12/14/2020
Profumo
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Profumo
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Without pompous pomposity
Manuel Cross has proved that he can do chypre, especially old style chypre, with 'Chypre Siam', 'Tabac Vert', '40 Rogue' and 'Tuberose & Moss'. Whoever sniffs at these creations may completely forget that only a few years ago there were fierce debates about the pros and cons of banning oak and tree moss. A touch of 'Chypre Siam' and it's as if nothing had happened.
Well, he doesn't give a damn about the restrictions of an IFRA in faraway America. Let the pitiful colleagues on the old continent struggle to breathe new life into the good old, unfortunately assassinated Aunt Chypre - at his home she is still very much alive.
Now then, flora & fauna
I confess to having blindly ordered this fragrance, but what could happen: a new chypre fragrance from Mr. Cross, even advertised by the US-American online retailer Luckyscent as "...masterpiece of all-natural perfumery" - nothing could go wrong.
Didn't work either.
Flora & Fauna' is exactly what I had hoped for, and yes, even a little bit expected: a classic Chypre of the finest kind! The fragrance even surpasses its predecessors already mentioned - which in turn were, or are, already convincing representatives of this genre. With them, Manuel Cross illuminated the corners of the chypre cosmos: sometimes the green-spicy corner, sometimes the powdery-animal, or the Asian-floral. But 'Flora & Fauna' rests within itself, occupies the middle of the room, so to speak, or in other words: probably wants to and should be read as the quintessence of his struggle for an old-style chypre fragrance, one that only gently opens up to modernity and above all shows his own signature.
Of course, there are two heroes of the past that cannot be ignored in moderation: Coty's epochal 'Chypre', and Jacques Guerlain's answer to it, the no less epochal 'Mitsouko'.
Chypre Siam' can be seen in many ways as Manuel Cross's attempt to reinterpret François Coty's fragrance. Flora & Fauna', on the other hand, could be understood as a wooing for 'Mitsouko'. For Jacques Guerlain's ingenious trick was to juxtapose the bitter-mossy background noise of the chypre construct with a ripe fruit with its sweet-tart, even leathery nuances: the peach.
Manuel Cross chooses the apricot instead, or as a variant: a supposedly dried apricot.
And you can smell it right at the beginning of the fragrance, but hello! it literally jumps at you, and holds the bitter-shelled, citrus-fresh bergamot right underneath. This bitter-sweet fruit duo literally dances on the balsamic, softly ambered heart, which in turn is surrounded by a strong base of labdanum and oak moss.
Of course, the juicy apricot accord is a very clear hint towards 'Mitsouko', only that 'Flora & Fauna' is less madam-like, but rather more delicate and light-footed.
This may be due to the missing flower bouquet. Mitsouko' holds a whole bouquet in her arms: rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, even lilac. The rogue scent: nada. There are no blossoms far and wide, at least none that would push themselves into the foreground. Manuel Cross has disarmed, or rather: ruffled off, so to speak. And lo and behold: the slimmed-down concept is working.
Whereby I wonder a little bit about the naming: 'Flora', which Flora? Well, also mosses, lichens and resins belong to the flora. But please, which 'fauna'?
I'm actually getting a little suspicious here Manuel Cross advertises this fragrance by saying that it is 'all-natural'. Seriously? Even the civet, which is supposed to be in it, and which you can only guess at quietly?
Genuine, natural civet?
I hope not Because as good as 'Flora & Fauna' smells, the use of real civet would disqualify this scent to a certain extent. A quiet bad conscience is already gnawing inside me, because of my rogue-chypre-enthusiasm, that I pressed the buy-button so fast...
Well, I'll find out, and until then I hope that the 'all-natural' doesn't really refer to 'all'.
Apart from the only subtly used civet, the leathery nuances of the 'fauna' must of course also be added. But when combining leather and chypre in this case, please do not think of genuine leather chypre à la 'Bandit' or 'Cabochard'. The leathery touch here is more of a team player than a protagonist, rather soft, light leather than rough and dark.
Here, 'Flora & Fauna' reminds me a bit of 'Diorling', whose leathery sides are similarly finely smoothed and softly scented, while the base doesn't develop the warmth of the Rogue fragrance at all. This, however, develops another recent chypre scent, Annette Neuffer's 'Chyprette', also 'all-natural'. Perhaps Manuel Cross was inspired by this one, because it is striking that barely a year after the Neuffer fragrance was released, Manuel Cross is coming around the corner with his own. While 'Chyprette' is of course purely natural, the explicit reference to the naturalness of 'Flora & Fauna' surprises me a little bit, because Manuel Cross was known for his resistance against bureaucratic regulations, but less for his inclination to natural perfumes.
In any case, the aim of his efforts was apparently to prove to himself and all sceptics that a chypre fragrance on a purely natural basis, without the use of synthetic substitutes, is feasible.
He succeeded
However, it is also understandable that the whole thing has its price. As Annette Neuffer explains on her website, natural extracts cost many times more than their synthetic substitutes - the differences are really enormous! So it should come as no surprise that you have to pay a little more for a bottle of 'Flora & Fauna' than for other rogue fragrances, which in turn already contain a high proportion of natural ingredients.
As a small compensation for the surcharge, you will not only be rewarded with a high quality fragrance, but also with a pretty little wooden box that opens and fits the contents perfectly: fine and noble in a pleasant way, without any hint of pompous pomposity.
Bravo!
Well, he doesn't give a damn about the restrictions of an IFRA in faraway America. Let the pitiful colleagues on the old continent struggle to breathe new life into the good old, unfortunately assassinated Aunt Chypre - at his home she is still very much alive.
Now then, flora & fauna
I confess to having blindly ordered this fragrance, but what could happen: a new chypre fragrance from Mr. Cross, even advertised by the US-American online retailer Luckyscent as "...masterpiece of all-natural perfumery" - nothing could go wrong.
Didn't work either.
Flora & Fauna' is exactly what I had hoped for, and yes, even a little bit expected: a classic Chypre of the finest kind! The fragrance even surpasses its predecessors already mentioned - which in turn were, or are, already convincing representatives of this genre. With them, Manuel Cross illuminated the corners of the chypre cosmos: sometimes the green-spicy corner, sometimes the powdery-animal, or the Asian-floral. But 'Flora & Fauna' rests within itself, occupies the middle of the room, so to speak, or in other words: probably wants to and should be read as the quintessence of his struggle for an old-style chypre fragrance, one that only gently opens up to modernity and above all shows his own signature.
Of course, there are two heroes of the past that cannot be ignored in moderation: Coty's epochal 'Chypre', and Jacques Guerlain's answer to it, the no less epochal 'Mitsouko'.
Chypre Siam' can be seen in many ways as Manuel Cross's attempt to reinterpret François Coty's fragrance. Flora & Fauna', on the other hand, could be understood as a wooing for 'Mitsouko'. For Jacques Guerlain's ingenious trick was to juxtapose the bitter-mossy background noise of the chypre construct with a ripe fruit with its sweet-tart, even leathery nuances: the peach.
Manuel Cross chooses the apricot instead, or as a variant: a supposedly dried apricot.
And you can smell it right at the beginning of the fragrance, but hello! it literally jumps at you, and holds the bitter-shelled, citrus-fresh bergamot right underneath. This bitter-sweet fruit duo literally dances on the balsamic, softly ambered heart, which in turn is surrounded by a strong base of labdanum and oak moss.
Of course, the juicy apricot accord is a very clear hint towards 'Mitsouko', only that 'Flora & Fauna' is less madam-like, but rather more delicate and light-footed.
This may be due to the missing flower bouquet. Mitsouko' holds a whole bouquet in her arms: rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, even lilac. The rogue scent: nada. There are no blossoms far and wide, at least none that would push themselves into the foreground. Manuel Cross has disarmed, or rather: ruffled off, so to speak. And lo and behold: the slimmed-down concept is working.
Whereby I wonder a little bit about the naming: 'Flora', which Flora? Well, also mosses, lichens and resins belong to the flora. But please, which 'fauna'?
I'm actually getting a little suspicious here Manuel Cross advertises this fragrance by saying that it is 'all-natural'. Seriously? Even the civet, which is supposed to be in it, and which you can only guess at quietly?
Genuine, natural civet?
I hope not Because as good as 'Flora & Fauna' smells, the use of real civet would disqualify this scent to a certain extent. A quiet bad conscience is already gnawing inside me, because of my rogue-chypre-enthusiasm, that I pressed the buy-button so fast...
Well, I'll find out, and until then I hope that the 'all-natural' doesn't really refer to 'all'.
Apart from the only subtly used civet, the leathery nuances of the 'fauna' must of course also be added. But when combining leather and chypre in this case, please do not think of genuine leather chypre à la 'Bandit' or 'Cabochard'. The leathery touch here is more of a team player than a protagonist, rather soft, light leather than rough and dark.
Here, 'Flora & Fauna' reminds me a bit of 'Diorling', whose leathery sides are similarly finely smoothed and softly scented, while the base doesn't develop the warmth of the Rogue fragrance at all. This, however, develops another recent chypre scent, Annette Neuffer's 'Chyprette', also 'all-natural'. Perhaps Manuel Cross was inspired by this one, because it is striking that barely a year after the Neuffer fragrance was released, Manuel Cross is coming around the corner with his own. While 'Chyprette' is of course purely natural, the explicit reference to the naturalness of 'Flora & Fauna' surprises me a little bit, because Manuel Cross was known for his resistance against bureaucratic regulations, but less for his inclination to natural perfumes.
In any case, the aim of his efforts was apparently to prove to himself and all sceptics that a chypre fragrance on a purely natural basis, without the use of synthetic substitutes, is feasible.
He succeeded
However, it is also understandable that the whole thing has its price. As Annette Neuffer explains on her website, natural extracts cost many times more than their synthetic substitutes - the differences are really enormous! So it should come as no surprise that you have to pay a little more for a bottle of 'Flora & Fauna' than for other rogue fragrances, which in turn already contain a high proportion of natural ingredients.
As a small compensation for the surcharge, you will not only be rewarded with a high quality fragrance, but also with a pretty little wooden box that opens and fits the contents perfectly: fine and noble in a pleasant way, without any hint of pompous pomposity.
Bravo!
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