Cuir de Nacre, Verweile doch...

...Du bist so schoen. 

It's usually not my style to get overly poetic when describing perfumes; I leave the elegies and opulent odes to those better equipped for that sort of thing, but in this case I have to make an exception and use a quote from Goethe's Faust.

"Verweile doch, du bist so schoen.."  (Stay a while, you are so beautiful) is probably the most quoted quote from the most quoted play from the most quoted author in the German language.

Often tragically misquoted, these few words do not describe a romantic encounter with a woman, but Faust's wish to capture the impossible: the fleeting moment. Bliss, we would probably say these days. I don't want to get too literature lectures here, but it is a defining moment in the play and I have spent many an hour in school debating it. What I find interesting is the connection with perfume and when I tested Cuir de Nacre from Ann Gerard it was the thing that immediately came to my mind, and with some regret. 

My visual interpretation of Cuir de Nacre by Ann Gerard

How can something so beautiful be so eager to disappear? It is the most elegant and soft leathered Iris, much softer than the Cuir d'Iris from PG, and I want to bury my nose in it and cry out:" Verweile doch...!" But no, it won't. Not only does it not stay forever, it doesn't even keep long enough for polite company. The moment of bliss, when you fall in love with a scent is very bittersweet here, because it makes puff and it's gone. I actually thought that something was probably wrong with the sample, or my skin or both, but it seems its fleeting temperament has been noted by other perfume bloggers as well. I'm a tiny bit heartbroken. 

How and where to wear:

High speed dating

Verweile doch image via flickr by silviaN, some rights reserved

Aedes de Venustas

Bertrand Duchauf0ur is regarded by many as the best perfumeur of our time and it’s always exciting to try his creations to see whether they live up to the hype. (They usually do...) You might have heard of Aedes de Venustas, but there are actually two perfumes with identical names. The first AdV, launched in 2008, was created for the label Artisan Parfumeur, the second is now the signature fragrance of the flamboyant Aedes de Venustas perfume shop in Greenwich, New York. It doesn’t help that both are BD creations. 
According to basenotes both fragrances are still in production, the newer one (2012) is the one I tested. In store, (the exquisite independent shop Roullier White in East Dulwich) I struggled with the flacon. My hands are not particularly small, but the storm lighter type  opener striked me as overly quirky and a bit injury prone. Smashing the bottle would be quite devastating, given the price tag. But once the juice is out of the bottle, it's magic.

Aedes de Venustas, EdP

There is a tartness / sweetness combination which only comes together in a few fruits and I'm not surprised to learn that rhubarb and apple are supposed to be notes in this fragrance. A ticklish sweet and sour accord which is totally moreish. And more of it you get, but it loses the tartness on the way and the greens soften. In come the soft and red flowers, and the incense, of course. No BD perfume without it. And while I sit in my little office and fight with some software problem the greens and the purple reds are gently floating around me, coming and going, woven into each other in a most delicate and elegant way. What a wonderful perfume. I knew that I needed to capture this weaving structure of the perfume in my colour interpretation but wasn't keen on making it look tartan.  I now want to try the Artisan Parfumeur Aedes de Venustas, just to see the difference.

How and where to wear:

The ambassadors summer garden party, chiffon dress and hat

Rhubarb image via flickr garryknight, some rights reserved