During my formative years as a teenager who was obsessed with indie rock, played in bands and loved hanging out at the record store, it was only a matter of time before I heard the Pixies and fell head-over-heels in love.

My favorite album was always Surfer Rosa (and still is until this day) as I think that was the peak of creativity, viewing pop music through the shattered, art-rock lens of Black Francis, Kim Deal, Joey Santiago and David Lovering. However, there was something about the surf-rock shift of direction in Bossanova that was super intriguing. The album shows the height of intertwined vocals of Francis and Deal, two voices that could soar in similar registers, shifting above and below each other, like two birds in flight.

The best use of this on the album was in “Velouria,” a song that had shimmering, legato vocal melodies over crunchy, fuzz-laden guitar riffs and David Lovering’s solid beats with underrated and supremely tasteful flourishes (I love his trademark tom fills at the end of bars).

This is also the period where Black Francis became more obsessed with the supernatural than he ever had before. “Velouria” is the tale of a romance across time with an ancient citizen of the lost civilization of Lemuria, who legend has it currently live inside Mount Shasta. It’s a semi-melancholy tale of love across time, space and planes of existence, perfectly matched to the vocal melodies.

In order to reflect this contrast of styles (hauntingly beautiful vocal melodies over distorted electric guitar crunch), I composed a fragrance with notes of candied violet, orris, blueberry, frankincense frerena, Indian and Javanese vetiver, and musk.

Candied Violet, Orris and Blueberry

These three notes are an accord unto themselves, the sweet, soaring vocal melodies of the song. It hinges around the ionones that feed all the accords as well as methyl anthranilate, a sweet note (purple if you’re that type of synesthesate) found amongst florals, it was used in both creating a violet note as well as the blueberry note. I also used an orris root tincture to give all of these a more grounded feeling, as well as the fruitier Hedione HC in addition to bergamot essential oil, plus the standard benzyl acetate and beta damascone. Additionally, I used raspberry ketone to enhance the fruity aspect, jasmine sambac absolute, some spice in the form of cinnamaldehyde and caryophyllene beta, and finally some floral notes in Doremox and phenyl ethyl alcohol as well as the more green Isoraldeine and clary sage absolute.

Vetiver, Incense and Musk

The texture of vetiver, to me, is the quintessential fuzz pedal note, especially the Indian (very rooty) and Javanese (kinda smokey and rich) types of vetiver. These play with a Velvione musk and firascone to really play up the texture of a saturated guitar riff plus some Bicyclononalactone, a coumarin-type material, to smooth it out a touch. These combine with musks that rain from animalic (we are talking about Lemuria after all) to clean, including Traesolide, Ethylene Brassylate, Cosmone, Ambrettolide, Civettone (a cruelty-free civet replacement), Cetalox.

Finally, the incense notes come from frankincense (the fuzzier Frerena variety) as well as a frankincense absolute, a little bit more sweet and sticky (enhanced by a touch of labdanum absolute). It added the final touch, the David Lovering drum fill, if you will, to the entire composition.

Velouria Eau de Parfum is available now at MaherOlfactive.com, so grab a bottle or head to American Perfumer (very soon) to grab a sample!

I made a video (again, accidentally deleted the first…) illustrating how the creative process behind the development of Velouria for Maher Olfactive has progressed, the considerations and variations of the formula, and how I hone in on a final direction to focus on the final scent formula.

Notes include

• Berries, peaches, daffodils, orange blossoms
• Lamp oil, burning wick, bourbon, red cedar
• Mahogany, leather, musk

Sometimes, you have ideas that you don’t think are feasible. But you just can’t get them out of your head, no matter what. For me, I wanted to do an oud perfume. Of course, that’s not so unique. However, I wanted to create one that not only features the oud as the star, but also to find a unique twist.

Here’s the thing, though. Oud is expensive. Like super expensive. And between supply chain issues while also weathering an economic slowdown, there was no way I could justify spending enough to create a full batch release. So I decided to create something in a much smaller batch than usual, allowing me to spend on other materials in addition to the oud, while releasing it in 10mL bottles in order to make a bottle more affordable.

So I smelled many different ouds. Each one has such unique and often unapologetic characteristics that I realized that I should not come into it with any preconceived notions. I found three different ouds and let them guide me to find the right complements.

When working on this composition, a friend remarked that it was like smelling a string quartet. Smooth and interconnected. That brought me to the term, “Legato,” which indicates notes that are seamlessly intertwined with no space between them.

The composition began with the three ouds that I selected. The Cambodian oud is very polite for an oud. Rich, velvety, with a cocoa/leather nuance. The Thai oud is the polar opposite. It’s very assertive, with characteristics of a more medicinal oud as well as being the woodiest of the three. Finally, the Prachin Pearl has the most animalistic bent, rich beyond belief, and very heady. Simply outstanding. Thus, the Cambodian oud serves as a perfect mediator between the two.

I thought the opulent-but-not-overly-sweet nature of stone fruit would be a great sidekick to this oud combination. I built a plum accord that uses many of the same materials that I’ve used in the past, but with a boost of fructone in order to add to the sweetness, plus apricot essential oil from Robertet that is bang on for the flesh of a perfectly ripe apricot.

Next, I wanted to create a counterpoint. The first one was white lotus absolute, something that is very lush in almost a similar manner to a rose, but also with a carnation-type leaning that is spicier, avoiding a traditional oud/rose type of scent. It combines excellently with a natural saffron that I procured, letting the natural leather undertones of saffron help bring everything together with the oud and stone fruits.

Finally, I wanted some more texture. So I landed upon Virginia cedar, the deepest and most rich cedar oil that I have in stock. It’s what I think of when I smell the red cedar wood from my childhood. It adds a texture that helps counterbalance the spice while also not allowing the base notes to get too heavy.

I will release this limited edition at MaherOlfactive.com tomorrow, October 22. Because I let my instinct lead me, the scent signature is very much mine, but it is still not like anything I have ever created with previously unexplored materials. As always, I’m very excited to share it with you and hope you enjoy it!

Now available at MaherOlfactive.com with samples at American-Perfumer.com!

Years ago, I created a scent for a brand. However, during the process, the whole thing went sideways and we had to part ways. This left me with a formula that I liked but had no use for, so I released it as a limited edition called Nonaginta. The name came from its inspiration from my childhood. As someone who came of age in the 90s, it took from those types of unisex citrus and fruit scents that came to define the decade.

Nonaginta became a cult classic in the Chatillon Lux history. I had many requests to add it to the line. However, it wasn’t personal enough. It hit some nostalgic buttons for me, but there was no connection to my life or to St. Louis.

I realized recently, years down the road, how I could change that. My home is close to the Cherokee Street Historic District, which is home to the city’s best and most authentic taquerias (and if you’re local, yes, I added the “city” qualifier because I know the county has some killer joints, as well). And because I really love an agua fresca to help quench the fires of hot sauce on delicious, delicious food, it hit me that this was the direction that this fragrance should head.

The Top Notes

Unsurprisingly, this juice starts off with a melange of tropical fruits. It contains the citrus of a yuzu accord, an apricot essential oil, a lime accord based on the candy-like lime oxide, a melon accord with the 90s-tastic calone as well as the apple-tinged musk zenolide, a strawberry accord featuring strawberry glycidate and cassiffix, and a pineapple essential oil. Both the apricot and pineapple are distilled by Robertet, a premier natural raw materials house.

Halfway Down the Drink

However, this is a watery drink, and so a watery cucumber accord with isoraldeine 95, sagecete, pinene alpha and the watery green-floral materials of vernaldehyde, precyclemone and bourgeonal work in the background to make the scent feel more refreshing.

And of course, since this is the 90s, there was a good dose of the fruity, jasmine-lite material of hedione. It adds a lot of air to the fragrance, making it feel like summer. Very drinkable.

At the Bottom of the Cup

The base notes of this are cream and vetiver. The vetiver is used sparingly, as a weight to the rest of the fragrance, with the strategic use of a Haitian vetiver that’s light and bright, as well as vetikone, a material that emphasizes the grapefruit rind aspect of vetiver so that it would blend in with its surroundings.

Next, a creamy note reflects some of the sweeter aspects of certain agua frescas. This starts with a coconutty gamma nonalactone and is reinforced with the creamy, tonka spice of bicyclononalactone and ice cream vanilla of ethyl vanillin.

Finally, a couple of white musks, helvetolide and romanolide, sit in the background, adding freshness and weight without being noticed.

Now, we have a drink mixed the way I’d like it to be. If you’re a 90s child or just enjoy a fresh, refreshing summer scent, Agua Fresca will be here on Saturday, June 4 with an EdT from Chatillon Lux as well as a shaving soap and aftershave from Declaration Grooming. Cheers!

Notes include melon, apricot, yuzu, pineapple, strawberry, cucumber, vetiver and cream