THE DEVIL AND HIS PERFUMERS: PART 2

Here are my impressions of the second set of offerings in the series of four Devil Scents  made by three different perfumers, inspired by Sheila Eggenberger's novel, Quantum Demonology. 

Neil Morris Devil Scent #1

Although the opening is not as dramatic as Midnight at the Crossroads Café, it’s still an insistent and unique blast of spicy floral seduction, almost a more restrained version of Midnight. As it develops, it gains strength, becoming powdery and overtly floral, with hints of roses, violets and soft suede leather. Instead of being melodramatic, it’s just calmly beautiful in a strong and reassuring way, like the partner who’s always there when needed, saying “don’t be afraid. Everything will be all right.” As a stand-alone perfume, it’s every bit as gorgeous as Midnight, and I would wear it anywhere, any time.

Amanda Feeley Devil Scent #2

Amanda’s #2 is even more woody and bitter than #1. It’s definitely way out there in a space where perfumers generally don’t go, not even those who make a point of being eccentric. It’s dominated at first by a strong weedy-herbal scent, possibly an overdose of some type of Artemesia, accompanied by a hint of chlorine from a swimming pool, and something dairy-like that reminds me of rancid butter or oily cheese. After a while it becomes woodier, sort of like sawdust, and I can’t help thinking about wet sawdust or wood chip bedding in the bottom of an animal cage, maybe a guinea pig cage. Wow! This is one of the strangest perfumes I’ve smelled. As it develops, I think of an old-fashioned circus, with well-used sawdust in the ring, or a big pile of slightly fermented hardwood sawdust at an abandoned sawmill. The woody scent hangs on for hours, with very good longevity for an all-natural composition. Almost 24 hours later, I can detect a faint, citrus scent on my skin, and I think it’s from Amanda’s #2. This is amazing stuff.

Revisiting my own DEV #2, it’s completely different from Neil’s and Amanda’s interpretations. It starts out with a sharp, spicy barrage similar in intent to the “Poof!” that Neil used to such great effect in Midnight, but of course it’s a completely different “Poof!”, a shower of hot spices, resins, boozy fruit, well-worn black leather, and floral undertones instead of beer and brimstone. By the next morning the spices have run their course, and it ends up as an ethereal, slightly powdery, musky rose and incense scent, like the remnants of an intense night of lovemaking.

I think what both Neil and I did was try to capture the joyous moments of the courtship phase of the story, focusing on the emotional highs while only hinting at the nightmare flashes that were increasingly interspersed among them – horrifying visions and experiences that arose from the heroine’s own insecurities and fears. Amanda addressed those head-on in her perfume, portraying the circus parade of evil things that lie at different levels below the surface, eagerly waiting for an opportunity to invade our nightmares and tamper with our waking lives. Once again, the three perfumes together provide a much more complete account of the story than any one by itself. 

[Paintings by J.E. Millais, 1852 and Egon Schiele, 1890] 

AFRICAN BLUEGRASS

One of my recently discovered raw materials is the essential oil of African bluegrass, Cymbopogon validus. I used it in several of the DevilScent variations, and have come to really love and appreciate its unique properties.

Cymbopogon is a large genus of grasses that were originally native to old world tropical regions, especially India and Africa, but are now widely cultivated throughout the world. It includes lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus), which is commonly used in cooking, gingergrass (Cymbopogon martinii), palmarosa (a variety of C martinii), and citronella grass, sometimes called giant turpentine grass (Cymbopogon nardus). Both C martini and C nardus are used as insect repellants.

Most of the Cymbopogons have a sharp lemony and/or ginger-like aroma, but African bluegrass is an aroma unto itself. When I first tried a small sample, I was surprised by the complexity and musky character of the oil, and I was even more surprised that it lasted over a month on paper. It is a base note par excellence. Yes, its top notes include a sharp, lemony-gingery-geranium scent, which gives way to a grassy, hay-like scent, but these are just embellishments on top of the main base notes, which are something like well-used bed sheets, unwashed hair, dog, and something indescribably dusty-musty. It serves the same function as ambrette, which I love, but I think I like African bluegrass even better when I want a cool, gray color instead of a warm, beige one. When I see published descriptions of African bluegrass oil, I have to think that whoever wrote them only sniffed the top notes from the bottle and didn’t bother waiting for the drydown.

In the DevilScents, I used African bluegrass to lend the scent of a bed that’s been the scene of much activity, and to enhance the impression of well-worn leather, which is especially hard to duplicate using all natural materials. In combination with a little sandalwood absolute, it gives amazing tenacity.

I have to say that my feelings about writing this are mixed, since I wouldn’t want every perfumer in the world to jump on the African bluegrass bandwagon. However, despite the good news that this is a wonderful material to work with, the bad news is that it’s hard to find and relatively expensive. I suppose in the end, it’s worth spreading the word if demand for Cymbopogon validus were to become great enough to promote increased production and availability of the oil, which theoretically should be no harder than lemongrass to grow and distill.

Leave a comment to be entered in a drawing to win a sample of African bluegrass oil and a sample of one perfume in which I used it. The drawing will be on Wednesday, May 16.

[African bluegrass photo from Plant Database; couple in bed by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1893]

THE NATURE OF CREATIVITY: ANALYZING THE DEV VARIATIONS

Sometimes I do things totally by mistake that appear highly thought out when I later come back to what I’ve created and look at it from a different point of view, as if I’m a different person seeing it for the first time with new eyes. Although the thing seemed to develop spontaneously and randomly at the time, I can later see an over-reaching method in the madness. I wonder how many artists of all sorts do this, embedding symbolic meaning in their work without consciously planning to do so? How many of the analyses that are done in school, pushing students to find the “correct” interpretation of symbolism in a writer’s, composer’s or artist’s work, are far removed from the actual facts of how the work was created or the artist’s original inspiration or intention? How many artists, put on the spot by people asking for an explanation of their work, “back into” a perfectly valid interpretation after its creation?

In the case of the different versions of Dev, made for the Devilscent project, I created each one when I was reading a different part of Tarleisio/Sheila’s Eggenberger’s book Quantum Demonology. My formulation of the scents must have been strongly influenced by the story line without my realizing it, because it just occurred to me a couple of days ago that the four versions of Dev form a progression that fits with the trajectory of the novel. I have debated whether I should make these thoughts public, before everyone’s reviews are published, but it seemed like a sort of revelation when it occurred to me that the four versions are not four free-standing and interchangeable alternatives, but four olfactory symbols corresponding to the natural progression of the story. I asked Sheila first, and she gave me the go-ahead, so I believe this will come out in near-perfect synchronicity with her own review of the four Devs in their mandala structure.

Dev 1 could be called “Foreplay”, since to me it seems relatively light, playful, aromatic, seductive, and optimistic, an enticing preview of possibilities that mostly overshadow the dark notes of labdanum (the common thread throughout) and African bluegrass that lurk beneath.

Dev 2 could be called “The Main Act”, since it’s rich, smoky, and spicy, fitting with the tempestuous, up-and-down romance that forms the central part of the story before it’s entirely clear that there’s no chance that anyone is going to live happily ever after. This was the part of the book where some additional perfume notes were mentioned, birch tar and immortelle, so these were added to the mix, consciously or unconsciously enriching it with rough smoke and honeyed sweetness.

Dev 3 could be called “Leavetaking” or “Resignation”. Its muted, brooding, mostly dark notes correspond to the final loss of innocence, after the story has turned really complex and dark and all has been revealed, when Dev and the protagonist both have to face the reality of their situation, move on, and maybe settle for less than they had initially wished for. It’s not strong or passionate, but rather more the melancholy feeling that is present after the mission is accomplished, while waiting for the inevitable to happen.

Dev 4 could be called “Reprise”, since it brings back the main theme pretty much stripped down to its bare bones, without ornamentation. It’s the feeling of having made it through major upheavals that left the characters smoothed down like tumbled stones, stripped to their essence, and in some sense triumphant in their resignation to fate and lack of illusions. The giant arborvitae in the top notes almost brings it back full circle to Dev 1, without any clutter, but with the implication that the cycle could begin again, on a different level.

Stay tuned for a special treat – an interview with Sheila on her creative process in writing the book.

DEVIL SCENTS ROUND ONE

I’m slowly reading through the second half of Quantum Demonology, Tarleisio’s book that started the whole Devil Scent Project, trying to dole it out in small amounts to make it last longer. Meanwhile, I’m busily at work formulating perfumes for the two main supernatural protagonists – Devil Scent pour homme (Dev for short) and Devil Scent pour femme (Lil for short).

There are clues scattered everywhere throughout the book as to what these two perfumes should smell like, especially Dev’s, but actually getting there is another matter entirely. I’m afraid I’m overthinking this project, because I’m not happy with either of the formulas I’ve come up with so far. In fact, I just disposed of my first draft of Dev. It’s the first time I’ve ever done this, since I usually like to keep things for future reference, or to use in something else. It was too animalic, and not in a good way. The problem is that both perfumes need to be larger than life, supernaturally intense and emotionally and intellectually riveting, and I’m still trying to figure out the best way to accomplish that.

As you might have guessed from a previous post, one of my ideas was to use davana in both formulas to represent the shape-shifting, projection-reflecting, highly personal nature of each character’s manifestation to the human world – like the famous snake (Dev) that’s seen with the beautiful woman (Lil) in the picture. Well, it didn’t work as I had hoped it would. The davana seemed to have the odd effect of attenuating everything else instead of enhancing it. I still think using davana is doable, it’s just a matter of getting the right balance and the right effect. I don’t want to evoke any images of snakes, since those are much too retro.

I’m much happier with Lil right now than I am with Dev. At least I haven’t thrown hers away. I wanted to make a scent with a lingering, sharp, almost transparent, woody-musky base, which I’ve done to a first approximation using a combination of ambrocenide, cashmeran, cosmone, and patchouli, along with some other complementary woody-musky stuff. I then added paradisamide for its weird, greenish, passionfruit-like notes, a mix of sharp florals dominated by lily-of-the-valley, rose geranium, and a greenish rose, and then topped it all off with my leather accord, the davana and some ruh kewda. I want to use kewda in Lil’s perfume just because it has such a sharp, earthy, otherworldly, in-your-face character. It’s one of the notes that’s “almost poisonous”. I may add a little galbanum to top it all off, but will have to hold off on that and see how it blends while I go off on my trip to San Diego this weekend, back home on Wednesday night. Lil has possibilities.

For Dev, I’ve decided that in contrast to Lil’s sharpness, his will be natural-smelling, rounded and smooth, dominated by a blend of three different versions of labdanum, the scent mentioned most often by our heroine. I want a strong, sensuous labdanum to pop out as the main theme, the one that lasts from beginning to end. I’ll embellish it with tolu balsam, a church-type incense accord, a few other resinous and woody notes (I haven’t decided how far to go in the oud-ish direction that I initially took), something subtly musky, a good dollop of leather, davana, a tiny bit of motia attar, and cinnamon leaf. I haven’t decided whether to include the “birch” (presumably birch tar, not the root beer kind) and immortelle that were mentioned at one point in the narrative. I might make a second, alternate, version that’s smoky, super-leathery, and sort of sweet. I’m thinking now that I may make a new, more mellow “old, black leather jacket” accord to use in Dev’s formula(s).

I hope I get a chance to mix up at least a preliminary beta-version of Dev before I leave so that it can sit and blend while I’m away, but given all the other things I have to take care of in the next 2 days, I’m not overly optimistic that I’ll get it done.

In any case, now that I’ve kicked off this partial self-disclosure of what I’m working on, I look forward to reading about other perfumers’ devilish plans.

[Lilith painting by J.M. Collier, 1892]

THE DEVILSCENT PROJECT

What was originally a small project for a “special client” has grown into a large multi-media project involving many bloggers and perfumers, most notably Tarleisio of The Alembicated Genie, the inspiration behind it all.

I’m excited to get back to work on one perfume that I have had under development for a while (the dark, seductive side of the dark side), and to start on a new one that is its opposite (the bright, terrifying side of the dark side). Animus and anima. Yin and yang. Delusion and revelation. Softness and sharpness. A perfect challenge for a perfumer!

I’m not only looking forward to the challenge of perfume creation but to seeing how other perfumers interpret the briefs that we were given. How much will each of us who blogs reveal during the process? What amazing variety will we come up with?

Stay tuned as the DevilScent project spawns its creations.

By the way, if you search my blog with the right key word, you'll find the original Devil's perfume brief.