Starck Perfume – Peau d’Ailleurs, Peau de Soie & Peau de Pierre

Starck Perfumes caught my attention when I found an article in W Magazine about earthy/dirt perfumes. Heard of many of them, but the Starck Peau d’Ailleurs sounded a little different.  This part caught my eye –

“The other day when I hugged a friend of mine, she exclaimed, “Oh my god, you smell so good! What is it and is it out yet??”It’s Starck Paris Peau d”Ailleurs. And yes, it’s out this week, at Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus. “You smell like backyard!” my friend continued, inhaling with her eyes closed.”

I love earth and backyard smells, and they don’t need to be clean, or they can be. Suits me either way.  So from the marketing materials at Starck –  “Ingredients, a few clues: meteorite; a circular mandala of light and dark; the heart of an earthly material, mineral, amber, musky and woody, whose notes are only revealed at the end of a long voyage. Peau d’Ailleurs is strange, undefinable and elusive. An exploration into ourselves, through the elsewhere and the unconscious, its perfume is also an escape into the infinite territory of dematerialization, where the scent of the cosmic void comes into contact with that of a Terra Incognita.”

The only notes they give for Peau d’Ailleurs are earth, woods and musk.  Sure, that’s close enough! Created by Annick Menardo, this starts off with a much more earthy feel on the open. For those of you that like the idea of an earthy, outdoorsy perfume, but find something that smells like dirt not quite what you were looking for, Starck Peau d’Ailleurs may work for you really well. I wound up liking it tremendously.  My personal preference is for more dirt, but this is a good compromise for when you want that feeling of the outdoors, but get a little uncomfortable with people thinking you might not have washed behind your ears.

Stack Peau de Soie is their feminine fragrance created by Dominique Ropion,in this three-perfume launch – Ingredients, a few clues: cardinal points; unexpected slants; male/female duos that attract and respond to each other; a game of seduction in which ancient and modern raw materials and animal, woody and vegetable notes find a balance. Peau de Soie is a paradox, a perfume whose femininity wraps around a man’s heart. A perfume that adheres and reveals the space between, between the surface and the core, where female mystery is evoked.”  Notes of woods, animalic, musk and powder are listed. I don’t get powder in this, so don’t let that scare you if you haaaaate powder. I really loved this as a straight-up beautiful perfume to wear. The animalic is minor, but lends it a nice depth and interest.    It’s the kind of beautiful Ropion does so well.

Starck Peau de Pierre is their male fragrance, created by Daphne Bugey. Ingredients, a few clues: big bang; exploring a mysterious unknown; gemstones; a woody, almost smoky intensity; the riddle of a synthetic molecule more real than nature. Peau de Pierre is a masculine fragrance that reveals a man’s feminine side. It is the membrane, the symbol of that permanent ambiguity that filters our differences and personality.”  Notes of woods, earth and smoke.  Ignore that male part of it, this is great for women too, lots of vetiver and smoke, veers more masculine, but doesn’t go off the cliff where you will be tugging at your crotch when you wear it.

I liked all three of these a lot for different reasons.  90 mls for $150, or you can get a little coffret of all three in 40 ml bottles for $275.

I have  a drawing I need to take care of from two weeks ago – Heeley Eau Sacre.  Winners are – Nicky, Karen Howe and Christine. Just click on Drop Us a Note at the top, send me an e-mail, remind me of what you won and get me your mailing address. I’ll send you a quick e-mail to let you know I got your e-mail and it didn’t land in a spam filter and then get it on the way to you.  I only check Posse e-mail like once a week, so it can take a few days sometimes to respond there.

I’ll do a sample drawing for the Starck perfumes.  Just comment on which one you think sounds the most like you’d try. I’ll draw three winners randomly from comments!