New Perfume Review Chronotope Spite Eau de Parfum- Choose Your Own Adventure

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There are moments when I receive a sample and I am not sure what to think. It generally comes from an independent perfumer. It also transcends the concept of smelling good. Now here comes the tricky part. Is the odd smelling piece intended or a mistake? I tend to spend too much time trying to figure out which it is. I’ve struggled for months with Chronotope Spite Eau de Parfum (EdP). I think I have an answer.

I learned about Chronotope at the end of last year. Indie perfumer Carter Weeks Maddox showed his desire to make one think what fragrance should be. Of the three early releases Spite, as an eau de toilette was perhaps the most straightforward. In some ways it was the baseline to prove that Mr. Maddox could make something more accessible. The other two were delightfully the other way. He used different ingredients which have an unpleasant scent profile and found intriguing harmonies, nonetheless. Because of these I was willing to go where Spite EdP would take me.

Carter Weeks Maddox

Mr. Weeks had informed me this was coming, and it really wasn’t a flanker despite the same name and different concentration. His idea was to explore the different concepts of the emotion of spite. It is a completely different construct. It is much more like the other two non-Spite fragrances than the one which it shares a name with.

Amusingly the original Spite got its name when Mr. Maddox had difficulty with composing a vintage rose accord. As a result there was no rose in it. Spite EdP is the opposite. The early stages are all rose. It isn’t a vintage rose. It is a thicket of thorny rose vines on a trellis. He layers in multiple sources of rose along with jasmine and tuberose. It creates a florid floral. To pull back on that comes a set of green foliage pieces. There is the density of rose leaves. Vetiver and galbanum amplify the green. There is a non sequitur fruitiness which crops up like it doesn’t belong. This was one of those moments where I spent some of my time wondering about intent.

The other place was his use of spikenard in the base. This is a difficult material to balance. It has a scent profile of unpleasant dirtiness. It is not my favorite essential oil on its own. In most perfume uses it is at low concentration to add depth or texture. Here there is enough to make sure I know it is here. It turns the later stages of Spite EdP sour. The sandalwood helps keep it from going too far in that direction.

Spite EdP has 14-16 hour longevity and average sillage.

This falls right in line with what seems to be the nascent Chronotope aesthetic. It asks a perfume lover to find the unlikable, likable. In the early tests I was on the unlikable side of the equation. It wasn’t until I tried it on a warm day that it began to change towards likable. I kind of thought of this as a “choose your own adventure” perfume. There is an opportunity to find a way to enjoyment. You just need to keep at it.

Disclosure: This review is based on a sample provided by Chronotope.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Reviews Chronotope Spite, Buen Camino, and Playalinda- Wrath, Pride, and Lust

Posted on by in Mark Behnke, New Perfume Reviews and tagged , , , , .

Modern Perfumery is predominantly about nice, pleasant smells. That is certainly what sells. Yet if perfume is an art form it can’t solely be about the pleasant. It also must examine some of the other odors which comprise the world. This is the place where independent perfumery represents a unique opportunity to evolve an entire art form. Freed of most commercial pressures an artist who wishes to go in this direction can go there. It still doesn’t happen that frequently. Even when it does it can get out of control easily. It is why when I received my sample set of Chronotope perfumes by independent perfumer Carter Weeks Maddox I became excited.

Carter Weeks Maddox

Chronotope Spite

One thing I enjoyed about Mr. Maddox is his description of his perfumes. For Spite he says he was working on a vintage inspired rose which he couldn’t get to come together. In frustration he added high concentrations of two ingredients, one of which he says he hates.

First Spite is not a rose perfume. I don’t think there is any in the composition at all. What is there is orris and violet. These must have been the foundation of his vintage concept. The issue comes as orris has this powdery aspect and violet as used here has a watery quality. When you mix the two together you get clumps. Which is a bit how it begins. The florals cling to each other in an amorphous floral haze. The two ingredients he uses with wrath is an aromatic leather aromachemical and one of the maltol analogs for a burnt sugar effect. They break up the orris and violet into distinct parts as the leathery aromachemical wraps around the orris while the maltol picks up the violet. This creates a vibrant floral accord. It finishes on a sandalwood and incense foundation.

Spite has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.

Chronotope Buen Camino

Based on the description this was the perfume I expected to fall in love with. It was based on Mr. Maddox’s attempt to walk the 600-mile long Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain. He would complete it but at a cost to his body of severely damaged feet. Buen Camino is based on this experience including the bandages.

It is with those damaged feet we begin. Mr. Maddox uses immortelle and lavender to recreate what the nun who treated him gave him to smell while she worked. In the perfume this is the dried-out versions of both. The herbal non-powdery lavender matched to the burnt earth immortelle. Underneath is an amtispetic accord which reminds me strongly of one called Bactine I used as a kid on my scrapes. It has a pleasant, sweet smell to go with the bite of the disinfecting alcohol. I could feel Mr. Maddox getting back on his legs to finish the journey. The late stages flatten out into a hot concrete and dusty earth accord evoking the final steps.

Buen Camino has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.

Chronotope Playalinda

Playalinda is the one I enjoy the most. Not because it is the easiest but because it is the best constructed. It also looks, unflinchingly so, at the scent of sweaty sex on a beach.

It opens with osmanthus and jasmine given fruity intent through peach. It begins to skew as ambrette provides that botanical musk. It is the hint of arousal. Grapefruit, vetiver, and patchouli deepen this. Beginning to play with the earthier facets of all three as the ambrette weaves its way through it all. What comes next is an abstract accord of slick skinned copulation. Mr. Maddox uses a set of ingredients including indole, seaweed, and oakmoss. What completely cinches this accord is choya nakh. That ingredient is made of crushed seashells dried and distilled. It is the climax of this accord. It is sensual in its effect while also evoking the bodily fluids from the sexual act. It can create its own mood.

Playalinda has 14-16 hour longevity and average sillage.

If you’re looking for an easy introduction to Chronotope and Mr. Maddox I would suggest Spite shows off his style with a lot less provocation. If you are looking for perfume which calls into question what you think perfume should smell like then Buan Camino and Playalinda provide that. It is a memorable debut.

Disclosure: This review was based on samples provided by Chronotope.

–Mark Behnke