Blind Sniff Roulette #3: Humiecki&Graef Multiple Rouge

Chosing the last fragrances for the Blind Sniff Roulette wasn't an easy task: as you already guessed, the thread of this year's edition were the fruity notes both in Pomegranate Noire and in DK Unleaded, but I was looking for something avantgarde, unconventionally fruity. What a better occasion to talk about the creative duo behind this line of "emotional perfumery" with a personal unmistakable style speaking in a future language? Of course I'm talking about Humiecki&Graef and their psychedelic Multiple Rouge. Created by the brand in-house perfumer Christophe Laudamiel, it is a fragrance inspired by euphoria, eccentricity and fun. Almost like being in a big labyrinth-discotheque, lively fruity notes chase each other fast, wood strawberries, frozen orange, peach and ananas surrounded by sparkling spices (coriander, cinnamon and cilantro) and wrapped up by a glossy fluorescent bubble of floral-ozonic notes over a violet leaves and immortelle base. Bravo! You nailed the mood from one hand for the euphoric and thoughtless aspect (Warm colours or white, tropical places and music like bossa nova, lively animanls like gazelles, toucans and hummingbirds, linen shirts and pants, movies like Paradise and The blue lagoon, Josephine Baker) and for the other hand for the psychedelic, astonishing and futurist aspect (quicksilver colour, animals like worms and snails, surreal places like the rain forest, obsessive percussions, movies like Enter the void and Clockwork orange, Wilbur Larch). Finally let me thank all of you for having participated so passionately, and here are your replies!

Florence
First of all I must say even if I don't pick the notes, I like this perfume and I feel better wearing this rather than wearing Pomegranate Noir, it matches my tastes and I find it sweet and original at the same time, I'd be happy to wear it. It's a pastel shade, almost suited for fall or springtime. It seems classic somehow but it isn't close to anything else.

• if it would be a colour? A colour between pink and orange, I smell a scent of roses but these flowers are a bit peppery, maybe there are some pink peppercorns. We need a bright and joyful colour.
• if it would be an animal? A hummingbird because the scent is coloured and energetic. The hummingbird moves its wings very quickly and the scent is also developing fast: roses, spices fruits... It's like a whirl.
• if it'd be music? "The Girl from Ipanema", I've immediately had this song on the brain smelling the perfume because I think the scent reminds the summer, but not a vanilla or coconut summer: it's voluptuous and fresh at the same time, it's acidulous (citrus?) and a bit sexy (mango?)

•  if it'd be a place? Bora Bora, I have a friend who lives in this island et this scent reminds me the poscards he sends me:  blue ocean (aquatic notes),  fruits  and flowers (maybe some freesia?).
• if it'd be a cloth? Linen pants, the scent is mixed and light and brings some freshness (watermelon?). Maybe orange linen pants! It would be very funny and I think this perfume is rather cheerful.
• if it'd be a movie/book? For some strange reason, a movie from Hong Kong! "Chungking Express". I smell fruits in the perfume and one of the characters eats all the time pineapples in the movie. Association of ideas?! No! But this scent really calls up far, foreign and unknown places. And the perfume is as bittersweet  and fanciful as the movie . The melon and its watery smell recreate also the nostalgic atmosphere of the movie.

• if it'd be a personality (storical, pubblic,...)? Josephine Baker, because this perfume is a bit exotic, of course, but also because it's pretty original, the fruits are unusual in perfumery, these aren't  very  sweet red fruits, I smell melon or watermelon! It makes the scent more mysterious and provocative.

Gretel
Ananas, fruit salad made of citrus and rotten fruits, with an effervescent aspirin in the topnotes of this aroma that seems more of a chemical note rather than a finished concoction. Maybe there are also carnation and vanilla or banana (I always smell them the same way) but this aspirin note keeps going on and on on my arm. There's also a fatty basenote like motor oil and drops of gasoline mixed with yogurt, an extraterrestrial smell brrrr!

• if it'd be a colour? Chalky white, opaque quicksilver, grey like the walls of an old school, something on which there's a world of microrganisms moving: an alien colour.
• if it'd be an animal? An insect like a white worm, the one eating carcasses and banana peels.
• if it'd be music? Futurist music by Luigi Russolo played by bad musicians (or even by a piano out of tune).
• if it'd be a place? An alley under the rain or a ward right after they give out the dinner to the patients.
• if it'd be a cloth? A worn-out black leather bracelet.
• if it'd be a movie/book? Clockwork orange (to me they used to spray this perfume on the set) or Christiane F. and the children of the zoo station.
• if it'd be a personality (storical, pubblic,...)? Doctor Wilbur Larch (opium addict) from "The Cider House Rules", a movie by Lasse Hallström. The good actor playing this role is Michael Caine.

Mauro
A very floral scent smelling of fresh white flowers, hyacinth, gardenia, lily of the valley, ylang-ylang, and ends up with a gentle, slightly animal musky touch. Maybe it's a perfume created for a young girl coming out of her teenage to become a woman. Feminine fragrance, it's light, sheer and playful like a teenager acting as an experienced woman yet it still has all the uncertanty and weakness of youth.

• if it'd be a colour? A white glare, but its light lasts a while then it turns to yellow passing by orange and ochre.
• if it'd be an animal? A young and pawing gazelle, lively and strong that runs fast through the savannah.
• if it'd be music? '80s disco-dance music.
• if it'd be a place? A Pacific island, strong colours, overwelming nature, sea, sun and intense smells.
• if it'd be a cloth? A sangallo lace sun dress.
• if it'd be a movie/book? Paradise from 1982: sea, sun, LOVE!
• if it'd be a personality (storical, pubblic,...)? One of Fontana sisters, Micol, the youngest and most anticonformistic.

To be honest, this scent doesnt really appeal to me, it seems more of a mix of odors without a thread put together by chance; I can't say it's a bad perfume but it doesn't speak to me... I feel it very "commercial" and uninspired.

Memory of Scents
Now this is a challenging one. It is a huge sappy green blast. It smells like the yellow centre of a daisy. About a million of them. Put in the blender. With two truckloads of dead leaves. And I cannot exclude the possibility of a few small dead animals thrown in together. There is a sickening sweetness also in there. What is strange is as it progresses to the drydown the herbal, green, sweet vibe collapses and instead a more technical, inky note becomes evident. There is also a hint of the egg white note that makes Secretions Magnifiques magnificently repulsive. Although none of the notes that I describe are repulsive to me, this is one of the biggest stinkers I have ever tried. It is a "get this thing off of me" kind of stinker. This is as avant garde as avant garde gets. If my memory serves me well, I have smelled this once and it is Byredo M/ink. Can I go wash now?

• if it'd be a colour? Golden-green-grey. Like military clothes. They are supposed to make people disappear in the background of nature but they are highly aggressive.
• if it'd be an animal? A slug. Not that annoying to watch but I wouldn't want it on me.
• if it'd be music? Japanese percussions. Not bad as a general idea but who can sit through an entire concert?
• if it'd be a place? The Rain Forest. Not only huge trees and wonderful flowers there but also stifling humidity and lots of annoying bugs crawling everywhere.
• if it'd be a cloth? Anything in a military pattern. A kimono in military pattern most probably.
• if it'd be a movie/book? Enter the Void (I liked this very much by the way).
• if it'd be a personality (storical, pubblic,...)? Slavoj Zizek, the revolution is here.

Salvatore
The scent immediately evokes happiness, freshness and joy of living: tropical fruits and refreshing drinks on a sunny beach!

• if it'd be a colour? From yellow to orange because it reminds me of juicy tropical fruits, maybe ananas papaya, melon and bananas but also because of its brilliance.
• if it'd be an animal? It would be a toucan: cheerful, coloured, with a funny appearence evoking the tropical heat.
• if it'd be music? It would be a Bossa nova, jolly but inviting to relax and enjoy life! Maybe also Chris Isaak's video “Wicked Game” where a beautiful Helena Christensen is surrounded by the waves and vapours of a volcanic island: the sunkissed body soaked in tanning cream and sand.
• if it'd be a place? For sure it would be a beach in Brazil or Hawaii, some tropical places…Smell of cocktails with various fresh fruits, salt and tanning creams.
• if it'd be a cloth? A linen shirt, cool and comfortable ir a swimsuit easy to take off while chilling under a shower after a day at the beach.
• if it'd be a movie/book? It'd be “Blue Lagoon”, the wonderful Brooke Shields candid, sweet girl together with her boy discovering life and everything in this heaven on earth where all is about relax and peace.
• if it'd be a personality (storical, pubblic,...)? Joséphine Baker, cheerful, exotic beauty with her bananas costume and her naked breast: joie de vivre with colours, music and movements.