Panouge Matieres Libres, Perris Monte Carlo Rose De Mai and other reviews – Skin Time April 2021

Perris Monte Carlo

We don’t usually associate Jean-Claude Ellena with pixel-sharp photorealism, but he’s certainly capable of achieving it when he wants to. His Jasmin Pays** and Rose De Mai* for Perris Monte Carlo are amongst the most heart-arrestingly accurate representations of the flowers I have smelt for an age. The jasmine conjures those innocuous white petals with precisely the right levels of greenness, icy dew, leafy banana and only-just-overcooked tobacco. His dosage of the mothball whiff of indole is nothing short of masterful. The rose is even better: so vividly holographic, you can almost see Ellena standing before you, beaming a self-satisfied, show-off smile. Nothing is overstated here. The honey, the crispness, the leafy bite, the pink powderiness, the lemony tea inflection: all unfold into each other with petal-perfect harmony. Two gorgeous pieces of work that should make us hope Ellena’s retirement is of the ‘semi’ variety.

I note he’s also made a mimosa and a lavender for the brand; they’re at the top of my ‘must get samples’ list.

Panouge Matieres Libres

Equally exciting is the arrival of Matieres Libres*, a new collection beneath the umbrella of the Panouge brand. As far as I’ve been able to ascertain, Panouge, not unlike some other scented entities, has been around for decades, but has changed owners and directions several times. At the moment, its Matieres Libres branch is under the creative direction of Rania Barakat Naim and features four scents put together by Patrice Revillard and Marie Schnirer of Maelstrom. Each is a must try.

Datura Amaretti (Revillard) exudes delicious, worldly-wise decadence, with its bitter almond showing no shame whatsoever as it sidles up to a heady mix of white florals, rose and violet. This is Bette Davis giving you a come-hither stare with those penetrating, seen-too-much eyes.

Rose Agathe (Schnirer) opens with an astonishing, almost off-putting evocation of the eponymous petals wrapped around a smooth piece of pepper-coated granite. It carries on in commendably strange fashion, exuding a mineralic coldness and an acidity that is as curious as it is compelling. Crimson lipstick laced with inscrutable acid.

Patchouli Figue (Schnirer) uses an idea we last saw in Guerlain Pachouli Ardent but takes it in a wholly unexpected direction, creating a sophisticated gourmand-inflected composition. The greenness of the fig brings sappy bite to proceedings, while the combination of cocoa with the patchouli grounds the whole in curvaceous calories. There’s no fig in Black Forest, but somehow, the balanced, legible density of this piece recalls those layered contrasts of cake, cherries and kirsch. 

The standout from this strong field is Absinthe Gaiac. In what comes across as a 21st-century update of Guerlain Heritage, Revillard uses suave, vanillic woods (all tender hugs and embraces) as a foundation for the brighter personalities of absinthe, violet leaf, nutmeg and rose. It’s the perfume equivalent of catching sight of an impeccably groomed, hat-wearing gent as he saunters along a sunny pavement. A paean to long-lost elegance. 

Shiseido Ginza

The bottle for the new Shiseido Ginza* (composed by Karine Dubreuil and Maia Lernout) calls to mind a black dagger plunging into a pool of pinkness. If only the perfume did the same. This is a musky floral concoction so cloying and so sugary, it compels you to search the net for your nearest outpost of Weight Watchers. Ginza is one of Tokyo’s most sophisticated, most forward-looking districts: it’s hard to imagine why anyone thought this juvenile syrup-morass of a scent was a faithful representation of its urbanity.

L’Artisan Parfumeur Dzing!
& Serge Lutens Borneo 1834

Finally, the weather’s recent refusal to do anything that might resemble warming up here in the south of England prompted me to reach for two of my favourite nuzzle-worthy compositions. L’Artisan Parfumeur Dzing!** (Olivia Giacobetti) still elicits a smile with that instant-nostalgia opening of sawdust and candy floss. Devotees claim its growl has grown quieter over the years, but I’d say it’s still eminently audible. A whip-smacking whiff of dangerous, feline animalics that shows off its claws as well as its pristine fur.

Equally leathery, albeit in a more herbal, earthy fashion, is Serge Lutens Borneo 1834** (Christopher Sheldrake). It recently proved a wonderful companion on a frosty day-trip, pushing out its central patchouli note in a way that conveyed both undergraduate naïveté and a weightier, more mature sophistication. Light and shade in equal measure. 

Persolaise

* sample provided by the brand
** sample obtained by me

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