HS3

I am participating in a musk project called Mystery of Musk over on basenotes and will be sniffing 12 different musk perfumes over the next few weeks made by members of the Natural Perfumer’s Guild. First up is Sharini’s Graines de Paradis, a perfume created by Sharini Parfums Naturels in the south of France.

This opens as a bright floral citrus – refreshing and comforting. Sparkling grapefruit zest, spicy ginger, and wild cherries picked just last month in the valley of the Herault (wow!). The cherry note, sweetened by the 18 month aged tincture from Madagascan vanilla pods, has an almost chocolate covered cherry cordial feel to it. Those cherry cordials were my dad’s favorite growing up, so the image of them makes me smile. The sweetened citrus floral opening reminds me of Guerlain’s 68, but obviously a bit easier to relate to and simpler given the 19 ingredients rather than the huge 68 in the Guerlain. I only have experience with a few all-natural fragrances but what always strikes me is just how… well, natural they smell. Something about that makes you feel closer to the scent as it feels like it’s come from the earth, rather than a lab. It’s fascinating picking out notes in a natural perfume because what you’re smelling is actually what you’re smelling, rather than an attempt to recreate their scent artificially.

The opening is fleeting, but what’s next is the star of the show. This has a gorgeous floral heart of everything from Linden blossom, Genet flower (got me on what those are) and white rose to more traditional notes such as jasmine, gardenia and neroli. You’d think from what you see on paper thus far that this would be a very feminine floral, but it’s not. There’s nothing light or dainty and the supporting base notes bring a sultry tone to it. None of the floral notes are absolutes, but rather obtained by manually washing enfleurage pomades nearly 20 times. I’m not familiar enough with the process to know the precise affect that has, but perhaps it contributes to the much earthier feel to the florals.

It doesn’t take long for those florals to subside and allow the fabulous base to emerge. I sense a considerable amount of Ambrette with just the right amount of earthy patchouli to round it out. Notes of genuine oud, dusty iris and something that reminds of of the spicy warmth of cinnamon sticks (perhaps just the oliban?) are present. It’s at this point that it hits its stride and actually lasts an incredibly long time. I’ve worn it a few times now – the first time I sprayed it on the back of my hand around 7am and an earthy and warm base was still easily detectable a full 12 hours later – incredible for a natural perfume.

It very apparent that the ingredients here were obtained in a painstakingly careful way and in the traditional manner. Photos of their workshop and traditional extraction methods can be seen here on their site. A full description and complete list of notes can be found here.

Only 25 50ml bottles in eau de parfum strength were produced and are priced at 120€. Their bottles are gorgeous – each topped with a handmade ash wood cap, complete with the exterior bark.

I recently got a sample of this in the mail (thanks Nathan!) and finally got a chance to give it attention. It’s made by natural perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz and is an oil. It is from 2002 as a holiday release. Here are the notes and description from her site:

An ancient aroma of sacred incense…the Holy Smoke of the Midnight Mass rises with a blessing for the coming year.
Top notes: Bergamot
Middle notes: Mastic, Oppopanax, Sandalwood
Base notes: Brown Oakmoss, Frankincense (Olibanum), True Arabian Myrrh

I really thought it would be a dry, churchy thing, but what I got was a warm, enveloping scent that opened with the tartness of bergamot and warmth of oppopanax and slowly developed over the entire day. If you’ve ever had a hot toddy, that’s exactly what this reminded me of for most of the morning. It develops well throughout its life, with pops of frankincense taking turns with a sweet sandalwood. A full 12 hours later, it was still quite detectable but evolved fully from what it had started out as in the morning. That’s incredible with it being a natural perfume. I’d highly recommend giving this a try if you’re looking for an introspective, warm fragrance – I can totally see this as a perfect scent by a fire at Christmas (and any other time of the year, for that matter).