The 90s are now a distant memory, or not even a memory for some at this point, but this was the decade that left the biggest impact on me, for better or worse (and in retrospect, mostly worse). So naturally, when I was commissioned to created fragrance inspired by that decade, particularly those citrus aquatics in the style of L’Eau d’Issey, but with luxury, high-end materials, I was on board. Now, however, that private commission is now going to be available to the public today at 12pm Eastern, with notes of citrus, bergamot, verbena, aquatics, green tea, geranium, and sandalwood.
The citrus accord at the top plays in tandem with the aquatic accord. There are natural distilled essential oils (in order to be as skin-friendly as possible, including lime and sweet orange, as well as a yuzu essential oil. There is also a juicy grapefruit note, sweeter than the expressed essential oil, which comes from the peel and is more harsh and bitey, followed by orange blossom absolute. This is all grounded by vetikone and vetiveryl acetate, two vetiver-type materials that have citrusy lemongrass vibes going on.
As a bridge to the aquatic accord, there is a healthy dose of calone, a melon-type material that was a powerhouse in L’Eau d’Issey. It is enhanced by a touch of watery citrus headlined by dihydromyrcenol (just a touch, because a 90s aquatic would not be complete without it), as well as the citrus-tinged water lily of bourgenal. There is an era appropriate use of hedione, a jasmine-type note associated with fragrances like Acqua di Gio and Tommy, but with newer derivatives that I prefer, hedione HC and kharismal.
The green tea accord is also a 90s staple, and this is recreated with a trifecta of naturals that I sought out specifically to recreate this accord in the most luxurious way possible (seeing a theme?) from across the globe. It includes yerba mate absolute (a tea commonly imbibed in South America), hinoki (a Japanese cypress wood) and clary sage (this one’s provenance right here in America). Those notes are supported by a favorite of mine, sagecate, a citrusy sage note, as well as palmarosa from India.
The incense accord is subtle and low in the mix, but it does add a spiciness to the green tea. It is headlined by frankincense (boswellia serrata) from Oman, black pepper and nutmeg from India, and Russian coriander.
Supporting everything is a sandalwood essential oil, sustainably grown and harvested, that is supported by a few notes to enhance the creaminess of the sandalwood note. Beyond that, Romanolide, a clean laundry musk, supports the whole thing, along with a touch of the nutty ambrettolide, a safe recreation of ambrette seed.
Of course, there is much more in the composition, but I don’t want to bore you with all the microdosing and whatnot. It’s probably best to simply enjoy it. There will be a small amount of these available just in time for the holiday season. Hope you enjoy the latest chapter of the Side Project Series and have a great holiday season!
For those of you who have been around a while, you know I’ve had a few fougères in my past. La Forêt de Liguest was meant to echo the rich forests of the bend in the Mississippi River that would become Saint Louis, a rich, dense and sweet fougère. Sylva, however, was bright, green and sharp, the smell of a clearing on a hot summer morning where the sun visciously beating down on the dew brings out the most bright green notes.
Now, with the third visit to the fougère genre, I have created a fougère that contradicts the traditional, classic fougère with a new take on it. Which is only fitting since Weinstrasse is an homage to the Missouri Rhineland, where Germans emigrated because the fertile soil along the banks of the Missouri River was so reminiscent of the Rhineland they left behind, and where they started a new life and built a new Weinstrasse. The Missouri Rhineland is a new start, a reimagined take on a historic region, just like Weinstrasse both recreates and reimagines the classic fougère.
My maternal family was part of this population, and so history repeats itself in three aspects in this third fougère, one that I believe will be the one I want to leave etched into the history of Chatillon Lux.
Wine on the Vine
At the top of the fragrance is a white grape note. The star of this note is green cognac essential oil, a tart, crisp white grape note that is reminiscent of a bite of a grape off the vine. This is complemented by black currant bud absolute, a note that is also tart but less mouth-puckeringly so. There is also a touch of leaf alcohol, a green, freshly cut grass note. But not the smell of grass in the air. Rather, if you get down on your hands and knees to smell the still-wounded-and-oozing blades after they’ve been cut back down to size. Finally, the sweet, juicy green of violet leaf absolute rounds out this accord.
A Green, Honeyed Bouquet
While in a traditional fougère you would often expect to find geranium as featured floral, in Weinstrasse it takes a back seat to the honeyed bouquet that really sets this fragrance apart. The main accord is composed of helichrysum absolute, a complex floral note that has an inkling towards honeyed tobacco. To offset that, I created a honeysuckle accord that is only somewhat similar to the one I created for Gloria, with this honeysuckle accord taking a cue from the berry and fruity notes of damascenone that isn’t normally associated with honeysuckle. Since honeysuckle can be considered a distant relative to rose, and in order to juxtapose the note with helichrysum, I injected this curveball into the mix to add some fruitiness to the honeyed floral bouquet. Throughout St. Louis, all summer long, I smell honeysuckle in bloom, and I wanted to express more of the ambient smell that I found in the mornings, when the dew is still fresh and the scent is most robust.
This is another area in which I find the black currant bud absolute really helps balance out the accord, with its tart fruitiness, in addition to pyroprunat, a favorite of mine for microdosing to impart its dried-fruit/stone-fruit vibe. Adding in the sweet, silky iris accord riding on a mélange of inones, heliotrope and orinox (a somewhat floral, somewhat resinous note) developed expressly for this fragrance further adds to the sweet symphony of this bouquet.
A Rich, Full Base
I went into this knowing that I needed to make the most rich, full base in order to get the thick, lush vibe that I wanted out of Weinstrasse. Of course, in any fougère, there is a healthy dose of coumarin, a sweet note often associated with a tobacco and hay note with a touch of creaminess. This creaminess is enhanced with bicycolononalactone, another creamy note that I find adds sophistication and depth to coumarin, and a sandalwood accord used with the most creamy sandalwood molecule that I found worked within the accord: bacdanol, a beautiful note that is reminiscent of the highly coveted santalol beta, to complete the melance of woody creaminess.
Additionally, for the oakmoss note I used veramoss, a soapy note that projects the higher frequency notes of oakmoss, in addition to a small dose of atranol-free, IFRA-compliant oakmoss absolute that adds the lush, musky greenery that only true oakmoss can provide without risking the skin allergies.
To further round out the base notes, an array of musks, used very sparingly, reinforce that traditional charge led by oakmoss. Dark-aged patchouli, a less sharp and more earthy, rich and full patchouli, is microdosed to exalt the ambrettolide, a nutty tobacco note; muscone, a sweet, somewhat animalic musk; and habanolide, a fresh musk with a twist that brings out the soapiness of oakmoss. It’s all further enhanced by the mushroom-type scent of a small dose of amyl vinyl carbinol.
For the most part, I make scents that I want to wear. Maybe it’s a riff off of an accord that I enjoy or a real-life scent that I want to incorporate, and sometimes I’m inspired to create something that I want to smell but never have. With Admiral, I found myself going down none of those paths. I am not really a fan of aquatic scents or many of the modern scents that are super popular. However, inspired by the Admiral, an art deco designed steamboat that modernized a St. Louis tradition, I decided to set sail on a course I’ve never explored…but with my own unique twist.
Admiral has aquatic notes, unsurprisingly considering that it’s named after a boat, but I wouldn’t consider it to be an aquatic scent. It’s a summer in St. Louis scent. Something that brings back nostalgia for the glee of visiting Laclede’s Landing and the riverfront, where the history went back hundreds of years, and the joyous sense of discovery on an iconic riverboat in the bright sunshine.
The notes include lemongrass, verbena, bergamot, aquatic notes, sage, black currant bud, riverboat smoke, tonka bean, musk
The Sunshine
For the sunshine brightness, I wanted to make an accord that felt bright but not overly citrus-y. Something kind of green without smelling grassy or earthy. The accord begins with a rectified Italian bergamot, which is not a sharp citrus, but one reminiscent of tea due to its inclusion in Earl Grey tea. Along with that, a Nepalese lemongrass essential oil, Moroccan verbena essential oil and orange flower ether add to the citrus with just the subtlest hint of a green.
Then to give it a bit more depth, a tart black currant bud absolute is evened out by a touch of raspberry ketone, which is below the level of perception but adds a jammy-ness to the currant. Underneath it all is a big slug of galaxolide, a fresh musk, in accordance with exaltolide, a note that I find really brings out the juiciness of a fruity accord (it is also found in the EdT version of Yuzu/Rose/Patchouli). Finally, a sage accord composed of clary sage along with clarycet to bring out the frutiness of the note, and a few other micro-doses of fruity notes round out the sunshine portion of the scent.
Aquatic Notes
While many aquatic notes rely heavily on dihydro myrcenol, a note found prominently in many of the most famous aquatic fragrances, Admiral makes very sparing use of this. The primary notes are ambroxan (one of the most popular notes in modern men’s fragrances, this adds an amber anchor to the accord), calone (a watery, melon type of scent), helional (shimmery and sparkling), iso e super (another note essential to modern fragrance), seaweed absolute and bourgenol (a watery floral note) compose the rest of this sweet and subtle aquatic accord. It was designed to be less deep and easier to navigate than many aquatic accords, more of a river than an ocean.
The Riverboat Smoke
This accord uses just a touch of rectified cade oil, meant to replicate the rich smoke. It is complemented by a large dose of vanilla, ebanol (deep, thick and sticky, often used in sandalwood accords), and strawberry furfural, a caramel, phenolic note with only the slightest hint of strawberry. Finally, just the slightest hint of a sweet, slightly leather accord finish off this portion of the scent.
The Base Notes
In order to give a sturdy base to the accord, a tonka bean note, used sparingly, helps emphasize the softer side of the smoke. Pink pepper has a sharper edge, and is fairly decently dosed but manages to slide into the periphery in how it melds with the smoke notes, but it is important to the feeling of modernity found in this scent. Finally, cashmeran simultaneously gives the impression of wood, steel and musk to add to the fresh-yet-deep feeling found in the base.
It may not be something I ever intended to create, but it was exciting to step out of myself to bring a new approach to the art of fragrance. It did help me gain a new appreciation for a whole new world of techniques that I had never experienced and allowed me to find a new way to put my unique voice into a whole new genre.
In creating Nefertiti, I began contemplating how to create a scent that reflected the composition of Miles Davis, a Saint Louis-area native who got his start filling in on trumpet when Billy Eckstine’s band (featuring Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charlie Parker) for a horn player who fell ill when they arrived in Saint Louis. The song of the same name “Nefertiti” is not only one of my favorites ever, but it also became the impetus of the post-bop genre, one of many times Miles Davis changed the landscape of jazz. The recording on the album of the same name is actually the second take, because the tape was not running when the legendary first take was played.
What I love is that when you listen to the raw studio take, you can hear Miles exclaim, “No solos!” That is because the traditional roles of each instrument in the arrangement were redefined, with the trumpet and saxophone repeating a dirge-like, hauntingly sweet refrain. As they slowly become disjointed, playing in a round, the rhythm section becomes more and more frenetic, serving as the soloists while the wind instruments provide the glue, as the rhythm section normally would.
As I thought about interpreting this concept into a fragrance, I realized the multi-layered way to approach this scent as I was interpreting an interpretation of Queen Nefertiti. It hit me that beyond her renowned beauty, Nefertiti reversed traditional roles as she defied tradition in her reign just as Miles did in his song. And then as I researched more, I learned that she was known to have worn a perfume composed of honey and orchid leaf.
And that is how I began. Of course, over time the concept changed drastically, maybe even more so than others I have composed, because I had a feeling that I wanted to evoke just as much as a particular scent, and so I had to find a way to tap into both worlds. For this Scent Notes, I want to take a look at the accords in this fragrance that are most apropos to the story.
Honey and Orchid Leaf
First and foremost, a particular type of honey note was essential for three reasons: it was an important component of Nefertiti’s perfume, it is also an important component of kyphi incense (more on that later), and simply how it would evoke the silky, warm trumpet tone of the song’s sweet melody.
The biggest component of the honey accord, unsurprisingly, was beeswax absolute. Furthermore, I added some sweet and some floral notes to give it more of the feeling of wild honey. This is also where I would talk about the jasmine accord, even though it was not a component of Queen Nefertiti’s perfume, as I find this sultry white flower is both a great complement to a honey note, with the timbre of a raspy, deliberate trumpet.
Finally, the orchid leaf accord is one of three fantasy accords, which means they are idealized versions of this scent. Kind of like poetic license, one of my favorite parts of the olfactory arts is that you often paint things as they should be instead of how they are. There are so many ways to translate a note (although sometimes you do want a photorealistic note).
This orchid leaf features the essential oil from the leaf of a Kaffir lime tree, combining the citrus of lime zest with a bright green note, which plays so well in contrast to the jasmine and honey. There is also a slight touch of bourgeonal, a citrus/lily of the valley note, orange blossom absolute and green mandarin essential oil. These elements work together to create a shimmering beauty representative of the song’s melody or even Nefertiti herself.
Kyphi Incense
This is another fantasy accord in part because kyphi incense communicates its scent as it burns, also because I wanted to represent the elements that go into the incense…not to mention the fact that they worked so much better with the overall mood I wanted to set if I used them in this manner. Additionally, some of the traditional items are not able to be extracted or unsafe to be used in a fragrance that is meant to be worn on skin or skin-adjacent.
At first I worked on a kyphi recipe recorded on a temple wall that dated to the era of Queen Nefertiti’s reign. However, after performing more research, I came across a theory that explained that the recipe fluctuated through eras and regions because some temples used the recorded recipes more as shopping lists and therefore only listed ingredients that could not be sourced locally.
In this accord, I included grape and prune notes to represent the wine and the raisins used in the maceration stage of kyphi, frankincense frerena, myrrh, juniper tree (not the berries), sweet birch, green ruh khus (like a rich vetiver), pinyon pine, and cypriol (taken from the cypress tree) and black currant bud absolute.
Jazz Cigarette Accord
The final fantasy accord is this one, obviously. You can’t smell like weed in public. Well, you can but it might not end well, especially on the job. This is definitely a fantasy accord, although it does use terpenic notes that you might find in the real thing. In fact, my starting point was to look up the terpenic content of strains recommended to enhance creativity according to various Colorado-based businesses. However, these terpenes are also commonly found in many other things, like limonene (citrus, especially lemon), nerolidol (citrus, especially bitter orange), linalool (lavender and bergamot), and alpha pinene (citrus and pine).
Additionally, the hemp essential oil is not as sour or dark as the recreational stuff, but rather brighter and more citrusy with a touch of spice to it. I enhanced it with carrot seed oil and leaf alcohol, a watery green note commonly used in green and fougère fragrances. This, along with a silky lavender absolute, creates a smoother, richer note and one that will not make people wonder whether you are baked as a cake.
Base Notes That Grab Attention
The bombastic hum from the rhythm section in the song Nefertiti crescendos as the song unfolds and the melodic line begins to split open. In the same way, the opening melody of the fragrance dissolves into the base notes in a slow and subtle way, with the honey transforming into immortelle absolute (a flower with strong honey and tobacco notes) and Cambodian oud, a rich and honeyed oud wood oil. The citrus sparkle found in the orchid leaf and in the jazz cigarette accord dissolve into a crisp, light vetiver note, while the resinous notes give way to a light touch of dark-aged patchouli and musks that would be of the time of Nefertiti: castoreum, civet and ambrette seed (all three synthetic replacements in order to both avoid animal cruelty and any skin irritation possibilities). This leads to a dramatic finale.
The official note listing is honey, orchid leaf, jasmine, kyphi incense, cannabis, immortelle, oud, vetiver, musk. The extrait will be a permanent addition to the Parfums line, and there will also be a limited-edition, one-time-only run of soap in the Icarus base from Declaration Grooming, as well as our own aftershave and toner.
There are not many scents more magical than those experienced while browsing through a collection of old, hardcover books. Books that have been well handled and have imparted a wealth of knowledge and adventure unto generations of readers. The weathered, brittle paper that has been lovingly turned dozens and dozens of times, the creaking leatherbound cover and the sweetly musky undertone that come from countless travels and adventures that come together to create an intoxicating olfactory backdrop for a literary journey.
This was the inspiration for the second edition of the Side Project Series: Biblio.
At the top of the fragrance is a dry paper accord, a papyrus-type note. It begins with Norlimbanol, a piercingly dry scent that Chandler Burr described in The Perfect Scent as “one of the most amazing scents around, a genius molecule that should be worth its weight in gold; Norlimbanol gives you, quite simply, the smell of extreme dryness, absolute desiccation, and if when you smell it, you’ll understand that instantly—the molecule is, by itself, a multi-sensory Disney ride.”
This works in conjunction with Tobacarol, a scent that communicates the dry, woody notes of tobacco rather than the rich, ambroxan and/or fruity flavors in much of the tobacco out there. More cigar box than the cigar itself. Both of these are complemented by Iso E Super, a note that encapsulates the driest aspects of cedar wood.
To get the musky smell of the degradation that is the result of generations of readers devouring every word on every page, I used the elements that are derived from the degradation of cellulose that occurs in paper used in the early 19th century, as described by the always insightful knowledge base, Compound Interest. In addition to those elements, I employed a good dose of furfurals to really enhance the way an old book, maybe 200 years old, would smell in the current day.
With this skeleton, combined with smaller doses of a variety of different raw materials meant to accentuate the important notes and fill out the rest of the scent, Biblio is a scent memory and a bridge through time, just like a trip to a second-hand bookseller with an outstanding selection of first editions and well-loved literary masterpieces.
Biblio will be another limited edition release in eau de parfum and will be available only at ChatillonLux.com on March 8, 2019.
Weclome to volume 2 of Scent Notes, the new series in which I give you a sneak peek into my creative process as well as my musings on fragrance in general. Scent is such an immersive thing that is so directly connected to memory and the feelings that evokes that I want to share the background and inspiration behind the scents I make.
When I originally created Santal Auster in last year’s aftershave release, I was looking for a particular type of powdery, light sandalwood scents that would linger closely to the skin and also blend well with other scents. So much so that it spawned Rose Santal, our most popular scent. But in the year since it was originally released, I’ve thought quite a bit about how it would be best represented as a fragrance while also developing how to improve the aftershave scent while staying true to the original.
For the initial release in the Chatillon Lux Parfums line, I envisioned Santal Auster to be something that was daringly complex yet seemed deceptively simple: the translation of sandalwood in a moment of time. It is intended to be a sensory experience with the smell of real, natural sandalwood, freshly cut, combined with precious oils of oud, amyris, styrax, patchouli and castoreum creating a unified scent that evokes a hidden, secluded temple filled with burning sandalwood and the types precious oils one would use to anoint the holy and the royal. Applying Santal Auster feels like performing a ritual both with the evocative notes and in that it is a closely held, intimate scent.
When deciding upon the concentration, despite the high cost of the oils, a 30% extrait strength suited the fragrance perfectly. Due to the woody, powdery, incense and musky nature of the scent, it does not project strongly like some modern, department-store-type scents that fill a room, but rather lingers on the skin for the entirety of the day, playing coyly with those who pass by, drawing them in to your allure. Imagine it to be an accessory that you wear all day or something special that you share with those around you, but only those special enough to belong in your inner circle.
The main note in the scent is mysore sandalwood, the classic sandalwood scent that is rich and slightly sharp, but with a subtle underpinning of silkiness, which is enhanced and fortified with castoreum, a nod to the musky pomades worn by ancient Egyptians, as well as amyris, known as the sandalwood of the West Indies. The powdery notes are enhanced with styrax and patchouli that give the sense of incense, not the dorm-room type, but rather what one would expect in an exotic ceremony. Finally, adding the precious oil of oud is necessary to fully complete that rich, complex Middle Eastern flair.
When creating Santal Auster, my goal was to create a modern take on something simple, creating a feeling that escorts you back to another time and place, but also feels relevant and full of life both in the present day and for the distant future.
I am really excited about how the scent turned out and have worn it nearly daily since completing it, which is rare, as I often grow weary of scents during the development process because I spend so much time sniffing them. But even after a year of development, I still look forward to wearing it. Additionally, I have slightly updated the aftershave/toner/salve version of the scent, as well, to add for longevity and projection with some fixatives and the same sandalwood essential oil used in the Parfum Extrait.
I hope you are as excited as I am to share this new scent with you.
Over the past few months, a conundrum that I’ve been thinking about is what to do with ideas that do not really fit in with the Chatillon Lux line. Whether it’s due to the story behind them, the cost of the materials making them prohibitively expensive, or just compositions that would only appeal to a very narrow section of people, some ideas have been left to fester in the back of my mind.
So I had an idea the other that: the Side Project Series. This series will be for fragrances that I want to play with and put out there, but ones that do not fit into either the Parfums or the Provisions line. In order to keep the line fun and low-maintenance (and keep the costs as low as possible), they will have minimal packaging or design and be released in small-batch, limited editions. They will most likely all be in Eau de Parfum strength, as well.
While many of these compositions will be very serious in nature, some new compositions, some honoring the history of perfumery, and some reflecting moments in my life that have provided a great deal of inspiration, the first release will be one with a sense of humor.
The initial release, available on Friday, December 14 at 11 am Central, is called 3SHEETS. It is a fun concept: a night of debauchery. Perhaps the perfect gift for the lush in your life this holiday season. The idea is to replicate the aftermath of a night out and getting, you guessed it, three sheets to the wind.
One of the predominant notes of the fragrance is of rum and coke, the precursor to questionable decisions made in the moment. Additionally, you will smell the smell of fingers that have smoked it down to the very end, leaving that unique combination of resin and stale smoke on the fingers. Finally, the staple of any successful night of carousing, a fast food burrito finishes everything off.
In reality, the scent is weird, for sure, but more wearable than you might imagine. Opening up, you get the fizzy carbonation of cola and pungent rum combined with pine and citrus terpenes with an undertone of cumin. It dries down into a combination of cade, patchouli, leathery musk, cumin, vanilla and high fructose corn syrup. It’s surprisingly classic, melding the Roaring 20s with the almost-2020s. It may not be appropriate for every office, but you won’t be necessarily getting a breathalyzer if you get pulled over for rolling a stop sign.
In the future, look forward to an exploration of the finest perfumery ingredients, classical accords and sketches of the daydreams of everyday life, but for now enjoy 3SHEETS. It will be $25 for a 50 mL bottle and once it is gone, it’s gone.
Although Lamplight Penance does not come out until Saturday, October 13, it has been a long time in the making. On my end, approximately two years to find the right way to tell this story. But considering when an electrician uncovered Henri Chatillon’s secrets underneath attic floorboards in 1967, it has been just over 50 years. And if we really look at the big picture, it all starts in 1845 in the wake of a heartbreaking event during an expedition led by Chatillon that would later be detailed in The Oregon Trail.
The Story Behind the Scent
Henri Chatillon was famous for knowledge of the west, his skill with a rifle, his horsemanship and, most importantly, fluency in Native American languages and ability to strike a friendship with and respect for people from all walks of life. In fact, he was married to the daughter of Bull Bear, a chief of an Oglala Sioux tribe who adopted Chatillon as one of their own at a time when many held prejudice against the Sioux and other Native Americans.
As documented in The Oregon Trail, when news reached Chatillon’s expedition that his beloved wife, Bear Robe, had taken deathly ill, he immediately rushed back to be by her side and was grief-stricken when she passed away. Soon after, he brought their children back to his home of Saint Louis, entered into a marriage of convenience, adopted an understated fashion sense and retired to his farm home just a few blocks from Chatillon Lux’s headquarters.
Decades later, an electrician working at Chatillon’s mansion-turned-museum discovered Chatillon’s rifle and other mementos from the Oregon Trail underneath the attic floorboards, wrapped in a portrait of himself and his dearly departed Bear Robe. Lamplight Penance seeks to recreate Chatillon’s later years as he retired to a life of creature comfort and gardens while secretly, by the lamplight, secretly yearning for the trail along with his past life and past love, neither of which he could ever manage to forget.
Making the Fragrance
This dichotomy and contradiction was the impetus of Lamplight Penance. It paints the portrait of Chatillon stealthily ascending to the attic after Odile Delor Lux had fallen asleep so he could solitarily relive his fond memories by lamplight. With scents of daffodils, fruits and berries wafting through an open window, he would explore the leather and musk of the trail while longing for his undying love, with a burning oil lamp and a glass of brown liquor as the only witnesses to these journeys to the past.
In creating this scent, the most challenging aspect was the burning lamp accord. The fragrance begins with a smoky whoosh and mellows out as it settles in, much like when lighting of a lamp. For the oily smell, natural ambergris and a few other materials recall oil lamp made from whale blubber. This particular ambergris, a material derived from the undigested beaks from a whale’s squid dinner and naturally aged floating in oceanic salt water, was selected due to its highly animalic characteristics that most accurately give the effect of lamp oil
Additionally, the burning wick was a challenge. I considered cade oil, but it is smoky but can often smell like a barbecue. Rectified birch tar gives a woody bent, smelling more like a campfire than a burning wick. Eventually, I tried choya ral, extracted in much the same manner as rectified birch tar, but from a tree native to the Himalayans. Combined with the sweet smokiness of guaiacol and a touch of honey, we now have a burning wick that roars upon the touch of a match.
Finally, for the inspiration of the dichotomous notes of berries, fruits and flowers, I went no further than my own neighborhood to find them, exploring the garden at the Chatillon-DeMenil mansion and local parks, smelling daffodils and seeing berry bushes and peach trees. One of my favorite times of the year is when Eckert’s Farm harvests peaches and they flood the local markets. The smell of peach skin is surprisingly tart for as sweet as the juice that it contains is, and that peach skin scent plays outstandingly with raspberries and strawberries while melding into the green undertones of the narcotic daffodil.
Finally, the leather muskiness of the scent was meant to reflect the smell of the soft type of leather that Chatillon would have used for clothing and on the trail, not the treated leather jacket type. It carries the smell of musky adventure, of coffee beans meant to kick start the day as the first rays of light sneak over the skyline, of the smoldering campfire being coaxed back into action, of his trusted steed, and of Chatillon himself.
This fragrance is the juxtaposition of two seemingly incongruent worlds living, if not in harmony, at least in proximity. This is the struggle to let go of the past and prepare for the denouement of Chatillon’s storied journey, trading passion for comfort and peacefulness and riding off into the sunset.
Scent notes:
• Berries, peaches, daffodils, orange blossoms • Lamp oil, burning wick, bourbon, red cedar • Mahogany, brown liquor, musk
Back before Chatillon Lux was even thinking about opening for business, I began working on my very first fragrance. Fast forward to early last year as Chatillon Lux was celebrating our second anniversary (and even still next year as we celebrated our third) and I was thinking about Delor de Treget. A lot. And I decided it was time to rethink what I believe was a great idea, but an idea that I wanted to explore with the knowledge, experience and technical know-how that I lacked in my nascent years.
To be clear: I am still very happy with Delor de Treget, but I think the realm of perfumes and fragrances introduces a new realm of possibilities to explore within that idea. Maybe I am getting ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning, then we will bring the two worlds together.
With Delor de Treget, I wanted to convey the inspiration I find behind the Chatillon Lux brand and the history of South Saint Louis. I wanted to make sure, like I do with all of my own fragrances, that I incorporated my own personality into it. Finally, because it was the first fragrance in the Chatillon Lux line, I wanted to create something easily wearable and easily likable.
The Delor de Treget accord (orange, grapefruit, bergamot, lavender, cedarwood and labdanum) was designed to have an old-world vibe to it. Something classic and timeless, but not necessarily dated, which is how I view my vibrant yet historic community here in the Cherokee Arts District in South Saint Louis. I did that with a balanced accord that is versatile and full of familiar scents.
Secondly, if you have ever talked scents with me, then you know I love woody scents. It goes back to childhood and hanging out at the lumberyard my dad works at. He would always have me smell the shavings if there was any freshly cut red cedar. I still love the scent and knew I would have to include it in the first fragrance I made.
Finally, my goal was to make something that may not have been the most exciting, but was something that I could see a wide group of people enjoying. Citrus, cedarwood, bergamot tea and rich, resinous scents can be found in the daily lives of many.
However, when considering creating an eau de toilette strength fragrance, I felt this idea not only fell kind of flat, but I also thought I could achieve the goal with the scent I wish I made. One that could be universally liked, even better balanced, not only with the elements but between the classic woody scent vibe along with the fresh, modern citrus scents that are beloved by many.
The structure of Delor de Treget was a little bit of oakmoss short of being a chypre already, and I have always admired the underrated versatility of the genre. It can run from classic and rich to modern and one-million-watt bright. And this modern bent was one that I wished to explore. It began last year with the scent I made for the St. Louis meetup. It was bright and aldehyde-heavy, giving it a sparkling, champagne-like citrus mixed with peach, rose, lily of the valley, vetiver and cedarwood.
As you can tell, I had already begun thinking about this concept before I even knew what I planned on doing with it.
So I started thinking how I could round out the scent more and it hit me: let’s see what happens when we use this framework to rethink Delor de Treget as a fresh, modern chypre, a structure that includes oakmoss, labdanum, and citrus, with many featuring florals. I found myself toning down the aldehyde sparkle in order to focus on how the peach, lily of the valley and rose could interplay with the bright citrus sparkle fizzing underneath.
Usually I find in my creation process that I have a firmer grasp on the basenotes before I move to the top notes. Perhaps going in knowing I was using a chypre structure helped, not to mention that I used a familiar wood accord of vetiver and cedarwood. However, with this cedarwood accord, I tried to emphasize the crackling dry notes of freshly shaved red cedar along with a vetiver that deemphasized the rooty, green notes and focused on the dry, woodiness so it would work in tandem with the cedarwood as a more unified note in order to bring a more seamless transition to the rose, lavender and lily of the valley in the heart of the fragrance.
Finally, in the basenotes I struggled at first to create an oakmoss accord. The International Fragrance Regulatory Association is banning the use of natural oakmoss due to concerns about allergic reactions, which is why many of the bold, musky fougères you may remember from years past smell a little more punchless these days. I created something that was green but not pungent, musky but not dank. Any sharp edges would be softened by same labdanum that I use in Delor de Treget.
I love labdanum and cistus quite a bit, much in the same way that I love castoreum. But while the latter can be a bit too musky, leathery and animal-smelling for some, labdanum can impart a slightly rich, leathery facet into a scent without grabbing too much attention.
In the end, I created an accord that is bright yet rich, woody yet unisex, and true to the original while allowing me to write a new chapter in a book I published back when I was first learning how to author the ideas I had in my head. I am excited to share Eau de Treget with you because those who already enjoy Delor de Treget will find it to be an uplifting companion, while new fans can simpy enjoy it for its fresh cirus vibe that can be dressed up or down, much like your favorite pair of jeans or sports jacket.
On August 1, Eau de Treget will be available through Chatillon Lux, as well as Maggard Razors, Top of the Chain and West Coast Shaving. In short order after the release, we will hope to have samples available through the Chatillon Lux web store, but there is no firm date yet.
Thank you for reading and I apologize for the length of time between editions of Scent Notes. I am already planning one out for the Lamplight Penance Parfum Extrait, but this one will undoubtedly be very in-depth because we are going to have a lot to talk about.
The origin story of Yuzu/Rose/Patchouli is not one of grand toil, but rather grand inspiration. While enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon, I found my mind wandering towards fragrance, as it often does. I began considering the classic rose and patchouli accord. The two go together splendidly, with the deeply round and pungent woody notes of patchouli finding their stasis with the sharp, intensely floral rose in the scent. But I felt like there was something missing and something that had not been explored deeply enough.
At that moment, I had found myself beginning a love affair with yuzu. Yuzu is often referred to as Asia’s answer to the grapefruit. There is a bitter Japanese yuzu and a sweet Korean yuzu. Originally, my affair with yuzu began with the Korean variety.
Citrus is a distinctive genre, and undeniably so, but it can still be quite varied for something so utterly distinctive. The deep, juicy scent of ripe yuzu is something that could work in tandem with a rose and patchouli accord. The sweet note of yuzu could lend its hand to help mellow out the rose and patchouli notes, which would, in turn, amplify the citrus accord.
This scent ended up becoming one of the most popular Chatillon Lux aftershaves scents, but it needed a few finishing touches before becoming an eau de toilette. With the goal of overcoming the fleeting nature of citrus notes combined with the necessity of adding more depth to the rose and patchouli accord, I set out to keep the feeling while creating an accord that creates new nuances to explore.
First of all, I looked to add more dimension to the sweet yuzu accord by adding some bitter Japanese yuzu along with neroli, a bitter orange scent. This creates a richer opening and more complex evolution, as well as creating a fixative effect on the citrus notes in the accord.
After that, I expanded upon the rose accord in the middle, adding elements of geranium to help distinguish the sweet rose accord used in the aftershave while heightening elements that would help it meld more seamlessly with the citrus notes in order help create a smoother evolution of scent, a challenge that is far less necessary in an aftershave concentration.
Finally, I added different patchoulis to the mix in order to enhance the woody aspects of the note, evening out the rubbery elements that lend itself to mesh with the rose accord and create a thicker, woodier base.
The resulting accord creates a more zesty yuzu note, a more complete rose note, and a woodier, more mellow patchouli note to compose a sum that is greater than its parts. For Yuzu/Rose/Patchouli fans, consider this the luxury version of the scent. For those who have not yet experienced Yuzu/Rose/Patchouli, this is the perfect way to smell it for the first time.
Scent Notes by Shawn Maher 