Regular readers know that if there is one category of fragrance I have the most difficult time appreciating it is fruity floral. My biggest issue is that the fruit and the florals are usually layered with all the finesse of a jackhammer. They tend to meld into a syrupy sweet mess that I just find irritating. The ones that work for me are perfumes which accentuate fruit or floral and let the other support the leader. One member of this class of fragrance which has done this recently has been Brecourt Off to Ibiza.
Brecourt is the line founded by Emilie Bouge in 2010. Mme Bouge’s grandparents ran a perfume business in Grasse but would eventually close it down before she could continue. Mme Bouge would make her return to the family perfumery business with the founding of Brecourt. There are fifteen fragrances in the line and they cover an impressive spread of styles. All of them have been composed by Mme Bouge. In her bio on the website she mentions that she is looking to create a fragrance with contours. I have enjoyed the shapes of many of her earlier releases with the deep darkness of Farah my favorite. Off to Ibiza is the complete opposite of that perfume. Mme Bouge wants to create a bit of happy fun in a bottle capturing that anticipation as one prepares for a trip to Ibiza.
Emilie Bouge
Off to Ibiza opens with the fruit as raspberry and watermelon act their roles. Mme Bouge keeps them on the light side. She also captures some of the watery nature of the watermelon with a bit of an aquatic accord. That aquatic accord provides the interstitial tissue to bridge to the single floral in Off to Ibiza, peony. Peony is not used nearly enough in perfumery. What Mme Bouge does with it in this fragrance makes me wonder why. Peony has a dewy floralcy similar to rose de mai. It also has a simplicity to it which also appeals as its fragrance manages to be enticing and buoyant. The peony in Off to Ibiza picks up on both the watermelon and the aquatic accord to combine into a larger accord that feels beachy to me. It all ends with a wash of white musks and sandalwood for a clean finish.
Off to Ibiza has 8-10 hour longevity and above average sillage.
I really was surprised at how much I liked Off to Ibiza. I think it is because Mme Bouge keeps it extremely simple but uses some less used members of the fruity floral fragrance community. It all adss up to a very pleasant olfactory trip.
Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by Campomarzio 70.
–Mark Behnke
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