Masque Milano Ray-Flection bottle and accords for Act IV-II © Masque Milano
“An aroma is a simple smell while a perfume is the vehicle of dreams and emotions…” – Alex Lee of MANE, interview with Editor-in-Chief Michelyn Camen, 2010.
Do dreams have a smell? Of what are their fragrances made? Can they be realized so that another can share them?
For Masque Milano creative directors Alessandro Brun and Riccardo Tedeschi, this gambit became an obsession. After a time, the gauntlet was thrown before the feet of four perfumers, each charged with turning the imagined existence of a dream into a new hyperreality. The first of these, Ray-Flection, created by MANE perfumer Alex Lee in concert with Brun and Tedeschi, is the invention of an impossible flower created from contradictions: a neon gold flower that smells of sunlight, sweetened with a honey that doesn’t exist; a scent whose delicacy is so saturated that breathing it is like drowning in gossamer.
Fractal Yellow Mimosa by ChrisR182Edin via DeviantArt©
Following the first three acts of the grand opera of Masque Milano – Experiences, Monologues, Sentimental Relationships – Ray-Flection introduces the fourth act, the Act of Dreams, with “a floral perfume that has never been smelled before.” Asleep, we are in the middle of a dialogue that began before us and the linear is nonsense, so the curtain rises on the second scene:
“A dream. A flower, with an incredibly intense smell … This flower was emitting a surprisingly bright light. As the time passed by, and the light grew even more dazzling, the flower starts melting, dripping like honey from a rich and mellow honeycomb.” – Alessandro Brun and Riccardo Tedeschi, Creative Directors of Masque Milano
Alex Lee, image via Instagram
For Lee, mimosa – a flower completely foreign to him – was the essence of an alien blossom. He wanted to evoke not just its fragrance, but the full sensory effect of standing beneath a tree in Tanneron, the center of the world’s mimosa growers; the scent of the tree bark, the salt spray of the Riviera just beyond, brilliant beams of the sun igniting the dizzying array of odors. To achieve this, Lee used three primary accords that act as dialogue within Ray-Flection’s mise-en-scene, playing off each other and cueing the others notes as secondary and tertiary actors.
A heartbreakingly realistic mimosa absolute from MANE is the centerpiece of the first accord in Masque Milano Ray-Flection. It opens like an exhaled breath: ethereal aromas of powder, like dust filtered through sunlight, sea water, cucumber-green melon. Violet leaf stands in for the vegetal, wet aromas, and, in combination with the baby’s breath-angelica smell of mimosa, create the sense of a three-dimensional flower.
Photo by Dominique Wesson©
If the first accord is the leading lady, the second accord is the scene-stealing vamp. Honey takes charge, full of pollen and dotted with rose petal. Lee performed a chemical analysis of honey that broke it down into single aroma chemicals. He then reconstructed the honey by using its floral components to add the toothy sweetness of mimosa in full flourish and lessened the syrup’s more animalic qualities. Complemented by beeswax absolute, this accord is intensely flowery, waxy, nectarous, the smell of a melting honeycomb in a thicket. The third accord is citrus, dripping with the golden juice of yellow mandarin, sweeter than orange, augmented with touches of grapefruit and bergamot to keep it bright. The intensely juicy blend is aerated with aldehydes. The dense-light contrasts of this accord reiterate the quirky sense of contradiction that runs throughout Masque Milano Ray-Flection. On its own, this accord smells like happiness.
Photo by Pierre Louis Ferrer©
Now it is time for the main players to take the stage together. As the lights come up, and the orchestra quiets, the three accords join. Sharp solar notes, like sun beating down at midday, a spray of salt and a slim linger of 60s Bain de Soleil and skin sweat turn the streaky grey November sky outside my window into the Cote D’Azur. Citrus and honey weave through the trees above. In my mind I am climbing the rocky, sedgy path from sea to roadway, heat on my back like a friendly hand. As I reach the tree line, a whoosh of mimosa makes it own headwind. I see the sails of a distant boat catch the breeze as they veer towards the siren call of fragrance. Cedar and cardamom, smelling like something older, suggesting the Mediterranean peeking through the venerable branches of Tanneron.
Masque Milano Ray-Flection ©Masque Milano
Ray-Flection, whose name suggests inward thought and outward optics, achieves what only art can: it translates a fictional flower of the mind into a joyous, exuberant reality.
Notes: Mandarin essence, sparkling aldehydes, cardamom pure Jungle Essence TM, mimosa absolute France, violet leaf absolute, solar rays accord, beeswax absolute, cedarwood essence, musk accord.
Disclaimer: Accords and sample bottle or Ray-Flection kindly supplied by Masque Milano. My opinions are my own.
Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor
Thanks to the generosity of Masque Milano, we have a 2 ml sample of Masque Milano Ray-flection for FOUR registered readers worldwide. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what struck you about Masque Milano Ray-Flection based on Lauryn’s review, your favourite Masque Milano fragrance, and where you live. Draw closes 12/5/2020.
(Masque Milano Ray-Flection’s three accords and spray sample of the perfume were sent to approximately 100 journalists, writers and video content creators worldwide for an interactive Google meeting “reveal” with perfumer Alex Lee, Alessandro Brun and Riccardo Tedeschi. We were asked not to open nor smell any of the accords and perfume prior (The Americans did not receive the three jars of honey due to customs purposes). Screen shot © Editor Elena Cvjetkovic also of The Plum Girl blog
Editor’s Note: Ray-Flection is available for presale NOW here. Our own Editor Ermano Picco was the Evaluator for Masque Milano Ray-Flection
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