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The Scent Detective - Ebony
For Bois d'Ébène, its creator Aurélien Guichard gives only four notes, which are supposed to result in a dark, amber woody scent and which immediately made me take a closer look at what was actually going on here...
THE CASE EBENHOLZ
It is always exciting to observe how much marketing is done to almost every single perfume and how many people question it too little. For example, with all the YouTubern one hears almost exclusively formulations such as "this fragrance has ... in it" / "this contains ...". Fragrance notes primarily describe what is to be perceived, not necessarily what is actually used. Real rose absolute, for example, is far too expensive to be contained in so many perfumes. Ultimately, also only the question is important:
What do I smell?
With Bois d'Ébène, I immediately thought that the fragrance as a whole seemed very familiar. It essentially seems like the base accord of some woody, sweetened perfumes. In short, I perceive the following facets:
- the volatile (!) Topnote is slightly ethereal resinous and cardamom comes to my mind
- dry cedar wood or lightly scorched gujac wood
- a sandalwood component like Javanol
- a strong ambery facet, but not as clean as pure ambroxan, but subtly dirty near the skin, which makes me think Cetalox
- something sweet and creamy that was probably added in the form of vanillin and tonka bean (coumarin)
The color association to the precious ebony is thus quite appropriate, since the woods overall already seem a little darker, but by the sweetish-creamy counterpart get a cozy atmosphere. But what is it about the notes, which the perfumer indicates?
In a short video he presents the fragrance concept (https://vimeo.com/375868040). The main ingredient is the dark and smoky guaiac wood from Paraguay, while Indonesian patchouli and cypriol (Nagarmotha) are said to intensify the scent and make it more earthy. Brazilian cabreuva, on the other hand, would enhance the amber facets and have an almost malty quality. However, if you pause at 0:49, you can read the handwritten components:
Ambroxan
Cypriol Esssence
Iso E Super
Vertofix Coeur
Cashmeran
Cedramber
Amber Core
(Base Potion)
So it's pretty clear that Bois d'Ébène looks so familiar to me because there are so many aromachemicals in here that are quasi-omnipresent in the world of woody/amber scents. Whether Aurélien Guichard now uses no essences of gujac wood, patchouli and cabreuva, of course, can not be deduced exactly from this, but it just clarifies us what I explained at the beginning.
Geographical information on the fragrances may not only make them appear more authentic, but also the clientele sometimes think that raw materials from all over the world have been processed. I want to deny here in no case that this also happens very often, but at the same time contribute something to the demystification of some evening adventurous, inventive fragrance pyramids. (Currently, for example, there are only 21 other fragrances on Parfumo where Cabreuva is listed as a note.)
In my opinion, Bois d'Ébène is nevertheless successful, because it delivers what it promises - to be a dark, amber woody fragrance. No more and no less. Because it is relatively linear, one should already engage in at least one complete day of testing before buying it, in order to determine whether it does not become too monotonous in the long run. Because he creates a fairly long-lasting, moderate sillage, which make him a versatile companion in the colder seasons.
Paraguayan gaiac wood
Indonesian patchouli
Nagarmotha
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