Creative Director Marc Atlan will launch Petite Mort, a new limited edition fragrance, in April.
Inspired directly by the only bodily fluid secreted solely through desire and brain chemistry, Petite Mort (Parfum d'une Femme) embodies the elusive substance that is created by a woman when she is about to climax.
Petite mort, little death, total release; beyond a scent, more like a convulsion of the senses, like a hot, gasping breath that penetrates your memories and alters your subconscious.
An insidiously attractive, sharp redolence, on the fine line between repulsion and addiction, Petite Mort insinuates itself into your veins and your mind. This fragrance is not really a classic scent.
It is more the representation of a spiritual state, based on the paradox of an impossible ephemerality.
It is perfume as art, the olfactory preservation of a moment, so that it may live forever.
Petite Mort was developed by perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour:
Petite Mort’s fragrance exudes an animal carnality with salty hints of sweat and urea.
Amongst other ingredients, Duchaufour incorporated Sulfurol which evokes warm milk, a scent that is interpreted by the human brain as the closest thing to the smell of skin. According to the perfumer, certain subtle ingredients in the perfume are discriminatory, and these notes will not be perceived by everyone. He also describes Petite Mort as “aphrodisiacally compelling”.
Marc Atlan Petite Mort is available in 10 ml Parfum, $1000. 100 bottles were produced. It can pre pre-ordered now through the Petite Mort website. (via press release)
Ack. That is all.
He says Kilian Hennessy was an “invisible facilitator”, which makes sense to me….but he’s outdone even Hennessy on the price.
I second that emotion.
I second that second!
This is the kind of thing that results from having too many yes-men around. Ditto the choice of blackface for the photo.
There is probably some reason he is in blackface, but I don’t know what it is.
I kept looking at the photo thinking “no way that guy is in blackface”. Nice to get independent confirmation that I am not crazy!
I thought he was a coal miner.
What sense would that make? idk.
I thought the same thing. haha
Yup. Coal miner for sure.
Anyway, extreme vulgarity aside, the ad copy is stupid, because warm milk doesn’t smell anything like human skin, and I just made a batch of cheese last week, so I guess I know what warm milk smells like. There are certain amber fragrances that have a distinct warm-skin note, though.
My first impression was that the fragrance formula exploded in his face while he was creating it.
yes!
Anita, that made me laugh and brought to mind all the Acme explosions the Bugs Bunny characters used to inflict on each other or the Swedish Chef accidentally blowing something up in another of his recipes, both of which would be preferable to this ad.
Indeed!
$100/ml. Uh, NO THANKS, leaving the bizarre ad copy aside, as well as the photo of shoes placed in such a way as to mimic female anatomy… (see announcement at Fragrantica, here: http://www.fragrantica.com/news/Petite-Mort-Parfum-d-une-Femme-by-Marc-Atlan-1984.html )
I purposely did not post that image, and now you go and link to it, LOL…
Oh, sorry… remove link if you prefer.
I mean, it’s SHOES, but – it’s not.
No, I was KIDDING, and anyway, we ought not be in the business of withholding information, I guess. Although people would be happier if they didn’t watch that Khloe & Lamar commercial.
Yeah, I want THAT 30 seconds of my life back…
Didn’t feel nearly so appalled by the shoes/hoo-ha pic, though.
Ooh, Mals, you’re giving me a chance to use one of my *favorite* obscure words! The shoes are *yonic* (as opposed to phallic).
(Hey, it’s almost as good a word as *defenestrate* [to throw someone out of a window]!)
And they describe the juice as *viscous*. Ewww and ewww. Imagine smearing viscous… UGH. No thanks.
“Convulsion of the senses,” lol. This stuff sounds cheap and desperate.
I don’t think Bertrand Duchaufour would come up with anything that smelled cheap, but the concept doesn’t attract me.
oh my, Le Prix Eau Faux came early this year!
You’re so right!
Oh bravo! I am completely repulsed by the whole concept. Not even the name Bertrand Duchafour can make even want to smell this fragrance. Let’s see: arrogant, patronizing photo of the “creative director”, a frat-boy joke of an ad campaign, and that lengthy and worthless ad copy that comes from the type of guy who says he “loves women” but really doesn’t know the first thing about them. And then the pricing! Congratulations, you’ve made Christian Audigier look like a class act.
/rant
Well put. That ad copy totally negates all potential this once had to be edgy. Great bottle tho.
This induced nausea even quicker than the “Eau so fresh” douche commercial. I didn’t even read any of the copy past the first sentence.
I’m still laughing over the idea of an “elusive substance”. Nothing I produce is all that elusive.
haha. I guess it would be elusive if he doesn’t know what he’s doing.
So true! Does anyone else have the feeling he’s trying too hard lately? First Amaranthigh, now this. What’s next, Eau des Ovaries, the True Essence of Women?
“Eau des Ovaries, the True Essence of Women” — brilliant!
$1000 for sweat, urea, and warm milk?? An early winner of the Prix Eau Faux, indeed. Dude looks like he just climbed out of a coal mine. And the shoe shot almost made me fall out my chair. Full disclosure: I used to work for Verreries Pochet, maker of the bottle. I can only imagine the jokes that went around the office about this one.
I would rather suffer the Grand Mort than pay $1,000 for 10 ml. of this fragrance. Do people realize how little 10 ml. is? This morning I was at Peet’s Coffee and saw a metal coffee measuring spoon that can fit 30 ml. of coffee…10 ml. would only be 1/3 of that spoon. My suggestion – spend $100 or so on a dept. store perfume and the balance for a night at the Bel Air Hotel when it reopens this summer…a much better deal.
lol
I like that it’s purple though.
Got. To. Be.Kidding. Me. Ick. Not even artisitically interesting, much less appealing. Perfume is meant to smell GOOD, dammit!
***rolls eyes*** (and not convulsively)
hahaha *snort*
Id like to give this imbecile a black eye, but somebody already gave him a black face.
It is purple, that’s the only positive here. Not even Duchafour’s name can compel me to sniff this, like ever. Why do people shower after sex if the smell is all that??
I’ll never forget the shrieks of laughter when stock came in and the beauty advisors ripped open the boxes to find the fragrance inside:
Eau du Coq!
If climax is such an abhorrent thing, then people must really squirm upon viewing Bernini’s Ecstasy of St. Theresa which is widely thought to be a depiction of a nun in the throes of it. But it’s stone so they don’t have to smell it.
I had to check the date when I read this , but nope , it’s still February, not April 1.
Wow. This is actually stupid. Why would I want to smear a viscous liquid on me that costs $1000.00 when I could just pee on myself after sex?
I apologize for my comment, however the concept of this ‘fragrance’ elicited in me a sort of odd outrage, almost as if smelling it (or even considering the idea of smelling it) verges on a violation of privacy. Perhaps Duchafour has refined this to an art form, but I am truly not interested.
I had the same knee-jerk reaction. But your comment above made me think: with the limited number produced and the limiting price, this seems like it would be a great product for porn stars to throw their money at.
I think part of the point may be the outrage. Cause a stir, make people look, make them go “I dare you”. Create an audience that’ll create a demand.
Is it really any different than Serrano’s Piss Christ?
Well, it’s not sacrilegeous, I don’t think.
But the point was to get people talking, to make people stop and stare and freak out a little. Sacrilige wasn’t really the point, of any of the pieces of art that have been branded as such, I don’t think, getting people to examine thier perceptions and prejudices and assumptions was/is.
Just saying that I don’t thing Serrano would have caused nearly half the outrage had it not been labeled “blasphemous” by the so-called pious. “Piss Soup Spoon” = who cares!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! No need to apologize, Sarabeth, your honesty is refreshing and blows away the stink of the pretentious M. Atlan’s hooey. That smug expression on his dirt-smeared face makes me want to mash him.
Even the involvement of Bertrand Duchaufour is not enough to tempt me. If by some accident he manages to turn that insufferably pretentious brief into a perfume worth smelling, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
I just can’t with this. Seriously, I believe the Thumper rule was invoked a couple days ago, so I shan’t say anything at all, but can’t fight the rolling eyes and shrugging shoulders. And I was so excited when I saw the article title. Not *that* kind of excited.
While I would be interested in trying it (I can’t imagine it’s THAT literal) I wouldn’t pay more than ten bucks for the pleasure.
This, by the way, is not the first of it’s kind. A Danish (I think it’s Danish anyway) company makes a perfume called Vulva Original. I would have linked to the site but it’s definitely not appropriate; NOT a site for the faint of heart. If anyone’s curious, just google it.
This is frankly just getting ridiculous! Are bodily fluids the new oud? Even Lady Gaga is promising to bring them to the masses.. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for musk and oud and animalic notes! And as much as I adore Duchaufour’s work and By Kilian’s line, between the tired juvenile concept and the absolutely ridiculous price, I’ll surely be passing on this one.Even gold is WAY cheaper than $1,000 for 10 gms. And given that most musks are synthetics these days anyways (please tell me they didn’t milk the anal glands if a poor Tibetan deer for this!), this really is inexcusable! I wonder, if they don’t want us to smell it that bad (absurd price + limited distribution), why bother advertise it in the first place?
“Are body fluids the new oud?” made my beverage come out through my nose.
Hey, this could be a really useful for those women who claim to sometimes “fake it” in the bedroom! You know, a quick spritz after the fact and voilà their chances of convincing their partner that they, ah, succeeded would be greatly increased.
HA! Love it.
Wait. RossM? Is that you Ross Matthews?
LOL – LaMaroc. I had to google Ross Mathews and no, that definetely isn’t me!
Sorry, I watch too much Chlesea Lately. He’s on there all the time. You’re funny like him, though.
I don’t think he’s in blackface makeup. I think they Photoshopped his picture. “[o]n the fine line between repulsion and addiction,” huh? Is he saying that women smell repulsive? I would be offended, but overall the ad copy is so funny that I just want to laugh. Someone is taking himself very seriously.
LOL. Quoting Charlotte on Sex and the City: “Why don’t you just wrap it in a brown paper bag and smear dog poo on it! “
I totally agree with Sarabeth….this is utterly repulsive on every level
I don’t even know where to begin the snarkification on this. The picture looks like either seriously overexposed/photoshopped, or our Our Hero has had his pic taken right after descending from Mt Everest, and his snow goggles have left a permanent imprint on his noble brow! Uggh.
How shall I delicately put this. If umm female secretions at the moment of ecstasy have a market value of $100 a ml, I really need to open up a new business. I wasn’t aware that there was a shortage of that elusive substance!
Hey Marsha, you make a good point. I really wanted to take a trip to Paris and Provence this spring, but finances wouldn”t allow it. Now, however, I think I may have a new source of income
I’m just drawn to the colour of the juice.
It’s strangely hypnotic.
I would frankly love to try this. Yes, the price is completely, utterly ridiculous, and the likelihood that I will is next to nil. But I love skank, I love Bal á Versailles in vintage EdC, I love the new Rochas Femme, I love vintage Bandit, I rather like civet straight up, I will have to buy Kingdom blind one of these days – of course I want to try this!
The perfume’s version of the Emperor’s new clothes.
ROBIN….We need a unicorn chaser and we need it NOW!!! Where is the Old Spice Guy???
I know, sorry! All I gave you was the pretty picture for the poll yesterday.
I love the comments this brought forth. That is all.
Yes. I came back today to read what happened after I commented, and had to shoo my youngest kid away from the puter:
Whatcha laughin’ at, Mom?
(wiping tears, still giggling) uh, nothing. Go away, honey.
I have you to thank for clarifying that the one photo was… shoes. I still can’t see it, but I really didn’t feel like examining too closely to see how they achieved the illusion. I noticed leather and just didn’t need to pursue it any further.
I just read this hilarious post on the blog “I Smell Therfore I Am”. Almost spewed coffee over my computer screen:
http://ismellthereforeiam.blogspot.com/2011/02/introducing-ultra-exclusive-limited.html#more
This sounds, um, vomit-inducing…..
Not that I’m suggesting that the inner workings of Woman are hideous, rather it’s this man’s smug confidence in thinking that he has the female gender all explained away by dismantling the feminine mystique into basic, sexual definitions. I think we are all a little more than that (so there, buddy!).
I realise I’m pretty late to this, but I had to comment, only just having seen this, the price is nonsense, the pic is awful, and the concept’s been done already:
LA PETITE MORT
Seduction, sensuality, the Act, and the aftermath all in one. The scent of warm, damp skin flushed with the glow of passion, touched by the luxuriant potency of ylang ylang and myrrh.
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab – 5ml oil for $17,50
I know which I’d go for!