Niche line Escentric Molecules line will launch their fifth fragrance duo. Molecule 05 and Escentric 05 focus on Cashmeran; both fragrances were developed by perfumer and brand founder Geza Schoen.
Molecule 05 (above right) ~ "Nothing but the molecule Cashmeran pure and singular. Cashmeran has an unusually complex character for a single molecule. It combines a cocooning, musky softness with dry, aromatic woodiness, and a sweet and resinous pine note. Cashmeran was created in a laboratory at IFF in the late 1970s."
Escentric 05 (above left) ~
The formula for the Escentric fragrance is always driven by the character of the Molecule.
Molecule 05, cashmeran, is dry, radiant, warm and woody with an unexpected touch of pine resin. That gave me the idea of creating a different kind of summer fragrance. I wanted to evoke what it was like to be by the sea, but not by using the usual marine notes, which I find too artificial.
Instead, I wanted to recreate the experience of being on an island in the Mediterranean, like the one where I have spent so many summers. What you notice as you walk up the path from the sea is how the heat changes plants and trees, they turn dry, resinous and aromatic.
The top note of Escentric 05 is very simple: bergamot to keep things light, and orange, an ingredient which has an emotional tone to it, bright and happy. It reflects the orange groves that cover this island.
Laurel and rosemary are typical Mediterranean plants with a spicy freshness, juniper brings a herbal tonality and cypress is a very dry, pungent wood.
The drydown has two classic Mediterranean ingredients, cistus labdanum and mastic. Mastic is a resin produced by a small tree that grows especially near the sea. It has the clean sharp scent of newly-cut branches. Cistus is a small plant that grows everywhere in the Med. It has a sweet, leathery, balsamic quality which I love. And of course, there is around 15% of cashmeran – which gives the fragrance its piney warmth.
I also introduced a subtle fig, both the bitterness of the leaves and the ripeness of the fruit. Figs had to be in there because there is a fig tree by our house on the island. Fig feels authentic to the place, it reminds me of the happiness of summer by the sea. — Geza Schoen
Additional notes include basil, hedione, freesia, iris, jasmine, musk, ambroxan and Iso E Super.
Escentric Molecules Molecule 05 and Escentric 05 will debut this spring, in 100 ml (and possibly 30 ml as well).
(via press release)
I like the sound of the fragrance 05.
It does sound good.
Or maybe it’s more that I like the fantasy of that Mediterranean island!
Ha, no argument there!
It takes some kind of nerve to sell diluted, unaltered Cashmeran as a fragrance. It’s diluted to 2 per cent, which means that at Perfumer’s Apprentice you can buy enough Cashmeran and perfume alcohol base to make 10 100-mL bottles for $3.65 each, and you’re not even getting a wholesaler’s price on the ingredients — Escentric Molecules will pay considerably less in bulk, and then sell them for about $150.
It wouldn’t bother me if it were a composed scent: Escentric 05 might well be worth $150, for all I know. But a markup of 4000 per cent for a single cheap ingredient diluted in alcohol and water is just shocking.
Yep…same with every brand that does this sort of thing.
The idea was getting on my nerves before I saw the math! Not A Perfume irked me too.
Okay, so when I think “piney” and “marine,” I think of the Maine coast — say, Acadia. Admittedly, there seem not to be too many noses from that part of the world. Is there are perfume that evokes the cold, cold ocean and the piney coast?
Hmm, Un Air de Bretagne is cold ocean for me, though it’s not really pine-y from what I recall. L’eau Bleu d’Issey and Aramis New West had more evergreen needles. Profumum Aqua di Sale and Heeley Sel Marin were more cedar than pine, but I think the Profumum also had a cold vibe?