French niche line By Kilian will launch Black Phantom - Memento Mori, a new unisex fragrance.
A ghostly pirate treasure-ship which forever silently cruises the Seven Seas without wind or air, but with her empty sable sails drenched in perfume - and the eerie clash of spectral cutlasses still resounding from her decks. Kilian Hennessy intrepidly explores these dream-like visions in a unique, surreal & supremely sophisticated new gourmand-woodsy fragrance. He weaves in, too, the dark and ancient concept of the Memento Mori: the death that sits unseen beside us in this life. To enjoy life fully and wholly, just as we love perfume: reveling in a sensual but inescapably transient moment which can be remembered and treasured - but never preserved. If it's dirty, kinky, naughty, messy, or just plain wrong, I want it. Kilian Hennessy Black Phantom - Memento Mori opens with an accord of 'Shin Shin', that fiery drink of strong coffee laced with Caribbean rum that was quaffed at the times of the old pirate kings. But the coffee hides a deadly secret: what appears to be the fragrance of almonds is actually the scent of the bite of deadly sparkling cyanide. A Memento Mori indeed! The aromatic bitterness of the coffee is enhanced by the earthy warmth of vetiver from Java. The intoxicating sweetness of the rum is reflected in the luscious scent of sugar cane at the base of the fragrance, blended with darkly fragrant creamy sandalwood. The result is sheet voluptuous sensuality created for those who live for pleasure.
Black Phantom was developed by perfumer Sidonie Lancesseur.
By Kilian Black Phantom is available now for pre-order at saksfifthavenue, in 50 ($295) or 250 ($780) ml Eau de Parfum.
(quote via saksfifthavenue, additional information via extrait.it)
Oh! My! Phantom! This sounds fantastic! Totally just scanned for the notes btw, cuz that’s one looooong description/ad copy! Haha! But those prices! Yeeeaaaah, probably never gonna happen. -_-
Coffee, rum, sugar, wood, vetiver -> it does sound like it could be great fun! But am reminding myself of how dull the “Addictive State of Mind” fragrances were after the fantastic descriptions.
Yeah, I’ve tried like the first 6 from the line, and missed the last 50 or whatever, so I don’t know any better! Haha! I’ll order a sample of this one for sure! #ignoranceisbliss ^_^
The description was so over the top/crazy that the more I read, my grin evolved into a hearty laugh. With not at, so. I was in a receptive mood.
Probably not the intent but – we never know how we look through other people’s eyes.
Cheers, Robin!
Are gremlins in my phone altering my punctuation?
With, not at, so ——
Agree, if you’re going to do a pirate fragrance, might as well go over the top! Let’s hope the scent is just as over the top crazy.
Observations:
– isn’t Memento Mori the name of an Aftelier perfume? I had not even been tempted to smell it on account of the thought of death and decay that is the eventual ending for all of us (I know it’s morbid but just saying…)
– without my eyeglasses, the thing on top of the box looked like a mouse and the key looked like its chopped off tail
– I will try this when I see it
Yes, it was the last Aftelier.
Here, it seems more related to the usage of skull imagery (esp. the Jolly Roger flag, I guess) by pirates, and the notes seem chosen for their association with a freewheeling, Jack Sparrow-ish pirate life, which is quite different from the more traditional way that Mandy Aftel used the memento mori idea, which was about remembering the departed.