“You take everything-the rose and the laurel too. Take them and welcome…A thing unstained, unsullied by the brute broken nails of the world, by death, by doom unfingered-see it there a white plume over the battle-a diamond in the ash of the ultimate combustion-my panache.” -Cyrano De Bergerac
Inspired by Voltaire’s iconic satiric novella Candide written in 1759,
Mandy Aftel desired to create a perfume of optimism, an uplifting fragrance wedding innocence and sensuality.
Whereas the novella rakes Leibnizian blind faith over the coals, Mandy focuses on the
olfactory equivalent of ever-present buoyancy instead.
Honey is a delightful all natural perfume hand blended by Perfumer Laurie Stern for her Artisan Company Velvet and Sweet Pea’s Purrfumery based in San Francisco, California. I love this scent for its charming floral bouquet, fruity tartness and gentle dry down of spiced honey.
Spice and Wood was created by Olivier Creed and as his inspiration he took the romance of Antony and Cleopatra. M. Creed chose to pair notes from Italy and Egypt in each phase of Spice and Wood to create an olfactory marriage of the historical lovers’ countries of origin. I’m not sure how much it really represents the masculine and feminine ideal in the end but the one thing it does do is live up to its name, Spice and Wood.
As I enter the latter days of 2010 I begin to consider which perfumers have produced a body of work which will have me consider them for my perfumer of the year. With Coup de Foudre, Bang and now Panache I can tell you Yann Vasnier will be on my short list as I consider who will receive that accolade. M. Vasnier has fashioned his own panache quite brilliantly.
The House of Madini , based in Tangiers, has been in existence for 14 generations
[or 400 years, according to the Talisman website]; Suleiman Madini is the current head of operations.
I’ve collected many of their fragrant concoctions over the years. A prime example of bang for buck is Mokhalate Malaki- loosely translated as ‘blend for the well-born’.
