NU_be
Each creative director has his own Muses and people who elevate perfumery to Art are no exception. Sometimes it is Music or Dance, Art or Literature. The creative directors at Nu_be always had a difficult Muse inspiring them, but an amazing one: Chemistry. As the starls we see have been seen by others a millenia ago, so does cosmic dust from where life began. Ranging from Antonie Lie’s lightweight Oxygen to devilish Sulphur, the first “tracks of cosmic memory” housed in the disruptive polystyrene bricks designed by Francesca Gotti made up the core of Nu_be’s peculiar periodic table.
Mme Marie Curie
Curium is more than just a new addition to the line, it starts a new radioactive column of elements marked by the color white. But above all it represents a declaration of love to their Muse Marie Curie (née Skłodowska), the Eve of Science who discovered radioactivity, the woman that first summed up ideals of passion and commitment to scientific research.
Evelyne Boulanger Of Symrise
Interpreted by Symrise Parfumeur-Createur Evelyne Boulanger as silvery, opaque and mercurial, Curium is a positive metal that gives off a certain charge. Veiled in iris-tinged dust, its surface radiates both the suffused elegance of cosmetics and the vital fermentation of yeast. From its electronic cloud Madame Curie’s memories emerge with the soothing allure of medicinal herbs and tinctures from field hospitals during WWI where X-rays were crucial to save lifes. This aroma, as gripping as vertigo, sharpens the mind and captivates like the thirst for knowledge.
Marie Curie with her lover Paul Langevin
Intoxicating particles are emitted from the dense, precious ambrette absolute nucleus. Its subliminal yet devastating voluptuousness burns without flame, like Marie scandalous love for the younger colleague Paul Langevin (their secret love-nest was an apartment close to the Sorbonne), heady and mind-blowing as liquor and tobacco. Such passion throbs in the balance between the hard logic of vetiver, ultimate natural order and the power of instinct reeking of cocoa sprinkled warm female skin, whispering with the floral softness of nitro-musks, the most wonderful error in Chemistry.
Marie Curie in her lab
Inspired by Madame Curie, imagined by Signora Gotti and composed by Madame Boulanger, the first beautiful radioactive element seems to pay a tribute also to nature’s feminine procreative power as the collection of radioactive material by powerful tides could have led to the evolution of life forms. “I was inspired by a brilliant mind, strongly accurate yet vivid, joyful and imaginative… I tried to capture Marie Curie’s unique personality.A creation which could be an enveloping force, a concentrate of emotions, able to push the boundaries of conventional thought…A penetrating radiation of ambrette seeds contrasting with fascinating trails of iris, spicy vibrations of pepper and cinnamon and colourful traces of red berry.All powdered with deep vetiver and bright musk, for a passionate note” – Evelyne Boulanger
While keeping a little bit of the signature space oddity, this “obsessive caress of a penetrating radiation“ overall smells more natural. It literally melts on skin and I am longing for more of these utterly chic radiations to come. Nonetheless with Curium Nu_be finally has landed on Planet Earth. Through the veins stars still flow yet under a new skin as suggested by the tainted wood bodies sculpted by Aron Demetz. Nu_be now is One of Those human beings.
Top notes: Pepper, Red berry, Cinnamon, Ambrette seeds. Heart notes: Iris (orris), Violet Base notes: Tonka bean, Vetiver, Benzoin, Patchouli, Musk
Curium eau de parfum has good longevity despite it wears close to the skin. Surprisingly you keep getting unexpected whiffs of it while moving like a glow around yourself.
The review is based on a sample provided by Nu_Be
Image credits for Nu_be: Nicolas Mazzei and Michelyn
Ermano Picco, Contributor and author of La Gardenia nell Occhiello