NEW FRAGRANCE REVIEW: Olfactive Studio Lumiere Blanche “The Intensity Of White” + Be the Perfumer Draw

One of my favorite lines launched in 2011 was Celine Verleure’s Olfactive Studio perfume house. Mme Verleure commissioned three fragrances where she used as her brief for the perfumers a photograph. All three were excellent with Chambre Noire being my favorite of the three and one of my top 25 new fragrances of last year. Just based on those first three releases I was anticipating what would come next. Mme Verleure is not keeping me waiting for too long as the fourth release, Lumiere Blanche, is due this Fall and she has kindly sent me a sample to preview. (EIC Michelyn Camen named Olfactive Studio "the best collaboration of 2011")

Like the first three Lumiere Blanche, begins with the photograph above by Massimo Vitali. The picture used to inspire Lumiere Blanche is from Sig. Vitali’s Beach Series which he started in 1995. He wanted to depict a “sanitized, complacent view of Italian normalities” while also revealing “the inner conditions and disturbances of normality; its cosmetic fakery, sexual innuendo, commodified leisure, deluded sense of affluence and rigid conformism”. Those words should give you some insight into Sig. Vitali’s version of activist photography. When I first saw the picture above the whiteness of it all made me think snow not beach. Then I realized the people were wearing bathing suits and the foreground was water. The sheer stark power of the white was transfixing to my eye. What kind of fragrance would this lead to?

Mme Verleure chose Sidonie Lancesseur of Robertet to create Lumiere Blanche. Mme Lancesseur is one of my favorite perfumers and I also believe one of the most underrated perfumers out there . Her By Kilian Cruel Intentions is my favorite of that entire line and both creations for Frapin- 1270 and L’Humaniste show how amazingly creative she can be. Working off of Sig. Vitali’s photo Mme Lancesseur vision was “Lumiere Blanche is a fragrance with beautifully contrasting hot and cold notes”. From the moment I first sprayed this on my skin I have been mesmerized by it. It is a perfume that feels like it was made for me as it is spicy and milky and woody and altogether enveloping.

Mme Lancesseur opens up Lumiere Blanche with the heat of that mid-day sun in the photograph as cardamom, cinnamon, and star anise provide the olfactory warmth. This spicy opening has an energy and brightness that just pulled me in. Where it pulled me was into that milky looking dazzling white water as iris and almond create a milk accord that arises from the spicy beginning and cools things off. As we arise from the water and get back on shore the sun dries us off and that sun-warmed skin accord of cashmere wood and sandalwood mixed with a very light application of white musk supplies that fragrant cue. Cedar and tonka signal the end of a day in the sun as you walk away feeling clean and refreshed.

Lumiere Blanche has outstanding longevity and excellent sillage.

For all that Lumiere Blanche is inspired by a sun-drenched photograph this is a fragrance that will be at its best in cooler weather. Which should work out well as it should become available in stores just in time for the Fall. It is definitely my favorite of the Olfactive Studio fragrances and once again I find that Mme Lancesseur speaks to my fragrant aesthetic perfectly.

Disclosure: This review was based on a preview sample provided by Olfactive Studio.

I have to share my good fortune, courtesy of Mme Verleure, so I will make up one 2.5mL sample to giveaway to one reader. To be eligible I want you to be the perfumer with Sig. Vitali’s photograph and leave a comment naming one perfume note you would use to design a perfume based on the photograph. Draw ends on May 2, 2012.

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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37 comments

  • Devon H says:

    Gorgeous photo, great review, loving the sound of this scent!

    Hmm if I had to choose, I’d start with mint. It has that dichotomy going for it of cool, yet sharp and spicy. I think it would fit the picture perfectly, with the snowy look, yet it really being a hot beach. 🙂

    Thanks for the draw – very generous of you! 🙂

  • Kathryn says:

    I too thought it was not a beach but an artic setting.
    It gives me a feeling of coldness; pure, white freshness. With that in mind, I would compose a fragrance with a clean yet crisp feeling.
    Notes would include white lillies, freesia, green mandarin and white musk.

  • Claudia says:

    First let me say I am a fan of Celine’s fragrances, Chambre Noire and Still Life are both in my perfume arsenal. Gorgeous fragrances and unique, this one sounds amazing to me also. For me i would have to start with a sand note…..then some sea water…….great review for sure, this sounds like a winner to me.

  • MariaA says:

    Beautiful article ! I would choose something clean and fresh yet warm like milk notes together with salty ones. Thank you for the draw!

  • Tourbillion says:

    I know some don’t like them, but I’d want just a touch of marine notes. The smell when I go to my local beach is amazing!

  • mim says:

    Wow, spicy-milky-woody sounds like the perfect fragrance!

    hmmm… I was going to say cardamom but then I saw that it was already in the list of notes for lumiere blanche. So, I would use coriander, because it can have a citric soft freshness to it but can also get down into earthy, human smells esp when paired with cumin. Which I would also use because I would play with the human smells/clean fresh airy environment dichotomy. I’m not sure what a ‘salt note’ smells like, but ambergris, and a mineral smell for ‘sand’ in the middle with the spices, and maybe a touch of kelp, bergamot, lime, clementine, and ozonic white musk in the beginning.

    I would want the dry-down to smell like someone who’d been out in the sun all day and was fastidious about hygiene and had been swimming a lot. Cumin, cedar, sandalwood, creaminess, with a touch of the sea through ambergris (and ‘salt’)….

  • Subbie says:

    If it is possible I would put in the smell of wet beach sand, gritty and dry but somehow reminescent of summer – another contrasting note even within itself.

  • yash says:

    The sheer whiteness pervading in this photo makes me think of iris. A buttery iris note would be so perfect to describe the different textures of white with maybe a tinge of seaweed salty accord.

  • TimeaZsofia says:

    If I were the perfumer with Sig. Vitali’s I would use some radiant note, like iris, violet or amber to design a perfume based on this interesting photograph!
    Thank you for the draw.

  • Farawayspices says:

    The first note that came to mind was orris, with it’s soft (liked sand) and radiant (like the sun) odor profile.

  • ringthing says:

    I like the perfumer’s thoughts of the photo; the sanitized and self deceptive feelings. I would choose a salt note, like the sea, color of the sand, and the impression of Job’s wife becoming a pillar of salt as she turns back to save her material possessions.

  • cheesegan says:

    To be eligible I want you to be the perfumer with Sig. Vitali’s photograph and leave a comment naming one perfume note you would use to design a perfume based on the photograph.

    I would use tuberose

  • Gypsy Parfumista says:

    “a blast of fresh salty sea air” would have been my choice.

    I have heard WONDERFUL things about Chambre Noire, FRAPIN’s L’Humaniste and 1270 and this sounds great too! I must get to sniffing this perfumer’s work.

    Thanks for the draw…and the review! 🙂

  • Ccc says:

    That picture brings to mind: aldehydes, ambergris, iris, clean musk. Lactonic notes as well. Any or all would be great.

    The fragrance sounds great exactly as it is but if somebody would like to create one just for me I would pick aldehydes and musk. Maybe a drop of almonds with a hint of angelica and Peru balsam. Cold, clean versus soft and warm.

    Thank you for the review. If it is better than Chambre noir then, It is a must have fragrance.

  • Isa says:

    As some said, I would use iris or orris, because when I see that photo I think of metallic notes, and iris scent sometimes has a metallic side.

    I wouldn’t have said that that was a beach. It looks like the Arctic!

  • monster says:

    The odd allure of Womanity started my yearning for a salt-themed fragrance with teeth, and that picture just about captures the essence of what I imagined it would be. Not a languid beach scent, but one bright and sharp like the midday summer sun.

  • Lean S says:

    I would say something citrusy, maybe lemon or bergamot, combined with cedar. Something that smells cool and fresh yet summery.

  • GinnyM says:

    Oooh, I look at that photo and think of my favorite sunny-day, beachy scent — the smell of vintage Coppertone suntan lotion. So I would like that to be my top note, with also a touch of cumin…

  • ineverwas says:

    I would very likely use white musk among other ingredients. 🙂 Thank you for this draw!

  • Holly F. says:

    This makes me think of sea salt! And I do love salty notes in fragrance. Maybe a salty, musky skin scent. Sounds good to me.

  • Alisa N. says:

    Lotus flower for purity and/or something aquatic like calone (which, apparently, smells like oysters). 🙂 Thanks!

  • Maureen says:

    The blanketing whiteness in this photo makes me think of iris. I would also add some other cooling notes, because even though the photo looks cold, it would be sizzling to really be on that beach.. I would definately need SPF500+ , serious shades, and a nice refreshing cool fragrance.

  • Connor M says:

    i would use vetiver with this one. it can be strong, abrasive, and sexual. It calls coyly from a distance.

    it’s one of my favorites.