One of the greatest things about the vision Michelyn Camen had for CaFleureBon ten years ago was the idea that perfume could also be multimedia. When I worked with her in the early days, she always pushed the boundaries of a what a blog about perfume could be. She believed there was more than just the juice. Her blog was going to cover the people who make and love perfume, shining a spotlight on them. One of the perfumes she creatively directed for the anniversary, Bogue Profumo OOOH, reverses the process with a perfume which represents that credo.
Michelyn Camen
Ms. Camen assembled a team of perfume communicators who use different mediums. She was the writer and the Editor-in-Chief/ Creative Director. She asked photographer Alex C. Musgrave aka The Silver Fox for an inspiration piece. The perfumer to interpret that was Antonio Gardoni of Bogue Profumo. Lastly artist Massimo Alfaioli would create a piece based on the finished perfume. The full story can be found on CaFleureBon at this link.
Photo by Alex C. Musgrave
The photo above, by Mr. Musgrave, is what Sig. Gardoni used as his focal point. The image of blurred roses would lead him into an idea of dust. He wanted to create a fragrance of “multiple layers of dust, levels of powders that hide and shows reflection of smells.” What he would do is take a multitude of materials to create these levels of powders. Throughout there is a sense of memories past.
Antonio Gardoni
It opens with a distinctive rose scented powder. It has that blurry effect of the inspiration piece. There are other florals vying for ascendancy. Yet the rose holds the center for a while. Then it gives way to a subsequent layer of mimosa. This the idea of the floral puffballs caught on a stiff breeze. He forms an opaque honey accord for it to drift through. Now comes the herbal part which is Sig. Gardoni’s trademark. A set of vetivers form the basis for the crushed dry herbal accord to get caught up in. The last layer of dust is that of resins. Incense has always captured a sense of age within perfumery. Sig. Gardoni folds in a set of resins to form the final pinch of magic dust.
OOOH has 14-16 hour longevity and moderate sillage.
OOOH feels like the natural extension of last year’s 0.7738 which was completely improvisational. In that perfume Sig. Gardoni kept adding ingredients until he felt he was finished. It taught him how to wrangle a plethora of ingredients into something compelling. OOOH is that technique given intent. To create the most complex yet transparent perfume I have tried. It is a marvelous coming together of creativity.
This could only have happened through the creative insight of Ms. Camen. She chose to represent all that her blog has offered perfume lovers, for ten years and counting, in a perfume as unique as her “scented salon”.
Disclosure: This review is based on a sample I purchased.
–Mark Behnke
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