Fresh from the excesses of Esxence, I recently presented a showcase review of a brand that had been unknown to me until I visited the fair: Frassai, founded by Natalia Outeda. Excesses of a very different kind were also on my mind during my review of a new-ish release from Tom Ford: Black Lacquer. Here are links to both review videos, followed by more thoughts on some of the scents: Tom Ford Black Lacquer review — Frassai showcase review.
Verano Porteno (Rodrigo Flores-Roux) 10:55
Tian Di (Olivier Gillotin) 13:44
Blondine (Yann Vasnier) 17:15
A Fuego Lento (Rodrigo Flores-Roux) 23:54
Teisenddu (Roxanne Kirkpatrick) 26:28
Cuir Pampas (Irina Burlakova) 31:33
El Descanso (Irina Burlakova) 34:29
Rosa Sacra (Irina Burlakova) 37:20
Victoria (Irina Burlakova) 42:10
Dormir Al Sol (Irina Burlakova) 44:20
Ajedrez (Ralf Schwieger) 47:00
I’m so glad finally to have made Frassai’s acquaintance, and I’m just sorry it’s taken me this long. But as I’ve said several times in the past — and as I discussed in the broadcast — keeping up with perfume releases is becoming an increasingly impossible task. As a whole, the Frassai range is lucid and coherent. Outeda evidently has a strong vision of the aesthetic she wishes to convey (accessible, luminous and legible, without being simplistic or predictable) and she adheres to it with admirable consistency. I would say that every single one of her releases is worth checking out (the list above is the entirety of her catalogue as it stands at the moment) but I’d particularly recommend the following.
Blondine — Vasnier’s characteristically surprising, original take on the musky floral. It’s both retro and futuristic, like seeing the guests at a swanky 1920s party teleported onto the deck of the Enterprise.
Verano Porteno — Rodrigo Flores-Roux doing what he does best: giving us a floral composition (jasmine, in this case) and making it seem utterly carefree, joyful and exuberant. Only someone of his skill can achieve such apparent simplicity.
Tian Di — Gillotin offers a heavenly presentation of spicy, peachy, osmanthus-y sensuousness, somewhere between YSL Opium, Lubin Idole and Guerlain Mitsouko.
El Descanso — Irina Burlakova (a creator whose work I’m not familiar with) pulls landscape perfumery into fascinating territories, with this green, cedar-inflected, peaty, wheat-like evocation of Argentina’s vistas.
Ajedrez — the brand’s latest, and the first one not to have been composed by Burlakova for quite a while. Schwieger often injects delicious humour into his work (Lipstick Rose, Fils De Dieu) but he’s in serious mode here, using tobacco, lavender, woods and iris to create a delightful portrait of a dimly-lit interior occupied by a couple of chess players. Old friends enjoying a moment of togetherness, blissfully cut off from the madness of the world outside.
Persolaise
[Reviews based on samples provided by the brands.]
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