Byredo Green (Happy St. Patrick's Day!)

Green Milk

Byredo is a Swedish fragrance house, founded in 2006 by Ben Gorham. Byredo manufactures all its perfumes in Sweden and has a vision based on craftsmanship and fine materials. The noses of the house are Olivia Giacobetti and Jerôme Epinette, who did Green.

Even though Byredo just became available in Toronto in February, at Holt Renfrew, there was a previous Canadian connection. Ben's dad was Canadian and he lived in Oakville and Toronto. Green was inspired by Ben's memories of his father's scent, an "overdose of green notes," a combination of green beans and Geoffry Beene Grey Flannel.

Green is an unusual combination of bitter green notes and sweet, milky-powdery notes.  It opens with a blast of bitter green and orange blossom. After a couple of minutes this becomes the smell of green stems and fresh cut flowers. The smell is much like walking into the cold room of a florist - the damp, sweet and green smells of freesia and cut stems. As Green develops on my skin, a soapy aspect becomes noticeable. It's half creamy, half powdery-sweet.

The effect reminds me of milkweed and the sticky, milky-white sap that seeps out when you break its leaves or stems. The smell and feel of milkweed are vivid memories from my childhood, from early pinkish flowers, through fat green pods, to dried husks filled with downy fluff and seeds. As a result, I find the wearing Green very innocent and comforting.

House: Byredo
Nose: Jerôme Epinette
Notes: Orange petitgrain, sage, jasmine, rose, honeysuckle, violet, tonka, almond, musk

Etat Libre d'Orange - Putain des Palaces

She wore wore lipstick, he wore leather gloves... and brought marzipan.

Hotel slut. Well, they don't beat around the bush (so to speak), do they? Etat Libre d'Orange is a house devoted to quirky perfumes. Putain des Palaces is meant to evoke sensual fantasies of a woman dressed for seduction, a meeting in an anonymous room, temptation and intimacy.

It's pretty accurate, actually, but it smells like an assignation from decades ago, when a woman in expensive makeup smelled a certain way. PdP opens with a juicy tangerine that highlights a thick rose and violet bouquet. The rose and violet together smell like old-fashioned face powder and creamy lipstick, perhaps left smeared on a collar. I think only Chanel lipsticks still smell that way.

There is a man in the room too. He's wearing soft leather gloves and a light spicy cologne with ginger and violet leaf. For a while PdP is all about this couple, the woman in her seductive floral paint and the man with the leather gloves. But as PdP sits longer on the skin it takes a surprising turn, it becomes a gourmand. Sweet, sexy amber comes out from under the leather, gets sweeter and starts to smell like almonds. PdP becomes a chewy marzipan treat. Perhaps the lover brought it as a gift?

Putain des Palaces is bit of afternoon delight.

House: Etat Libre d'Orange
Nose: Nathalie Feisthauer
Notes: rose absolute, violet, leather, lily of the valley, tangerine, ginger, rice powder, amber, animal notes