The Six Scents Fragrance Initiative has launched Six Scents Series Three. As with the prior two sets, the project teams six designers with six perfumers to create a series of limited edition fragrances. This year, the fragrances are “an exploration into the nature of childhood memories and the influence of adolescence on identity”. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to War Child International.
Fragrance 1, Beau Bow (shown) ~ by Alexis Mabille in collaboration with perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux. “We reimagined the fresh and elegant “Eau Fraiche”structure so popular in France in the 70’s, and gave it a jolt…. and a twist… Our result: the crisply fragrant image of a very chic and cultured French teenager who enjoys his quirks and is eager to discover the world, making love to it for the first time and breathing it all in.” With notes of cedrat, mandarin, bergamot, bigarade orange, lavender, basil, mint, violet leaf, galbanum, lentisque, jasmine, magnolia, rose, cyclamen, honeysuckle, vetiver, moss, iris and kephalis.
Fragrance 2, Trompe L’Oeil ~ by Mary Katrantzou with perfumer Shyamala Maisondieu. “It is a classical feminine theme. I modernized it with some fruity, and citrusy facets, to bring colors and life. I added more floral notes in a bouquet to have a voluptuous femininity. For the drydown I added some oriental notes to bring a touch of sensuality”. With notes of bitter orange, mandarin, neroli, pear, mimosa, rose, ylang, tuberose, orris, amyris, tonka bean, ambrette and vanilla.
Fragrance 3, Can’t Smell Fear ~ by Juun. J with perfumer Natalie Gracia-Cetto. “I wanted to create a fragrance that provides comfort, that protects you in an urban somewhat hostile universe. I choose a leathery theme, comfortable and reassuring. It creates like an olfactive aura, a comfort zone that protects against the city. I added some woody and floral notes to bring refinement, and some amber and musks to have a subtle sensual touch” With notes of bergamot, green mandarin, pink pepper, nutmeg, orris, ambrette, Atlas cedar, incense, leather, sandalwood, amber and musk.
Fragrance 4, Ascent ~ by Rad Hourani with perfumer Christophe Raynaud. “Origin of life is expressed by a fresh accord, green and watery, like a drop of sperm. Childhood is evoked by baby powder, it’s a musky and powdery scent. Midlife is expressed by a leathery note, comfortable yet strong like a leather jacket. Then the end of life is symbolised by incence, not a morbid, but a liturgic odor, evoking the ambiance of the churches.” With notes of pear, violet leaf, ylang ylang, rose, cedarwood, leather, incense, powdery musks, tonka bean and benzoin.
Fragrance 5, #087 ~ by N. Hoolywood with perfumer Stephen Nilsen. “…the smell of engine oil in his father’s car; getting off at the Kugenuma Beach train station and inhaling the saltiness of the ocean; the mysterious scent of Kurobe dam releasing water on a cloudy, snowy day; and the clean, relaxing feeling of grooming and bathing captured through the scent of the hiba tree, hinoki wood, cypress, nutmeg and rosemary.” With notes of hiba tree, sugi leaves, green cypress, motor oil, salty-icy water accord, nutmeg, rosemary, hinoki wood, sandalwood and fir balsam.
Fragrance 6, M ~ by Ohne Titel with perfumer Yann Vasnier. “I tried to recreate their attention to intricate tailoring, architecture of design, their care of detail, all these very feminine aspects using these strong and signature materials like cardamom, safraleine, and leather.” With notes of cardamom, Atlas cedar, black plum, tonka bean, castoreum, civet, musks, moxalone and cosmone.
The Six Scents Series Three fragrances will be available in 50 ml Eau de Toilette, $149. Each perfume comes with a drawing by Robert Knoke and a DVD with 8 “exclusively commissioned fims” plus the Six Scents Series Three documentary. (via press release)
Update: see reviews of Six Scents Fragrance 4, Ascent, Fragrance 5, #087 and Beau Bow.
26 Comments
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I can hardly handle these ultra-high-concept multiple launches… my eyes started glazing over as I skimmed the copy. They seem somewhat interesting I guess, but I have no interest at all in hunting them down and sampling, let alone buying.
Laughed at “Origin of life is expressed by a fresh accord, green and watery, like a drop of sperm.” Uh….?
All that said, #5 sound like the one I’d most be interested in trying, but as always, I’ll forget about it by dinnertime.
I think one of the reasons my eyes start to glaze over is that I’ve already smelled Series One & Series Two. They were all nice scents, but by & large, nowhere near as interesting (or as highbrow) as the concept(s).
I choked on my coffee when I read that “origin of life” part, too. Hey, what about the egg? No life without that!
I read just about every other post on here before I read this one, because I knew it was another multi-launch. My attention span and my memory just can’t handle these very well.
I got a laugh out of the line,”The crisply fragrant image of a very chic and cultured French teenager who enjoys his quirks and is eager to to discover the world, making love to it for the first time and breathing it all in”. Very funny.
I got a bigger laugh out of “green and watery, like a drop of sperm”. Someone needs medical attention, perhaps?
If someones sperm is green and watery, they better get to a doctor stat!
I agree that it’s difficult to read these and get a concrete grasp of what this might actually smell like. That said, all of them sound very interesting, though I’m disappointed that none of the note lists sound like “my kind of thing.” I wish more of the perfumers had met the challenge in the same way as Fragrance 5–that is creating scents actually based on a childhood memory, as opposed to creating scents based on childhood or memory in the abstract sense.
5 sounds most interesting in general, too. At least to me.
Like Valentine, I think that few of these have anything to do with childhood memories or adolescent influences, except No. 5 – and, surprise! that’s the only one I’d be interested in smelling. Won’t go out of my way for it, though.
Yep.
I think what this project has taught me so far is that even small-scale, interesting designers who presumably aren’t out to make a gajillion dollars from a perfume STILL don’t usually make perfumes that are as interesting as their clothing.
I’d love to see the briefs, or whatever they used, for these: wonder if #5 was way more specific than the others?
I like the idea of ‘cant smell fear’, given my predeliction for comfort scents – though I agree that no. 5 does sound more avant-garde! I wouldn’t of thought of leather as the obvious theme – usually indicating rebellion or sexuality, but I like the idea of it as ‘protective’.
I like that idea too!
Baby powder sperm and leather….. someone should call social services.
Thanks for posting these, I enjoyed reading about this series very much. #5 & #6 sounded the most interesting, as far as notes go.
Salty-icy water accord had me grinning.
If my sperm were green, I would get myself to the emergency room, stat.
The only one out of any of these series I have tried is Solar Donkey Power from set 2, which I got a sample of because I love donkeys. Can’t remember how it smells, exactly but I liked it fine. I am interested in #5 for sure, and will be reminded of them when I get the email from Luckyscent that they are in stock.
Perhaps a notice should be posted not to read the advertising copy while drinking liquid in any form?
None of these descriptions would motivate me to so much as pry the top off a sample bottle. I hope they worked as hard on the juice as someone did on the copy!
So, incense represents the end of life? Tsk.
I like the big butt floral one and even the sickly sounding “…green and watery one.”
Dear Robin, will Lucky Scent have these to sample?
I would think so, eventually.
I thought the documentary trailer was quit interesting, i am looking forward to seeing more films with the perfumers and designers. Its difficult to get a real sense with the quotes associated with each perfume. http://vimeo.com/16125377
The only thing I noticed was Yann Vasnier. I generally love what he creates for some reason. I look at the notes with trepidation and think ….okay?…….well……um…….what the hey! I’ll give it a try as soon as samples become available.
I mean in No. 6
RAD HOURANI
where do you find these fragrances at store wise?
You can find a list of stores here:
http://www.nstperfume.com/perfume-houses-s/#SixScents
But it is just out, so not everybody has it yet.