One of my favorite things about perfume is being able to look over the entirety of a perfumer’s career. I’ve said many times that the perfumer I think is the greatest mainstream perfumer ever is Alberto Morillas. There may seem like damning with faint praise but M. Morillas has innovated from that platform as much, or more, than any other perfumer you can name. If he always worked in that sector that would have been fine. Except I always wanted more. I wondered what he could do with a bit more of a less mainstream perspective working on a niche perfume. That response came about three years ago with the release of the first perfumes for his own brand Mizensir.
Mizensir has been one of those undeservedly quiet brands. There are no duds in any of the 26 perfumes they have released so far. What has been most fun is M. Morillas is allowing himself to use some of the different ingredients from his perfumer’s palette. This really stood out with the most recent three releases; all different riffs on the classic cologne architecture.
Alberto Morillas
In Cologne de Figuier. M. Morillas ramps up the green with the crushed fig leaves of stemone matched with a healthy dose of galbanum. The green is fresher than I expected, and it is matched with a set of synth woods and musk. Cologne du Mate also provides a green contrast using mate tea as the heart note adding a sharp herbal effect to the jasmine of Paradisone and tangerine on top. It also ends with synth woods and musk. These are beautifully realized but it is Coeur de Cologne which showed off M. Morillas’ skill with a new ingredient best.
Neroli has been having a bit of a renaissance as I have added more excellent neroli perfumes to my collection in the last two years than I can remember. Coeur de Cologne is a neroli perfume but it is also a perfume with a unique contrast to it; liatrix essence. Liatrix is the isolate of a plant called deer’s tongue. It has one of the highest amounts of coumarin, but it also has a green herbal character to go with the hay-like sweetness of coumarin. It is a fascinating ingredient that you won’t find in a mainstream fragrance. This is where M. Morillas can use it to a different effect.
Lemon provides the classic cologne citrus top note. Neroli is in high concentration and it comes right on the heels of the lemon. The neroli has a significant green facet. It is this which is picked out by the liatrix. The herbal part of the ingredient melds with that. The coumarin adds a sweet honeyed effect to the floral quality in the neroli. The lemon remains, adding in a shimmery effect. Then like a joss stick a swirl of incense intersperses itself into the mix. It adds more than I expected to the overall accord. A classic muscone base is where this finishes.
Coeur de Cologne has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.
I have enjoyed a summer of excellent cologne releases. Even saying that, it might be Coeur de Cologne is the one I remember most.
Disclosure: This review was based on samples provided by Mizensir
–Mark Behnke
