The Malle candles. OhmyLord. I’m still pretty blown away by the amount of scent in them. I had the Sandalwood and Cardamom sitting by me last night unlit and had to move the candle because I was getting overloaded with scent.
Update on the Amy’s Country Candle gardenia candle. It is a definitely reasonably priced alternative to the Malle. Had I not smelled the Malle first, I’d probably very content with it. It’s got a nice throw, but the gardenia is a little plasticky. It is nice, though, and if you want a good gardenia, you might want to try it in the tiny candle Amy has just for that purpose.
But we’re not talking candles today. All you non-candle people will rejoice. The nice salesperson at Byredo in Barney’s made me a sample of the M/Mink, their newest scent. Perfume Jerome Epinette made it with notes of adoxal, incense, patchouli, honey and amber. I looked up Adoxal from the link on Now Smell This. Says it’s a waxy aldehyde. Kinda interesting! Not that I understand all the chemical stuff on that page Robin linked to. There’s plenty of aldehydes on the open, which feels fairly cold, overlaid on some very warm notes of honey and amber. The concept was to have an inky smell, which they hit, though it’s not just inky. I’m thinking it’s a little like sitting bundled up in my fur (if I had one) in a freezing cold room scratching off a note with a fountain pen whilst honey is dripping from my tongue. It has an animal elegance to it with some seriously twisted dark places. Octavian has an in-depth review that’s a really interesting read.
I’m happy to see Byredo move this direction. I really haven’t been thrilled with much they’ve done in the last 4 outings or so. They seem to give off the appearance of being on the bleeding edge of haute perfumerie, but not a lot that is very bloody, which is something that’s necessary to be considered “edgy.” I do love a couple of their scents because they have a comfort factor that’s amazing. M/Mink isn’t really comforting in any conventional sense, but it does draw my nose back over and over as it reveals something else in it. As far as wearability, it works for me. It’s not so smutty that you have to apologize to your seatmate on the subway, but it has great, sharp angles in it that provide interest, but not to the point of distraction. Like Octavian, it reminds me of some other scents, though I never seem to have the ability to find which one in perfume catalogue that is my head.
And their ad campaign. These belong in March’s Hall of Smut perfume advertising posts. But they’re visually interesting. Is the black just ink or feathered ink? Furred ink? I keep thinking there’s a Dexter episode in one of those pictures.
So I do have enough of the sampled they gave me to send on to a lucky commenter. Smutty perfume advertising, smart or just dreadful? Byredo, can they be edgy? Or did Pulp and Blanche condemn them to “normal”?
That ad… looks more like a print run that went very, very bad more than an actual ad; I just spent about a minute staring at it before I realized it was *intentional*. (I’m slow like that sometimes, if it’s not rampagingly obvious). I find myself intrigued by the idea of a scent that has an inky note, but given that some actual real ink smells give me blinding, nausea-filled migraines, I honestly don’t know if I’m brave enough to try it! Despite that, I humbly request to be entered into the draw (okay, I’m a bit of a masochist, also… ).
Completely OT, I got the job I applied for while my body was in revolt! *happy dance* I start Oct 25th. Pay’s very basic ($8.50/hr + monthly bonuses if I meet sales goals) but there should be ample opportunites for me to advance in the next two years. Fingers crossed! And there is a new kitten in the house, my first cat is TERRIFIED of the poor little fearless fingerbiting fluffball (any advice is welcome, I’m already planning on getting some calming phereomone this weekend), and my husband’s cat sleeps so much we’re not actually sure if she knows there’s a third cat around. Ah, life :)
Oh, the new kitten is a handful… when she was brought home from an animal shelter adoptathon (she was given to us free, and she had been dropped off earlier that day and no representative had had the chance to enter her into the system), she was *incredibly* sick and parasite-ridden, so much so that all she did was sneeze, sleep, and give the occasional piteous whine. Two visits to the vet later, HE (surprise! Turns out She is a He!) is doing much better and has turned into one of those little energetic furballs who’s chewing on everything in site, knows no fear or enemies, constantly playing, and is the furthest thing from the sweet, sedate lap kitty we thought he was going to be… and I love him. :)
Congrats to you on the job!! That is wonderful news, especially in this crummy economy. I’m currently jobless but hope things will turn around soon. Also, enjoy the new kitty — everything will settle down in your household before too long and you’ll wonder how you ever lived without him …
BTW, I have to agree with you, Ninara, that the ad did look like a print run gone bad — either that or a cousin to one of those Rorschach blot tests :) If it’s not too late, could I also be entered in the draw, please? Have only smelled Byredo’s Green, but a CdG that I once wore had ink in it and it was certainly interesting. Thanks!
Hoping to try La Tulipe this weekend, and maybe I’ll sniff this inky thing too. I wonder whether wearing the latter would bring on accusations of messy penmanship…
I’ve never tried a Byredo (oh, shame, shame, shame) but am curious about Pulp. I don’t see all that much that’s smutty about the ad. Like you, I find it visually interesting.
Inked Magazine ,the only tattoo publication to read, if tattoos are your thing has an article on this perfumer, and the scent, he’s a tattoo fiend, I think he was trying to capture the smell of ink, while keeping a tribal,animallic feel to the scent.
Byredo is a line that I’ve not tried, but I would like to. Please enter me in the draw and thank you for your writing that keeps me coming back.
Well I wasn’t interested, and now I am. Please do enter me in the drawing!
That ad though, yowza. I totally see a Dexter episode in the making.
I’d be interested to try it. I’m fairly indifferent to Byredo as a house — I like some of their scents but none of them enough to justify the cost. Maybe if they came at Fresh prices — it’s sort of a similar aesthetic. :)
When I opened up the page and saw the picture, I thought (not very originally) “What the heck?”. Then I took another look and thought that my employer was trying to censor my viewing, and doing a bad job at it. So I got mad. Then I read the review. After all that, now I’m exhausted, and I want to smell this stuff.
So enter me in the draw, please.
I haven’t had the opportunity to try any Byredo’s but they do seem interesting to me. I actually love the ad – it’s so different and I’m a big fan of love/hate things. I don’t find it sexual at all – it’s art. I realize I will be / am in the minority. :-)
Please enter me in the draw…I’d love to try this!
Oh, it’s not pulp and Blanche that condemned them to “normal”, but their whole porfolio that qualifies them as mediocre!!! \:d/
Do I sound grumpy?
But Byredo is a perfect example of false “artistic” perfumery and real PR… I do like Chembur and rose noire, but they certainly are not masterpieces!
…well, I’ll happily pass on the draw…
I have no problem with smut, I usually enjoy it – but the way the model is positioned with her arms above her head (are they tied?) and her body looking fairly bloodless made me think more of a crime scene. Add all that to her defaced head and with the blotches of ink on her torso and it looks angry and destructive, not compelling in a sexual sense.
Please enter me in the draw, thanks for the opportunity.
Haven’t tried much Byredo but agree it isn’t edgy perfume. And their ad won’t make the perfume be edgy…..
Would be interested in a sample though.
I have never been tempted by any of the Byredos but this one sounds interesting and I would love to try it. Thanks.
Donna
I usually find overly smutty perfume ads ridiculous, but I’m actually liking this one. I think it’s intriguing and kind of compelling. At this point I think I’ll go for anything that isn’t just an unrealistically pretty model with a come-hither look on her face.
Sounds interesting. And anything with such a cool porno ad draws my slutty side at once.
I’m a Byredo fan- and would love a bottle of Pulp (makes me laugh) and Bal D’afrique if they fell from the sky :) Haven’t tried them all and would like to sniff this…
I tried Gypsy Water, Pulp, and Green, thinking I’d love at least one of them, and I liked them enough for sampling but no love. But I really want to try M/Mink, so please enter me in the draw!
like others on here I was intrigued by the photo at first – bone? driftwood?
then I saw it was the standard ‘nekkid torso with obliterated face’ and it went to :-<, then zzzzzzzz which is worse, from a marketing aspect, than outrage.
No draw for me – just wanted to throw in my two >-) cents here.
xo
I don’t think Byredo is going to be thought of as edgy any time soon, but I must admit this one sounds like it might be worth a go. I gave up on Byredo after Pulp, but I’m interested enough in this to want to be in the draw.
Patty, please enter me in the drawing. I’m still loving Gypsy Water – I wear it a lot. I must be in serious need of comforting these days! Are you still liking Tulipe? It didn’t do much for me . .
Have only tried pulp. It was ok. Gypsy water sounded nice. Don’t really love disembodied torsos with “stuff” dumped artfully around…that’s kind of negative, right? :-w I don’t think of this brand as edgy. But they don’t seem completely banal either.
I looked and looked and looked at that photo before even reading the post – couldn’t make out what it was a picture OF. It took me until the very last paragraph to figure out, OH, that’s the M/Mink ad, OH now I geddit.
Once I did figure it out, I was glad to be home instead of at work. I don’t think the photo is particularly smutty in itself, but I’ll admit to being seriously disturbed by the obliteration of the model’s face. The more I look at it, the more it’s upsetting me: someone’s defaced the photo, literally, with ink, and we can see the model’s perky boobs but not her face? This is actually making me fairly angry, so I’m going to stop looking at it now.
I don’t really have any opinion on ByRedo’s place in the marketing universe. I liked Green but did not love it; Blanche had me snoring; Pulp was a big ol’ sticky melted frozen fruit bar – fascinating, but I don’t want to smell like it. I am fond of aldehydes, though, and misogynistic ads notwithstanding, would like to smell M/Mink.
I really wish you hadn’t mentioned the sandalwood candle. Although I can’t even begin to pay $165.00 (or whichever price you said) for a candle, I am a sandalwood whore, and I’ll probably be thinking about it all day. :-)
Have not tried any of this line. Sob. Sniff. Boo Hoo.
As for their sexed up ad it just begs for a closer look. And I’m left clueless. Why the nudity? The usual ‘sex sells’ is a redundant message I’m tired of seeing. I’m no prude, but …..
Belongs in the Hall of Smut for sure.
I love Pulp, I think it is kind of edgy, not in a weird way, but a big way. It’s big, over-the-top….well maybe it’s not really edgy, but is it different. I agree with you that Byredo might like to project edgy, but most of their stuff is not. Gyspy Water is a great comfort scent, but not edgy. I would love to try M/Mink it sounds different than the other Byredo’s I’ve tried.
I really like their ad campaign. It definitely draws your eyes in. I think at first it is hard to make sense of what your seeing. At least its not some celebrity model standing on a windy beach in a flowing white gown or walking somewhere in Paris.
Frankly, I love smut when it’s interesting and/or visually appealing, but then I’m a huge fan of John Willie and Jan Saudek, among others, so my main beef with this kind of perfume advertising tends to be that it’s unimaginative, cheap, heteronormative and just plain boring rather than too smutty.
I rather liked Bal d’Afrique, and Baudelaire had this strange, hairy/furry animalic facet to it that on my skin reminded me of the smell you get when you file or saw horn – slightly unpleasant and unsettling, but interesting. I’d say promising, but no cigar so far?
Would love to be entered in the draw!
I have tried several Byredos and I only love La Tulipe, Palermo and Fantastic Man (I love this one on my boyfriend, but it has very poor staying power). However, I think they are too pricey.
So far I don’t think they are edgy, but M/Mink sounds quite bizarre and enigmatic. I don’t know if I would like it, the ink note could be “too much” for me, but I usually love honey on perfumes. I would love to try it. I’m very intrigued.
Please, enter me in the draw :) Thank you!
I am very interested in M/Mink! It sounds like a great new direction for Byredo, who so far have proven a great disappointment. Of the ones I’ve worn, Pulp was okay ( if you like bumbleberry pie ), Blanche was bland squared, and Fantastic Man was forgettable. Byredo really needs to do something others haven’t done better, and this could be it. ( Don’t know yet – please enter me in the draw! )
As for smutty? Sex sells – I have no issue with it, though it won’t work on me. These new Byredo ads disturb me, though, I’ll admit. They don’t scream sex, they scream “crime scene”. They certainly make you look twice, so I guess they’re clever in that sense.
Hallo Patty, pls enter me in the drawing, I have tested all Byredos so far and would like also this one, thx.
As a writer, how can I not try something called M/M Ink? (Despite the spacing issue, mink has nothing to do with it.) After a lot of shrugging over expert descriptions–especially when temperatures and geography is thrown in–I’ve decided to sniff this one. I like Comme des Garçons sumi ink fragrance, why not give this a sniff? I’m the only one who likes La Tulipe, so I’m venturing forth!
No, I like it too! I have been very :-< on most Byredos – Chembur was like sour lemonade and milk to my nose and Pulp gave me a headache. I think Tulipe was nice – not bottle-worthy but nice.
xo >-)
The only Byredo I’ve tried is Chembur; on me, it was sour and thin. M/Mink sounds interesting, though, and I’d love to try it. I don’t pay too much attention to perfume ads, but I kind of like this one because it’s a bit dark.
I tried M/Mink last week at Barneys, and kind of liked it. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a sample made. According to the SA, Byredo is not making available any samples any more, for some reason.
Of other Byredos I’ve tried, I liked Baudelaire, and have been considering maybe a full bottle at some point. I know Baudelaire doesn’t get much love, but for some reason, I like it. The citruses I thought nice (Pulp and Palermo), but, $200 for a citrus? I dunno….. Anyway, M/Mink might be bottle worthy as well, after more investigation….
furriner,
Are you going to the LeLabo Chicago release today? If so, please report back – I’m in the hinterlands, up to my neck in work (praise FLOYD!) and cannot attend. From all info, it seems this one is a winnah! 2-3p today and I think something like 11-1 tomorrow.
xo >-)
Lydia called me this morning and told me about this. I can’t make it today or tomorrow. I had been hoping I would make it today, but it’s already 3. Tomorrow I am working all day until 1030 pm…. rats! Baie Rose 26? I’ll have to try and make it over the weekend.
Crap! well – once you get over there please report back, will you? It’ll be awhile before I can get back there and it sounds either Very Fabulous or ….
xo >-)
Can you email me? Maybe I can try and get off work tomorrow morning and head to Barneys…. Won’t know until tomorrow morning, though….
I could…but I dunno your email. Click on my name and email me –
xo >-)