I have a whole list of favorite words that I like using. One of them is confluence. I use the phrase “confluence of events” a lot. Maybe too much, I’ll have to ask Mrs. C. I like the flow of the word in my mouth as the hard first syllable flows into the other two. Which means when I received my sample of Chatillon Lux Confluence I was hooked already.
Shawn Maher
Shawn Maher the independent perfumer behind Chatillon Lux has always used his St. Louis home base as inspiration. For Confluence he uses its reason for being as the place where the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers come together. This is the definition of confluence as two flowing water sources merge into one. One of the most memorable ones I have encountered was while rafting the Grand Canyon. Where the Little Colorado River meets the Colorado River there is a fascinating effect. The bright turquoise water of the tributary plumes outward into the dark green of the main artery. The place of meeting is a kinetic experience. Mr. Maher makes Confluence brim with that same energy.
As he says in his Scent Notes post on his website, he was looking to marry incense and conifers. He does this through a series of scented confluences as two primary sources of each become one. It makes Confluence a perfume of hard and soft syllables finding a flow.
It first comes to life with an energetic citrus accord. The “con” syllable. Mr. Maher uses ginger to tap the citric tuning fork of his ingredients. It forms an accord with a buzzing harmonic. The “flu” syllable comes through a set of two types of frankincense. To allow them to come together he uses elemi to smooth the transition. It also allows it to connect to that citrusy first syllable. “Ence” comes from a mixture of woods mainly black spruce and fir balsam. Juniper is the chaperone at the conjunction of both. Again it helps to call back to the previous two syllables. After they are all together citrus, resins, and woods form their own confluence.
Confluence has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.
Mr. Maher has made everything about this perfume the definition of its name. Each accord flows into itself until they all form a beautiful whole. That’s what happens when three become one.
Disclosure: This review is based on a sample supplied by Chatillon Lux.
–Mark Behnke
