There are a lot of brands which come to mind as the standard bearers of the niche perfume movement. I would bet that if I asked most of you to list the ones which were there from the beginning Histoires de Parfums wouldn’t be on a lot of them. Starting in 2000 founder Gerald Ghislain has quietly put together a solid collection of fragrance which exemplifies what it means to be a niche perfume brand.
Gerald Ghislain
In the early days the risks were more profoundly evident; there wasn’t much to lose. As time moved on and Histoires de Parfums established itself as one of the brands which succeeded there was a bit less experimentation. The one exception was the occasional release under the Editions Rare collection. These are the perfumes which I think represent the high point of the last 18 years. At the end of 2017 M. Ghislain announced a new smaller collection called En Aparte. En Aparte translates to “an aside”. This collection feels like that, something which sprang from the previous Editions Rare into something else. There are three perfumes in the collection and I will eventually review them all but as with any collection there is always one which captures my attention first. For this group that was Prolixe.
Julien Rasquinet
Prolixe according to the press release is defined as “that which is widely diffused”. I have no idea why that was chosen as the name because this perfume is anything but diffuse. M. Ghislain collaborated with perfumer Julien Rasquinet to create a spicy full-throated Oriental which in the overlap of non-gourmand ingredients finds a gourmand accord deep within.
M. Rasquinet opens with the sticky green blackcurrant bud. It is a prickly choice to open this perfume with that note. In this strength it verges on unpleasant, not quite but close. The heart accord improves things immensely. M. Rasquinet uses an indolic orange blossom which is coated in saffron and cardamom. This is where things begin to transition to a gourmand style of perfume. The heart accord reminds me of an abstract version of a spiced orange. I can concentrate and pick apart the pieces but when just wearing it I always smelled spiced orange. A deep patchouli and sandalwood combine into a milk chocolate accord. This is set upon a black leather accord to finish things.
Prolixe has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.
M. Rasquinet has put together a fascinating perfume of gourmand-not-gourmand ingredients to form a gourmand style of Oriental. It was one of those cases where when I was focused I saw every piece, but it was better when I just let it flow without intricate analysis.
Disclosure: this review was based on a sample I purchased.
–Mark Behnke
