Masque Milano Fragrances(part 2)
KINTSUGI
If you’re interested in Japanese culture, you may already know that kintsugi is a technique of repairing broken ceramics and accentuating the mended cracks with gold, a reminder that greater beauty can be gained through life experience. Masque Milano imagines a potter practicing kintsugi under a magnolia tree, and perfumer Vanina Muracciole includes this floral note as part of modern chypre composition. Kintsugi’s bergamot top note is as bright as gold and its deeper notes are as textured and cleverly fitted together as the pieces of a mended vessel: warm suede, bitter green leaves, a salty-musky ambergris, and more.
HEMINGWAY
Vetiver, a grassy plant native to Southeast Asia and now grown in additional warm climates, is prized for its fragrant roots. In this fragrance by Fanny Bal, vetiver oils sourced from Haiti and Java are paired with piquant rhubarb and ginger and a smooth cedar note. Vetiver smells earthy, slightly smoky, and a little rough-edged; it’s a fitting central motif for a tribute to the American writer Ernest Hemingway, who spent time in Havana, Key West, and the Bahamas and took literary inspiration from their Caribbean settings. Hemingway’s travels have become legendary. We might be staying closer to home this year, but we can always wander through scent!