You could easily miss Frederic Malle’s discreet parfumerie on rue Grenelle. The contemporary wood-paneled shop, the brainchild of Andree Putnam, might resemble a minimalist men’s haberdashery—were it not for the refrigerated case of 16 scents and the famous smelling columns. To the left there are black and white photographic portraits of the nine famous noses who’ve created the fragrances for Malle’s Editions de Parfum label. The literary allusion is no coincidence: The nephew of film director Louis Malle views himself as the “curator” or “editor” of a small, rarified collection. It’s just that he commissions exquisite perfumes instead of books or prints.
The best part of coming here is to try out the four transparent scent columns. These floor to ceiling plexiglass tubes, big enough to step into, serve to isolate a single scent so that you can get a pure noseful of, say, the spicy Noir des Epices, without being distracted by competing fragrances. When you stick your head inside the column, an atomizer on the floor diffuses a gentle spray which drifts upward through the air.
“You can smell the trail you leave behind,” explained the genial vendeuse.
I was captivated by Carnal Flower and its bewitching tuberose notes. At the same time I kept going back to sniff the lighter but still alluring Une Fleur de Cassie and its seductive aromas of mimosa and jasmine. Both were created by Dominique Ropion, a leading parfumeur at International Flavors and Fragrances who has also created scents for Givenchy and Ralph Lauren. What’s different about Malle is that he has given Ropion and the other noses absolute freedom to create the perfumes of their dreams unfettered by cost and other mass market constraints.
“Try them both and come back tomorrow,” suggested the vendeuse. She sprayed one wrist with Carnal Flower. “It will take at least two hours for it to develop on your skin.” The other wrist she sprayed with Une Fleur de Cassie. “This one will take less time.”
On his website, Malle compares Une Fleur de Cassie’s “richness and complexity” to “an haute couture gown.” Cassie is not cassia or cassis, but the acacia blossom. To me, its natural aroma is both honeyed and slightly overripe. Malle sees it differently: “intoxicating, bestial, bordering on coarse.” On my skin it began as a voluptuous, slightly disconcerting scent, but within an hour it had become lighter, more delicate, very floral. As the day wore on, it reversed itself, becoming sultry and alluring again. The progression was fascinating. Besides acacia, notes include mimosa, jasmine, clove, cumin, bergamot, rose, violet, apricot, aldehyde, salycilate, musk, cedar and sandalwood.
Carnal Flower bathes the wearer in the intoxicating scent of tuberose. I once walked into a room in Bali perfumed by an enormous vase holding hundreds of tuberose stems and have never gotten over the utter profligacy of the gesture. I’ve worn Piguet’s Fracas for 20 years and find it dark and almost unbearably sexy. But Ropion’s tuberose is different: he added coconut, salycilates and “a trace of musk” to bring out the “solar and carnal character of the flower.” Other notes include bergamot, melon, ylang ylang, jasmine, orange blossom absolute and eucalyptus.
Here’s what happened: Over the first two hours, the scent deepened, becoming warmer and lusher, gradually opening like a woman to her lover. I nearly succumbed to Carnal Flower’s embrace. But then a strange thing occurred. The scent began to close up, becoming thinner and sharper. I began to smell more of the green eucalyptus and it became distinctly less appealing. It was like waking from a luxurious dream to a cold, uncomfortable room.
The fascinating thing about both of these perfumes is the way they slowly evolve on your skin. They change like living beings, moment to moment. The end of the story is not the same as the beginning. Both were beautiful yet oddly disturbing, and in the end, I couldn’t make up my mind. Luckily, if I ever do, I can order them from Barney’s New York.
Frederic Malle Editions de Parfum, 37 rue Grenelle, 75007 Paris. Telephone: 01 42 22 76 40. For more locations, go to www.editionsdeparfums.com.