Mandy Aftel

Bergamoss, the latest from Aftelier Perfumes, by award winning natural perfumer and author Mandy Aftel, is a harking to old world chypres- a fragrance family we know is actually threatened, an endangered species if you will, by the restriction on oakmoss and countless other raw materials.

 

Edouard Vuillard Foliage—Oak Tree and Fruit Seller, 1918  (digitalized by MC)

While a chypre is representative of Mediterranean landscapes, Mandy's treatment here is both Coty era exactness and elevated by her use of flouve and an antique civet. What results is an almost halo effect, glowing literal peach and gold around a body of opulent green oakmoss and wild sweet orange; more mandorla than nimbus, for the whole of the perfume is aglow in sunlight, field and a small dose of fruit. Given the radiant nature of such things, Bergamoss denies its solid form and gives the sillage of its alcohol siblings- sending this divine chypre into the space a halo would fill around the wearer.

Bergamoss Solid Perfume Fuse Paul Serusier La Guirlande des Roses 1898 MC

Bergamoss opens with astringent bergamot and the sharper aspects of flouve, only a moment of this, an eye opening, attention grabbing moment which reaches my nose immediately upon smoothing the amazingly light texture of the perfume onto my arm. Two things fascinate me: how the perfume is not liquidy or waxy and quickly disappears on the wearer. The other thing is the diffusive nature of the formula.

Guy Rose,In the Oak Grove, 1919

I find myself sitting in a grove of oak sprinkled with peach trees, the sun beams so brightly, everything radiates the light back to its source. Distant memories of peach fruit leather are skewed by citronellol, adding flowers to the scene and I cannot roam far from my grove. I don't want to move at all, for the there is a growing sense I am not alone here- somewhere the soft musk of civet and coumarin tell me there is fauna in the grove. A distant domicile animal grazes the summer grass and discounts me as predator. Mandy once said she wouldn't bother to have a conversation about perfume lasting more than two hours, but Bergamoss and I continue our reverie for some time, while the divinity of halo and oak grove have become manifest in my own flesh, and Bergmoss leaves me with the clean, sweet aroma of ever so slightly nutmeg skin.

Notes: bergamot, wild sweet orange, peach, citronellol, nutmeg absolute, oakmoss, flouve absolute, coumarin, antique civet

-Einsof, Natural Perfume Editor

(my sample was provided by Aftelier Perfumes for review.)

Art Direction: Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

Photo: ÇaFleureBon

Thanks to Mandy Aftel of Aftelier Perfumes we have a beautifully boxed sample for a registered ÇaFleureBon in the US, EU or Canada. To be eligible please leave a comment with what appeals to you about Bergamoss, where you live and your favorite Aftelier perfume. Draw closes June 25, 2015

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 spilled perfume.