NEW FRAGRANCE REVIEW Aftelier Sepia EDP: Elegant Decay + Ghost Town Draw

When I was in my early teens we visited Yosemite National Park and while the time in Yosemite was special I left our trip to California with another place imprinted into my memory. We took a day trip from our campsite a little northeast of the park to Bodie, California. Bodie is one of the best preserved Gold Rush ghost towns and has been protected as a California State Park. Bodie was in its heyday at the height of the Gold Rush from 1877-1880. There were 65 saloons lining the mile long Main Street with a red light district at one end. This mix made Bodie equivalent to other more well-known rough and tumble boom towns like Deadwood and Tombstone. By 1881 the prospectors had moved on and Bodie began a 30-year decline into decrepitude with the buildings eventually being the only reminder that people ever were here. By the 1920’s it was officially labeled a “ghost town”.

When I visited it was hard to imagine these buildings were all almost 100-years old. They were still standing and it felt like the townspeople had just left. There were still chips stacked next to the roulette wheel, the hymn numbers were still on the church board, and the signs were still legible over the doors. Even so if I had any doubt that there was no life left in Bodie my nose clued me in as the scent of decay was on the wind. It never was something that was unpleasant but it had a feel of somberness and it made me wonder about the people who lived here back in the boom times. I haven’t thought about Bodie for years but that all changed when I tried the new Aftelier Sepia EDP as Mandy Aftel also clearly likes ghost towns too.

Ms. Aftel has been participating in an ongoing series called Letters To A Fellow Perfumer on NathanBranch.com. This exercise of writing about the creation of a fragrance has been fascinating to read. The latest interchange took place between Ms. Aftel and Laurie Erickson of Sonoma Scent Studio and lead to the creation of Sepia. Through those letters Ms. Aftel spoke of the choices she made to convey the sense of “elegant decay” she was trying to create. For those of you who want to learn about what it takes to realize a particular vision in a perfume this is an excellent place to start. I can tell you that Ms. Aftel captured my scent memory of standing on Bodie’s Main Street inhaling the breeze off of the surrounding mountains.

Ms. Aftel uses yellow mandarin and blood cedarwood as her top notes. The former note adds a floral citrus quality that feels like a clean mountain breeze and it is the blood cedarwood which captures the sense of weathered wood warmed in the noonday sun. These make for a lightly veiled beginning which seems to expand and fade. The next phase of Sepia is the well mined earth surrounding the town. What is quite remarkable is how Ms. Aftel constructs her earthy accord by using coffee and cocoa. This grounded accord is joined by an aquatic pink lotus which reminds you while this might be a ghost town it isn’t a desert. The final triptych of notes add the element of “elegant decay” she wanted as she combines cepes, ambergris, and oud. As in the heart Ms. Aftel shows how something unexpected can be coaxed out of notes you think you know as an aficionado. All together it makes for a supernatural experience.

Sepia EDP has above average longevity and below average sillage. The EDP which I tested was very close wearing. There is also a perfume concentration available and I can only imagine that to be longer lasting and closer wearing.

Ms. Aftel has been one of the greatest influences on this renaissance of independent perfumers we are currently in the midst of. With Sepia she shows she still has much to teach all of us about what can be accomplished by the masters of their art.

Disclosure: This review was based on a decant of the EDP purchased from Surrender to Chance.

We have a 1.5mL sample of Sepia to giveaway to one reader. To be eligible leave a comment about your favorite Aftelier perfume or an example of “elegant decay”. We will draw one winner on June 3, 2012 via random.org.

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.

-Mark Behnke, Managing Editor

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28 comments

  • cheesegan says:

    I haven’t tried any Aftelier perfumes, so I don’t have a favorite.
    Tuberose smells of elegant decay to me in that it smells decadent, classy but over the top. Narcotic Venus by Nasomatto is elegant decay to me.

    Thanks for the excellent blog and for the draw.

  • Linnea Wiedeman says:

    my fave scent by Mandy Aftelier is Amber Eau de parfume. She is brilliant. thank you for a chance at the draw.

  • Quichange says:

    Cepes cocoa and ambergris are an unusual combination
    I only have tried one Mandy aftel perfume. And that is cognac
    Very curious about this great review and please enter me in your generous draw

  • This is the first time I’ve heard of Aftelier and I don’t currently have a favorite. I figure I might like Fig.

    An example of elegant decay in terms of fragrances would be the smell of wilting roses. I’ve always kind of liked it.

    Thank you for the opportunity!

  • I love Honey Blossom, especially for spring . Sepia sounds like a real departure from HB and I would love to smell it. Thank for the draw.

  • I love Tango and Cacao. I had the opportunity to smell the entire line at her studio and left hours later with a long list of things I would buy. Over the past few months, I have tried her body oils, face oil elixir, teas, and chef essences. She is truly talented. Thanks for the draw.

  • The smell of elegant decay would be a fading Cattleya orchid flower. Elegant decay is New Orleans, Venice, and Mumbai. It’s lovely sea creatures in their first stages of decomposition on the beach.

    I would like to try Sepia, especially since a friend of mine has written a play about Bodie, which we read a few months ago.

  • My favourite Aftelier creation would be the gorgeous Cacao( sultry jasmine with edible chocolate..bliss) and the discontinued Cognac( visceral and gorgeous). Sepia seems very austere and nostalgia inducing…thanks for the draw.

  • The only Aftelier I’ve tried is Honey blossom. Would love to try Sepia-thanks for the opportunity!

  • Cepes and Tuberose is the only Aftelier I’ve tried — magnificent! I am highly interested in seeing how the cepes contributes differently to this dryer, woodier sounding composition… Thanks for the chance!

  • I have not tried any Aftelier perfumes. an example of elegant decay is New Orleans. I would love to try this fragance…it sounds so interesting.

  • Elegant decay is De Profundis by Serge Lutens and the city of Edimburgh.
    Never tried any Aftelier perfumes but Cepes and Tuberose and Sepia are in my wishlist.

    Thanks for the draw!

  • What a great review Mark! I appreciate how you captured so many essential elements of Sepia in your thoughtful, expert writing. And yes, Bodie is the quintessential town for it – it’s so fortunate that you have such strong memories of it!
    Mandy

  • my god, sepia sounds like it would become my next favorite perfume!
    i must say that elegant decay is a lovely concept — and as far as perfume goes, well, i think mandy aftel’s own cacao is rather evocative of that.

  • Amberosmanthus says:

    I haven’t yet tried any Aftelier perfumes but they are definitely on my list. I would love to experience Sepia. What a haunting and enchanting image. I think the city of Rome exemplifies elegant decay.

  • I haven’t tried any aftelier perfumes yet, unfortunately, but the idea of “elegant decay” is really beautiful to me. I would love to try Sepia.

    Whenever I see a fallen or dead tree in a forest, I think of how beautiful that decay is, and how it also is a source of future life.

    I’m also reminded of my grandparents’ old house in Northern Minnesota. The aging cedar garage there had this ancient smell of woods, moss, dust, and an ever faint trail of musk and decay lent by old antlers from hunting trips past. To me, the garage smelled keenly of the scent of time passing in silence. How I would love to capture that in a bottle.

  • I’ve never tried a perfume by Aftelier–though I’d like to!

    I think that rusted metal cans can be an example of elegant decay.

  • Unfortunately I am not familiar firsthand with any aftelier perfumes although I have heard cepes and tuberose is very goodI enjoyed your review and it sounds like Sepia is an interesting scent

  • Never had the chance to try any of Aftelier’s fragrances though I read that many of them are really worth trying..
    whenever I think of Botrytis and Sauternne, I think decay can be elegant
    thanks for the draw

  • I think natural ambergris qualifies for elegant decay as this is how it is literaly formed. Something nasty from the guts of the whale that decays adrift for years and only reveals its true beauty under extreme dillution. One might dismiss it as dirt and to others it is a treasure.

  • I too have never (yet) sniffed an Aftelier…but after reading THIS I would love to! 🙂

    The smell of a fallen tree in the forest that already has its inner wood turning to a rich compost-y loam is my favorite example of “elegant decay”!

    Wonderful review!

  • noetic owl says:

    Honey Blossom is my favorite! I followed the letters between Laurie and Ms. Aftel and they were so fantastic to read, to truly see the creative process step by step.

    I really enjoyed this review but there is no need to enter me in this draw as I would rather give someone else an opportunity to win!

  • hmmm…. I think my favorite Aftelier scent would be Honey Blossom. Or Shiso. Or Tango. I don’t really know because I’ve never sniffed!

    Elegant decay: a vase of spring-blooming peonies and tulips shedding their petals in an utterly debauched sprawl, scenting the ait with that delicate fresh-peony scent just a little to humid and indolent.

  • Elegant decay in New England is finding the stone foundation of an old farm, with the fireplace still intact, surrounded by lilacs, lilies of the valley, and honeysuckle.

  • Everything what comes out from the hand of natural perfumers is interesting to me. 🙂 I only tried 2 Mandy’s scents. I am very interested in Sepia, but also in Prive and Honey Blossom… thanks for the chance to win Sepia! 🙂