Many years ago – say 15 – someone gave me a sample of Grandiflorum’s Absinthe. The long defunct Grandiflorum was one of Mandy Aftel’s  first fragrances, I now know, but then all I knew was that it smelled divine: slightly bitter, yet round and deep and earthy and ambery. It reminded me of – something. To this day I know not what. (Imagine the sound of a Beethoven cello sonata , deeply haunting, smooth tones as played by Jacqueline du Pre:; I was smitten, searched out a bottle, wore it for 3 days – and developed the worst contact dermatitis known to womankind.(Imagine the abrasive screech of the needle of the record-player suddenly grating across the record – remember those?)  so: I had to give up the lovely Absinthe – and went in search of a replacement.

 

Fast-forward 15 years to now – and 100s upon 100s of perfumes later – and I am still searching. By now I am no longer sure what I’m searching for, certainly not a replacement for that long-ago Absinthe. But there you have it: I read the perfume blogs, I participate in the perfume discussion boards, I buy, I swap, I wear, I give, I receive and I cherish scent in all its forms. I am, well, a woman addicted to smells (among other things. But those other things shall remain unnamed (.)

 

Enter Cafleurebon, the perusal of which, since I found it earlier this year, has become my favorite morning ritual, and through Cafleurebon –  participating in one of the  lovely draws and, amazingly, winning a Fragrance Journey that would culminate in a  bespoke perfume  created by — Sarah Horowitz Thran of Sarah Horowitz Perfumes.

I have  known her work for years and years (loving in particular her Perfect Vanilla, at the time one of the first non-cloying, seductive, grown-up vanillas on the market and way ahead of its time), and Perfect Sunset, which, it turns out, is Sarah’s favorite of the Perfect Perfumes line as well,  and available by order through the custom page. (Editor's Note: Perfect Sunset is an evolution of Sarah's first fragrance created ar 17 yrs old).

You can imagine how thrilled I was when she asked me to do her online fragrance journey:  Sarah was going to custom blend samples for me, based on my answers – and then, mid-email exchange, this lovely and generous woman offered me the amazing gift of actually meeting with me in her studio for an in-person, full-on Fragrance Jouney  I am still blown away by her generosity.

 

So I went on a perfect, warm and golden Southern California fall-day.It was hot – I was hot – when I got there Her rooms were cool and soothing.There was soft music.There was a beautiful ceramic pitcher with ice water that tasted faintly of cucumber and oranges.There was this amazing fragrance organ with bottles and bottles and bottles of oils ranged around: fruits, spices, flowers, leaves, grasses, roots, resins, woods and musks and all sorts of private wonders.

But mostly there was Sarah herself: a calm, benign and golden presence, from her long hair down to her booted toes.She had me describe my personal history of scent: the making of rosewater in my grandfather’s garden. My father’s wearing of Knize Ten and Aramis. My mother’s love for Caleche.

My resulting and enduring infatuation with all things chypre.And as I talked she began to pull down little bottle after little bottle: clove, cinnamon leaf, cedar, labdanum, musk, patchouli, sage, pine cone, rose, oakmoss, vetiver, civet, vanilla, frankincense…and on and on.

There must have been more than 50 bottles when she stopped. Then she had me smell them all and we separated the wheat from the chaff: keeping black sage, losing white sage. Keeping Bulgarian rose, losing English rose. Keeping Orange, losing Bergamot… and in that way, she reduced the bottles to about half.Then she asked me to close my eyes and let me select by smell alone those scents I liked the most, and from these she mixed – astonishingly swiftly – a glorious, golden mix.

Gentle reader, I wish you could have been there and seen this: Sarah bending her head over the exquisite little French cut bottle she sent me home with and mixing the oils (many of them pure essentials) directly into it: drop by precious drop the fragrant essences fell into the vessel, and we looked and sighed with pleasure over the emanating smells, and laughed, and admired the swirling colors – and then she shook the bottle and voila, there it was: my perfume. My personal elixir. My Sweet Tar.We tried to alter it – slightly – only once, but  went back to the original mix quickly, by mutual consent; the first, spontaneous creation was perfect as it was.

 

Sarah is a master, decades deep into her craft, and she nailed it in the first try.In the bottle My Sweet Tar is a bit acrid, dense with smoke and resins, but on the skin it gently releases a scent of clove and cinnamon that combine to something beautiful and autumnal. Somewhere in there, orange simmers. Deeper in yet: a lush, dark rose. And in the base, unfurling slowly and languidly: a delicious, sweet skin-scent, a bit mossy, a bit woody, a bit smoky, a touch of spice and far far down in the depth, something slightly raunchy – the scent of a faun’s sleep-warmed skin as he’s resting in a clearing in the forest, curled up among the roots of an old oak, sun pouring down on his slumber.Thank you, Sarah, for this lovely, unforgettable experience.

(And thank you, Michelyn, for making it possible by all the hard work you put into CaFleureBon).

—Harper Hilton, Contributor

There is only the one bottle of this precious elixir in existence in the world. I have that bottle. Please share something about your personal fragrance journey throughout the years to be eligible for the draw of one 3ml , hand-decanted sample of My Sweet Tar that I will happily send to the winner. Draw ends December3, 2011. To be eligible describe the bespoke fragrance you would like Sarah to create for you and what time of day you read www.cafleurebon.com

 We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilt perfume