Mandy Aftel: Perfume in a Poem

In a Station of the Metro

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet, black bough.

Ezra Pound

My base would be built around tonka absolute and costus.  Warm and sweet like caramel, tonka is the ultimate powdery note.   Costus, with its complicated aroma of a wet dog crossed with crushed violets,  retains the alchemical ability to transform every other essence.  To create a watery and shimmering base, I would dose heavily with costus to cause the other essences to give up their rough edges, like an apparition.

For the middle I would choose broom absolute with its honey rose-like aroma with a back note of hay and wood. To this I would add the rich and heavy aroma of dark coffee to create a dirty floral reminiscent of the "petals on a wet, black bough."

For the top I would focus on the precious sugi wood of Japan.  This light but rich wood has an aged and precious aroma.   I would balance this with the slightest hint of a very creamy but sweet and clean peppermint; using only enough to shed light on the faces in the crowd.

By Mandy Aftel   ----   aftelier.com

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Editor's Note:

It is fitting that we begin this project with Mandy Aftel's evocative contribution, since it was with her Essence and Alchemy: A Natural History of Perfume that I began my exploration of perfumery as an art.  I have read it numerous times, owned several copies and have given many away to friends.  It is an exceptionally well-written book and is the single volume I most often recommend to friends who ask what my "perfume thing" is all about. 

Among her many distinguished and critically acclaimed works of authorship, I especially love Scents and Sensibilities, a tiny book on crafting solid perfumes which holds much more inspiration than it would seem possible in such a small volume.  It makes a wonderful gift for anyone who's interested in perfume on any level. 

Also of particular importance to me is Aroma: The Magic of Essential Oils in Foods and Frangrance, which she co-authored with Daniel Patterson.  Aroma is a book to alternately savor and devour, and I'm doing just that.  It is filled with recipes for sublime perfumes (such as Cepe and Tuberose liquid perfume as well as Vanilla-Licorice solid perfume) and delicious dishes using ingredients such as black pepper essential oil, cepe (mushroom) absolute, and saffron absolute.  If you have any interest at all in the alchemy of aromatic cooking, this is a book for you.  You can purchase many of these absolutes and essential oils at Mandy's website, aftelier.com.

Mandy's perfume blends are legendary and have garnered a great deal of well-deserved praise in media such as The New York Times Style Magazine, Vogue, Bazaar, and Allure, to name just a few.  My personal favorite from her line is the dramatic and gorgeous Tango, a mesmerizing and truly original fragrance, which contains notes of "smoky ... roasted seashells and champaca; a heady floral with spice and honey notes."  Her Boronia solid perfume, smelling "like sunlight on the trees in the forest" is so beautiful I can't bring myself to wear it and use up the sample.  I know, that's bad, but her perfume is just that beautiful. I want to wear it and yet I don't want to be without it.  What a wonderful dilemma to have.

Our exciting giveaway on March 31 (selected from the names of all those who contribute comments to the posts in this project) will include a sample of Mandy's newest release, Parfum Prive, which "smells like the night air in Hawaii -- redolent of sultry flowers, warmth and light. It almost shimmers. Created from the rarest and most costly essences: osmanthus, orange flower absolute, ambrette seed (a botanical musk) and the legendary ambergris. A limited edition."

Mandy Aftel's perfume organ of natural essences

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Credits:

All images in this post were provided by Mandy Aftel and are used with her permission.  Credit for the photo of the perfume organ is given to Joel Bernstein.  All quotes are from aftelier.com.

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Comments are encouraged!  Please read the initial post in this series for the details on our extraordinary giveaway which will take place on March 31. 

Comments

[Lauren]

I was with Mandy until the coffee - I think that coffee is too recognizable in a perfume meant to evoke the poem. I would get stuck on the coffee scent and not "get" the rest and therefore lose the link to the poem.

Love the pic of the perfume organ.

Thanks for doing this project, Heather. You're a genius!

Lauren

[Jason]

Mandy - I very much like how you do not romanticize the image, and instead concentrate on effects- like the soft focus for apparitions, and peppermint sparkles of faces in the crowd. These are my favorite touches. I'm also interested in the use of coffee notes because it seems to offer a solution to the problem of the bough: a woody word that seems to intimate its flowering (for me anyway). Coffee notes seem to strike a chord combining both the moodiness of dark woods and their fruit. A wonderful idea!

[Dan]

This project is so innovative - such a blend of creativity swirling around a central vision contained in a three line poem - fantastic! What a treasure it would be to have all these proposed fragrances available and together in a small collection complete with the artists' commentary and artwork. Imagine how compelling that would be.

[Andrine]

I love this! When I first read about the contest and was contemplating the poem, I focused specifically on the "black" part and thought of coffee. I'm so glad that Mandy chose it. You can do magical things in perfume with it, provided you use it wisely. And Mandy is the one to do that!

This is off to a great start, and it's SO exciting!

[Annie]

This feels like an experience most people have all encountered. Mandy captured the aromas of people/moments that eclipse us all too quickly. The costus feels like just the scent to jerk us out of our own worlds and let us see what is right in front of us.

[Ellen]

I love that Mandy was the first to contribute to this evocative idea of creating a scent remeniscent of a mysterious line in a poem, for she was my first inspiration to walk down this exotic path as a Natural Essence Perfumer....beautiful potion!

[Gail S]

What a wonderful concept! I look forward to reading about each perfumers' take on the short poem.

For this first one by Mandy Aftel, very interesting. It's not at all what I would have expected, which is sometimes the best!

[DW Rosengard]

What a genius idea!

As someone very new to the world of perfume, I am so enamored by the idea of seeing how different scenes evoke different scent-memory combinations for both perfumers and wearers.

What I love about Mandy Aftel's approach to the poem is that so many of the notes remind me of the smells one might encounter in a crowd at a train station - coffee stained fingers, flowers crushed underfoot, a faint hint of where the dog brushed dew onto a gentleman's pant leg during a morning walk.

And what an excellent poem to choose! I personally prefer Eliot over Pound, but the whole idea is so evocative and romantic. The only other short poems I can think of that might also work area couple by William Carlos Williams ("This Is Just To Say" or, perhaps, "The Great Figure"). I really like that you chose such a short and vivid piece.

[Monica]

I wish Mandy actually made the perfume she describes! Wish I can sniff the sugi wood and simply love the idea of using costus to give the sense of apparition.

[Anne]

This is such an amazing project. Thank you for sharing with all of us. And the prize? Yea Baby! Icing on an already scrumptious cake!

[Holly]

Fantastic concept indeed! I'm intrigued by the use of Peppermint. Its added an additional visual aspect to the imagery the poem and Mandy's commentary has conjured for me. Bravo!

[Wendy]

When you announced the poems and perfumers project, I hoped that you would give light to the perfumer's creative process.

This first post from Mandy Aftel does not disappoint. I love how she explains the effect she is going after with each note she chooses and how it related to the poem.

I'm looking forward to the others.

[Mark]

What an enthralling idea! Congratulations on enthusiastic response from so many perfumers and I am so glad to have discovered this site.

As for Mandy's contribution, my personal interpretation of the dark bough would perhaps be deeper - not so sweet as tonka, coffee and broom together. Perhaps Agar, black tea and then I would have to head into synthetics, maybe isobutyl quinoline with hedione... you know, choosing to work within the constraints of natural perfumery, Mandy, Anya McCoy and their peers must be incredibly skilled in their craft to produce such wonderful fragrances. My hat is off to them.

[Suzanne]

This is fabulous. Thank you Mandy. I love the description of Costus ("the complicated aroma of a wet dog crossed with crushed violets") and now I am longing to smell it. And sugi wood! I've never smelled that either.

Heather, the book recommendations are greatly appreciated, too. I have a feeling I will be ordering a copy of "Aroma" very soon. Thank you.

[Therese S.]

Thanks for your wonderful blog, which I appreciate as a poetry lover and would-be natural perfumer. I'd love to participate in the next project! Regarding perfumes that I feel are inspiringly "black," I would say:
* Tango by Mandy Aftel
* Film Noir by Ayala Moriel
Those are all-naturals, I know. However, my first impression upon reading Pound's Haiku was "Angelique Encens" made by Creed in the 30's and dedicated to Marlene Dietrich.
I've tried it and fell in love at the first whiff. The main ingredients are Angelica and Sandalwood.

Fragrant greetings,

Therese

[Angi]

Loved the way Mandy Aftel made me visualize her perfume creation step by step. The way she described it. Somehow I could sense the soft, sweet, sensual and exotic creation in my mind. Thanks for that moment to stop and sense it....would love to experience the real thing one day!
Mandy - your book "Essence and Alchemy" is such a wonderful and must book. I keep on reading and reading and never get tired, always learning.

And Heather, you are amazing for combining the beauty of perfume with poetry!

[Tatyana]

A great description! I was especially intrigued by the costus note, it sounds very multi-faceted - I never knew!

And the pic of the perfume organ is impressive!

P.S. Thanks to the author of the blog for such a great idea and for all her effort!

[Debra]

Thank you for this idea - i love, love, love the opportunity to get inside the creative process and watch Mandy's mind at work - creativity is so fascinating and indivual and it is excitng to catch a glimpse - it also humbles me to the amount of care and time one must spend with essesnces to really know them and know how they work - I can't wait for more!

[Maggie Mahboubian]

This is a project close to my heart. I arrived at perfumery through a circuitous route encountering my own version of a top, middle and base note: architecture (my profession), natural skincare (my avocation) and aromatics (my passion). I've always associated perfume with poetry as it is intrinsic to the Persian culture with which I grew up. I would love to see this project extended to the works of the great Sufi poets, Sa'adi, Hafez and Rumi. I think only a perfume would be able to translate the complex and often cryptic language used by these poets. Mandy's description are always so evocative and effusive; I find myself savoring every word like a winetaster.

[sweetlife]

I too, long to smell this perfume. Or at least it's individual components! Mandy, I am a huge fan of Essence and Alchemy, which sets on my shelf next to the works of my favorite food writers. Seeing your work here is such a treat.

Maggie Mahboubian -- I second your call for the Sufi poets! I only know the work of Rumi, whom I adore in all his many moods, but it seems like such a natural connection.

[Nicole Meredith]

Reading as a poet and as a perfume scholar, I really enjoyed the last bit about just enough peppermint "to shed light on the faces in the crowd." That is the only way I personally enjoy peppermint in my perfumes, and I thought this was a beautifully evocative description of it.

I love this project. Can't wait to read more entries.

[Julie]

Creating a perfume based on such a concise, evocative poem - what a brilliant idea!

I am currently reading Essence and Alchemy (very slowly I might add because it is loaded with info) and was so pleased to see Mandy Aftel as the first perfumer. I just ordered samples from her website on Sunday.

I think I would die and go to heaven if I won the samples from your contest!

[Wendy]

I too am currently reading Essence and Alchemy which has inspired me to buy the other books by Mandy. I love the idea of cooking with aromatics and can't wait to smell Costus.

[Lavanya]

Having read and mulled over and re-read Mandy's Essence and Alchemy many times, I was really looking forward to her post..
I am intrigued by the combination of sugi wood and peppermint and the shimmery base sounds wonderful (I am not so sure about the coffee, though). Wish this was available for sampling!

[chayaruchama]

Mandy-
You had me at 'wet dog'.
It's marvellous to see how you approach this haiku-
And your novel, but so right-feeling aromatic color palette.

I feel stimulated and energized, just reading about it...

[Janet in California]

This is so beautifully described. I can just imagine the building process. Mandy's Parfum Prive sounds glorious too!

[Anya]

With three paragraphs, Mandy expresses everything that is important in her creative process regarding this project. I have found her to approach everything this way: well-edited, spot on, and nothing superfluous. She captured it all, beautifully.

[Debbie]

I love the bottom and the top, but the heart of a dirty rose. Oh no. I just can't stand rose. I really appreciate all of the information on the notes, being particularly intrigued by costus and its abilities. I think the idea of a creamy pepperment as the light is genius.

[Asta]

This is such a fabulous idea to stimulate creativity and the art of perfume. Bravo, Heather!

I love Mandy Aftel's concise description and the images it provokes. I would love to smell the actual scent to see if the images are the same. I had mixed thoughts on the coffee at first but I think it would work here. At my local New York station there's always a lingering scent and coffee is the best potential cause (heh). I am really intrigued by the mix of the other notes with the peppermint, which I would never have considered.

I find myself eager to track down these books...sigh, my poor credit card...

[Adoniel]

Coffee, Costus and Tonka. Ms. Aftel is definitely brewing her magic once again to leave us all asking for more. Perfume and poetry, this is indeed a brilliant idea.

[Robert Upton]

Tonka and Costus sound absolutely drenched and warm. Coffee of course to make us believe there's something beyond the drudgery of urban life. The peppermint is a 'fresh' idea...pun intended. Never been introduced to Sugi Wood.....hmmmmmmmm, interesting.

[Darlene Johnson]

Peppermint would scare me! But Mandy, being the experienced perfumer that she is.... has no fear! something I hope someday I can shed.

[Debbie]

I have always loved perfume but am new to the "inside" of it all. I loved the way Mandy went along describing how each scent fit with the poem.

A few weeks ago I was thinking that perfume is like poetry...and here I am, actually living and "feeling" it. The two things I have always loved the most being put together so beautifully.

[Claudia]

I've discovered this project a little late, and am thoroughly enjoying it! What a fantastic idea! And Mandy's description has caused me to promise myself to become more familiar with her perfume blends.

[Ruth Ruane]

It's spring time in Paris and the black coffee is appropriate for so many reasons... Mandy's creation conjures up the image of an old gentleman, who is young at heart and seeing the beautiful faces in the crowd he is reminded of how fleeting has been his life. It's sort of lonely and bitter sweet.

[Catalina Castells]

Fantastic post and a wonderful project. I'm very excited to read the rest of the posts on this topic.

[Lisa A]

I, too, fell in love with Mandy's work after reading "Essense and Alchemy" and that is the one book that has inspired my passion for purfume more than any other. As a lover of dark, moody, deep scents, I've been on the search for quite some time for a floral that captures the moodiness I love. It sounds like Mandy's creation is the perfect "dirty floral" - just the right mix of floral, wood, and powder with an opening hint of mint.

[sylvia]

i've never heard of costus, but i love the idea of it blurring the edges in the fragrance. it lends itself to the idea of rain falling but still being able to see faces through it.

[Perfumy]

It's a very nice article.
Well done ;-)

[daysofmb.com]

When you choose a perfume, do not account on anybody except yourself

[MARCELO SENA]

OLÁ, SOU BRASILEIRO E APRENDIZ DE PERFUMISTA.
GRAÇAS Á DEUS PELO LIVRO DE MANDY EU APRENDI MUITO. ESSENCIAS E ALQUIMIA É UM LIVRO COMPLETO.
UMA FACULDADE PARA UM PERFUMISTA.
ABRAÇOS
MARCELO SENA