Wood Notes | Quintessence

Faun by Ravel

Vaslav Nijinsky in L’Après midi d’un Faune, 1912

While I was unable to find much information on Ravel, the house which released Faun in 1945, I was able to find out that the Ravel Perfume Corp was established in Nice, France and later had a presence in New York City. The firm was fairly prodigious for its time, releasing nineteen perfumes over the span of twenty years, with names like Pagan (1945), Ecstasy ( 1950) and Moments-De-Passion (1955). While I have not had the opportunity to sample these other creations, given the character of Faun (as well as the none-too-subtle monikers), I would imagine them to be fairly sensual.

The fragrance has a bright, hesperidic opening of bergamot lightened and brightened by the presence of aldehydes. Immediately upon application, however, one is aware of the presence of an underlying warmth in the fragrance, a precursor of the fragrance’s ultimate personality. There is a slight hint of sweetness, courtesy of a subtle spicy fruit note not unlike the warm plum note of Rochas Femme which hints at sensuality and the scent of skin. The sweetness is fleeting however and serves largely as a bridge to the fragrance’s true character.

Overall, Faun is reminiscent of woods, moss and warm fur. While I have been unable to confirm any specific fragrance notes, I also detect a note of patchouli, enhancing the fragrance’s warm sensation. While any of these notes can be pushed to an extreme, creating an aggressive fragrance, all of these elements are rendered lightly in Faun. As the scent warms on the skin, it settles nicely and conveys the warmth of bodies and forest floors. While the scent definitely retains a distinct animalic character, it is tastefully rendered and suggests intimacy as opposed to vulgarity. Rather than the scent of the satyr himself, Faun seems to me more the scent of the beautiful nymph after a prolonged embrace with her forest companion.

Nymphs and Satyr by Adolphe Bouguereau

While the scent of fur perfumes can be difficult to imagine if one has never experienced this note, its animalic nature is reminiscent of the leather elements present in scents such as Chanel’s Cuir de Russie, softened and warmed by the mossy, pungent notes of oakmoss not unlike those in vintage Miss Dior. Faun is undoubtedly a scent of its time and those unaccustomed to vintage fragrances may find it challenging. However, if you are a fan of sensuous leather and oakmoss fragrances and of the sexuality their warmth and animalic notes allude to, this may be worth seeking out.

Notes: Hesperidic Notes, Floral Notes, Wood Notes, Animalic Notes

Guerlain – Aqua Allegoria Figue Iris

By now you have surely come to the conclusion that perfume is one of my guilty pleasures. The way other people reach for a cocktail when they get home to unwind, I grab a bottle of a different kind and apply liberally to melt away the stresses of my day. I am sure all perfumistas have some fragrance in their wardrobe that is a guiltier pleasure than they would like to admit to. For me, it’s Guerlain’s Aqua Allegoria Figue Iris.

While the Aqua Allegoria line started out as an exercise in minimalism, somewhere along the way (i.e. after the departure of Mathilde Laurent), the entire project went haywire, resulting in odd and sometimes abrasive compositions. With a few exceptions, such as this here, many of the fragrances had a light, delicate character that made them good introductory Guerlains.

Not so with Figue Iris. The first time I smelled it, I was slightly horrifed, as I was expecting a light green fig enhanced by magical iris dust. What I got instead was a dense, surreal impression of the inner pulp of a fig: juicy, ripe, heavy and pungent which segued into a very lush (and slightly plastic) iris, with a hint of violet deepened by a rich vanilla. No subtlety, no light romance, just FIG and IRIS in mile high pink letters.

A f ew months went by and I was sorting samples and came across it again, and applied it absent-mindedly. This time I liked it, almost in spite of myself. I admitted my bizarre newfound affection to a fellow collector who was slightly horrified as well, but we agreed that it was no worse than any other fruity floral on the market. I finished my sample and found myself longing for this plush, plastic fig. Before I knew it, the search was on to try and track down a bottle because this 2008 release had long been discontinued.

While I cannot help but wish Guerlain would have served this up as a traditional perfume and invested the resources to make it more complex, when it comes down to it, it smells really good. While it lacks the sophistication of say a Diptyque or Hermes fig, ironically, this is one of the fragrances that I get the most compliments on when I wear it, which is on rare occasions given that I had to track my bottle down halfway around the world from a seller in Spain who had one to spare.

Fruity Floral

Notes: Citrus, Violet, Iris, Fig, Milky Notes, Wood Notes, Vanilla, Vetiver.

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Faun by Ravel

Guerlain – Aqua Allegoria Figue Iris