Fragrance houses hailing from Italy
aren’t a novel concept – Acqua Di
Parma has been around for more
than 100 years – but the land of
chic women and steaming bowls
of pasta is having something of
a renaissance in modern perfumery,
with a slew of fresh picks. Altaia’s
first fragrance line, Eau d’Italie,
was created as an homage to
co-founder Marina Sersale’s
childhood on the Amalfi Coast.
“The terrace of the Le
Sirenuse hotel in Positano had
green hand-painted tiles, which
had a subtle mineral smell when
they warmed up under the
summer sun. So we made that
heated terracotta the heart of thefragrance, then added a whiff
of frankincense from the
church and wildflowers from
the nearby mountains,” she
explains. The brand’s latest is
Ombú, a spicy combo of pepper,
cedar and amber. Acca Kappa’s
newbie, Idillio, is a complex
concentration of rose, sage,
cedar and sandalwood.
Italian fragrances, much
like the country’s most famous
beauties Monica Bellucci and
Carla Bruni, have a grown-up
sexiness and sophistication to
them. They’re about full-force
femininity without any
apologies, tinged by sweetness.
Girl power? Try woman power.The pulsating energy of the
world’s most vivacious city has
long been fashion fodder, but
it serves up plenty of sparks
that can be bottled, too. With
a long history of international
immigration, ethnic diversity and
considerable density (there are
currently 8.5 million residents),
you can rely on NYC to be
predictably unpredictable when
it comes to fragrance creation.
New line Nomenclature is
a modern kind of fragrance house.
“Nomenclature is all about New
York,” says co-founder Carlos
Quintero. “When you live in such
a cosmopolitan city, you get to
sample the whole world in
about 300 square miles. That
offers not only an infinite source
of inspiration but also a clear
understanding of personal
space. So our approach is to
be innovative and mindful of
each other’s olfactive space.”
Rather than romantic
musings on raw ingredients
from far-flung places, the
brand celebrates the best notescrafted in the laboratory, and
houses each scent in a bottle
shaped like a flask straight out
of chemistry class. “We celebrate
the synthetic molecules that
changed modern perfumery with
their transparency, luminosity
and iridescence. These were the
molecules that made possible
‘skin’ fragrances: those beautiful
scents that stay close to your
skin, gliding slowly around you,
for your own pleasure and those
with special access to your
personal space,” Quintero says.
Brooklyn-born (and made)
fragrance house Joya bottles its
sweet eaus with no glass or spray.
The concentrated oils are encased
in porcelain and designed to be
dabbed onto pulse points from
a pointed stopper, and the effect
is somehow so old-fashioned that
it’s new again. Commodity Goods,
from its HQ in NYC, produces
scents designed to be combined
and cocktailed, for you to find your
own. Its latest standout is Vetiver,
made with organically farmed, fair
trade vetiver oil from Haiti.@ITALY Idillio, $130 for
50ml,Acca Kappa,
saison.com.au
Ombú, $277 for
100ml,Altaia,
mecca.com.auPeonia Nobile Limited
Edition,$240 for 100ml,
Acqua Di Parma,
davidjones.com.auNEW YORK
ĝȏǰ
$240 for 100ml,
Nomenclature,
mecca.com.auComposition
No.6, $121 for
75ml, Joya,
net-a-porter.comVetiver, $180
for 100ml,
Commodity Goods,
sephora.com.auǰȱELLE.COM.AU / @ELLEAUS 147
BEAUTY