The language associated with scent is complex, largely French, hard to pronounce, and often as overwrought as descriptions of fine wine. Brent Leonesio, of Smellbenthas done all of us a favor with his new fragrance collection, Vocabulary. He has created six perfumes, each representing a basic fragrance category
As many parfumistas know, Bond No.9 is a company dedicated to immortalizing all parts of New York City in perfumes. Their motto (“Making Scents of New York”) is not only a wonderful play on words, but doubles as their mission statement.
L’Eau Froide opens with the icy herbal freshness of mint which supplements the high pitched citrus of the incense. The mint is a wonderful player, as it feels like it’s clearing your nose in preparation for a better perception of the frosty incense.
What Mr. Brosius does is to take that concentrated vanilla and swathe it in resins which serve to accentuate not the common sweet character but the much more uncommon smoky character.
Amanda has done something very few perfumers have done. She has taken totally natural essences and blended them superbly to catch something so very esoteric (deeply meaningful on an “inner” spiritual and subconscious level) and brought an ancient divination and meditation tool to life.
