Matos has the courage to be illegal.
For many of his own fragrance creations, for example, he uses - as a great chypre lover - vast quantities of oak moss, knowing full well that he is actually not allowed to sell these fragrances on the European market. Apparently, on the Iberian peninsula, the requirements of the Geneva IFRA are interpreted a little more casually, because the works of another oakmoss rebel, Manuel Cross, owner of Rogue Perfumery, who has long declared war on art-destroying bureaucracy, are also available here Manuel Cross has the advantage, of course, that in his home country there are far fewer restrictions anyway, while Miguel Matos is able to defend himself with the remark "This isn't a perfume. It's a piece of olfactory art. It uses safe ingredients only, but can cause reaction in allergy-prone skin. Test on a small patch of skin. Non IFRA compliant" tries to save.
In the case of Veneno, this addition is apparently not enough, and in his description of the fragrance Matos goes into a eulogy on the beauty of the substances used, albeit banned substances, all of which promote the worst diseases, but still smell so heavenly. Who has desire on this somewhat vain Suade, please visit his page, I do not repeat it here.
And the fragrance, does it smell so forbidden good?
I would say, yes.
At the beginning, I perceive a rather familiar spicy-smoky cypriole/saffron accord, wafted by distinct narcissus indolic. This animalic-erotic twist characterizes the entire course of the fragrance, is continued by a beautiful, unobtrusive civet note and ends in a physical-meaty accord of costus, musk and ambrette. Green, woody and slightly leathery accents of cypriole, patchouli, juniper tar and oakmoss cloak the lasting sexual presence a bit without completely obscuring it; subtle floral infusions make it a bit more charming, while fruity and sweetly balsamic nuances of osmanthus, amber, Peru balsam and tonka bean provide warming sensuality.
Overall, the very nicely blended fragrance has an effect on me mainly due to its bitter-green-spicy facets in combination with the eroticizing components. Cypriol, cedar juniper, civet, Costus and musk give the protagonists, the rest is choral, but therefore not unimportant framework.
That 'Veneno' is extremely provocative, as Miguel Matos explains, I cannot confirm. There are truly more provocative ones - I only say 'Sécretions Magnifiques'. That it is a murderous fragrance, "a killer scent. It will change your life... until you're dead" - forget it. What a boast!
But it does smell good.
He seems to me clearly inspired by leathery-spicy and animalic feats of the 70s like 'Ted Lapidus pour Homme' or 'Van Cleef & Arpels pour Homme', although he does not imitate them but cleverly paraphrases. 'Veneno' is namely not a retro fragrance, even if one might assume that in view of the ingredients used, which have long been banned and declared toxic.
And exactly here sets with me a small moment of disillusionment, if not disappointment: because the promise of long past pleasures to be able to trace, fired my imagination to the extent that I expected to be able to experience something comparable to 'Patou pour Homme', which was nevertheless repeatedly certified that you can not reawaken him, because he contained a lot of substances banned in the meantime.
"Veneno" smells but not after the good old days, and secretly I ask myself: why then all the magic?
A thoroughly modern fragrance, which taps with a toe into yesterday, but nothing more. Would not that have been possible with more compatible means?
I think so, but don't know. I can't say how "Veneno" would smell had those responsible resorted to the permitted palette. As it smells, it conveys to me in any case nothing unusual beyond measure and the pleasure to sniff at the "endocrine disruptors", which nevertheless smell "so heavenly" (M.Matos) does not open up to me.
A good fragrance, yes. An exciting also, but none of the enthusiasm would bring me to my knees.
Also, I can't shake the impression that Miguel Matos would have been better off developing the formula himself. Sure, Christian Carbonnel is a good perfumer, but not a particularly brave one. His "Camel" for Zoologist is an eloquent example of this: beautifully made, good smelling, but rather well-behaved and above all: miles away from the chutzpah of a "T-Rex". Now Matos also possesses this chutzpah - his fragrance "La Piscine" exemplifies it.
This bit of intelligent, charming audacity is missing from "Veneno".
To pack everything into a fragrance that has been banned in recent decades for the benefit of the consumer and yet supposedly smells so wonderful: nitro-musk compounds such as 'Musk Ketone' and 'Musk Xylene', for example, or oak moss containing Atranol, and without any limits. Especially for fragrance aficionados, who had to experience how their favorite fragrances were reformulated again and again following the latest specifications and restrictions, until they were sometimes only a shadow of their former selves, it must seem like a dream, when two perfumers join forces and simply show everyone the middle finger.
However, why Miguel Matos did not compose the fragrance himself (he is responsible for the 'creative direction'), but left the part to his mentor Christian Carbonnel (also known as Chris Maurice), I can only speculate. Possibly this has something to do with the almost 100-year history of the company Carbonnel S.A. in Barcelona, whose laboratories became the gateway to the realm of professional perfume production for the man from Almada, Portugal.
And who knows, maybe they have a kind of poison cabinet there, where everything is kept under lock and key, which met the ban beam of the authorities in the past decades.
Would the junior boss of the proud traditional house let a talented, but completely untrained self-made perfumer there ran?
Probably not. So it makes the Maestro personally and I could imagine with some fun, because the two understand each other well, knows to report in any case Miguel Matos, which has also become part of the new company of Christian Carbonnel, 'C de la Niche' for some time.
And Matos has the courage to be illegal.
For many of his own fragrance creations, for example, he uses - as a great chypre lover - vast quantities of oak moss, knowing full well that he is actually not allowed to sell these fragrances on the European market. Apparently, on the Iberian peninsula, the requirements of the Geneva IFRA are interpreted a little more casually, because the works of another oakmoss rebel, Manuel Cross, owner of Rogue Perfumery, who has long declared war on art-destroying bureaucracy, are also available here Manuel Cross has the advantage, of course, that in his home country there are far fewer restrictions anyway, while Miguel Matos is able to defend himself with the remark "This isn't a perfume. It's a piece of olfactory art. It uses safe ingredients only, but can cause reaction in allergy-prone skin. Test on a small patch of skin. Non IFRA compliant" tries to save.
In the case of Veneno, this addition is apparently not enough, and in his description of the fragrance Matos goes into a eulogy on the beauty of the substances used, albeit banned substances, all of which promote the worst diseases, but still smell so heavenly. Who has desire on this somewhat vain Suade, please visit his page, I do not repeat it here.
And the fragrance, does it smell so forbidden good?
I would say, yes.
At the beginning, I perceive a rather familiar spicy-smoky cypriole/saffron accord, wafted by distinct narcissus indolic. This animalic-erotic twist characterizes the entire course of the fragrance, is continued by a beautiful, unobtrusive civet note and ends in a physical-meaty accord of costus, musk and ambrette. Green, woody and slightly leathery accents of cypriole, patchouli, juniper tar and oakmoss cloak the lasting sexual presence a bit without completely obscuring it; subtle floral infusions make it a bit more charming, while fruity and sweetly balsamic nuances of osmanthus, amber, Peru balsam and tonka bean provide warming sensuality.
Overall, the very nicely blended fragrance has an effect on me mainly due to its bitter-green-spicy facets in combination with the eroticizing components. Cypriol, cedar juniper, civet, Costus and musk give the protagonists, the rest is choral, but therefore not unimportant framework.
That 'Veneno' is extremely provocative, as Miguel Matos explains, I cannot confirm. There are truly more provocative ones - I only say 'Sécretions Magnifiques'. That it is a murderous fragrance, "a killer scent. It will change your life... until you're dead" - forget it. What a boast!
But it does smell good.
He seems to me clearly inspired by leathery-spicy and animalic feats of the 70s like 'Ted Lapidus pour Homme' or 'Van Cleef & Arpels pour Homme', although he does not imitate them but cleverly paraphrases. 'Veneno' is namely not a retro fragrance, even if one might assume that in view of the ingredients used, which have long been banned and declared toxic.
And exactly here sets with me a small moment of disillusionment, if not disappointment: because the promise of long past pleasures to be able to trace, fired my imagination to the extent that I expected to be able to experience something comparable to 'Patou pour Homme', which was nevertheless repeatedly certified that you can not reawaken him, because he contained a lot of substances banned in the meantime.
"Veneno" smells but not after the good old days, and secretly I ask myself: why then all the magic?
A thoroughly modern fragrance, which taps with a toe into yesterday, but nothing more. Would not that have been possible with more compatible means?
I think so, but don't know. I can't say how "Veneno" would smell had those responsible resorted to the permitted palette. As it smells, it conveys to me in any case nothing unusual beyond measure and the pleasure to sniff at the "endocrine disruptors", which nevertheless smell "so heavenly" (M.Matos) does not open up to me.
A good fragrance, yes. An exciting also, but none of the enthusiasm would bring me to my knees.
Also, I can't shake the impression that Miguel Matos would have been better off developing the formula himself. Sure, Christian Carbonnel is a good perfumer, but not a particularly brave one. His "Camel" for Zoologist is an eloquent example of this: beautifully made, good smelling, but rather well-behaved and above all: miles away from the chutzpah of a "T-Rex". Now Matos also possesses this chutzpah - his fragrance "La Piscine" exemplifies it.
This bit of intelligent, charming audacity is missing from "Veneno".
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