Blind Sniff Roulette #2: Methyl Diantilis

Cool air at first, little green gems and then here we go, tender dianthus bloom, luminous yet saucy like cloves and it ends in a soft vanilla cloud: in a word Methyl Diantilis.

This synthetic molecule patented by Givaudan in 1987 has been a captive for several years and it has become available only in 2002. I'm happy you liked it because its beauty is once more a proof that what comes out of the lab is not absolutely ugly or unnatural.

The structure of this phenol is similar to vanillin and it has been discovered by chance while researching on a non discoloring vanilla odorant. For its spicyness it is also considered a substitute for isoeugenol (smelling of clove) unfortunately become another IFRA's victim as a potential allergen. In fact according to restrictions it would be impossible nowadays to conceive eugenol loaded scents like Ernest Daltroff 's Bellodgia or L'Air du Temps by Francis Fabron without substitutes. The smell it exudes is so multi-faceted it creates the illusion of a base like the case of the famous Dianthine composed in 1902 by Philippe Chuit and Martin Naef. Of course the olfactory profile is different but also Methyl Diantilis refers to carnation offering its roasted pungency together with floral, powdery and vanillic facets. To have an idea of how it impacts on a composizion, think of Pierre Guillaume's Felanilla where it smooths the sharp medicinal aspect of saffron, or again Cartier's L'Heure Convoitée where Mathilde Laurent used it to smartly dress a strawberry. Moreover here the powdery trail perfectly matches the base empowering the iris with a very ferined milkiness. So bravo naming light colours, tender animals, feathers, coastal places, light fabrics and simplicity, but also a dramatic touch or the decadent dandy elegance with yummy hints.

Alberto
It is an elegant fragrance where I can pick the pungent notes of carnation and slightly smoky of frangipani. Pleasantly unusual nowadays, It develops full of facets yet tidy and decadent to be discovered and appreciated day by day like a neverending research. Surely it is my favourite of the three mystery vials.

• if it would be a colour? Pale green but intense. I've seen by chance carnations of this colour but I've never smelled them. I figure out it can be like this.
• if it'd be an animal? A heron, a graceful animal that can live either in the water or in the air.
• if it would be music? A song from the english praywright, musician and actor Noel Coward: "I'll follow my secret heart".
• if it would be a place? New York in the '40s, a period signed by amazement and the consciousness of being strong yet with a very formal elegance.
• if it would be a cloth? A white linen shirt.
• if it'd be a movie/book? Top hat with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, but also Truman Capote's novel " In cold blood".
• if it'd be a personality (storical, pubblic,...)? Oscar wilde.

Andrea S

• if it'd be a colour? I think this perfume is unique in its gender. What to say, it's a while smell: it's rice, jasmin, a glass of milk and a pinch of powder (maybe iris), with a hazelnut/almond touch, a little bit rough. Candid, sweet, gentle and pure.
• if it'd be an animal? A soft bunny who needs care. Sweet and harmless.
• if it'd be music? Sweet harmony by Beloved. Probably the video influences me but it's a serene song, almost angelic with a '90s sound and the rithm that recalls me something nutty and creamy. A luminous refrain, yet delicate and with white smoke.

• if it would be a place? It's a known smell but I don't remember where I already smelled it. This perfume is a bombonièrre shop decorated in white, cream and beige. The boxes are all alligned on the tables dressed in white tablecloths, together with elegant glass cups full of coriandoli and small bunches of white flowers. There are white capitonné armchairs with big bows on both sides and soft pillows. There's a bit of a country detail though, I feel it, maybe a provençal drawer or a dresser full of boxes and ceramics with bisquits on top and milk bottles, or again an open window where you can see smoke coming out of an old wooden cottage. The interior is warm and cosy. A luminous image but ethereal rather than of sparkling summer days.
• if it'd be a cloth? Cotton underwear simple and innocent, maybe decorated with pink or cream little bows.
• if it'd be a movie/book? The fabulous world of Amelie. A girl following her dreams, living in her own magic world that likes to crack the crème brulé crust with the tip of the spoon. A somehow nostalgic movie despite it's contemporary. An innocent woman living in her magical Paris.
• if it'd be a personality (storical, pubblic,...)? Emma Bunton, since the beginning of her career as baby spice with the Spice Girls till nowadays. Blonde, she has delicate features and a gentle look.

Bettina
The fragrance opens up with the smell of cured ham just like prosciutto crudo, black forest syle, really really smoky. It reminds me a bit of the Patchouli from Le Labo. I did perceive a bit of a fruity note later on. Number one was smooth as silk or velvet but this one is a hard nut to crack.

• if it would be a colour? I see a red just like the red of a fresh cut raw piece of meat, a steak. no fat, just the pure meat.
• if it'd be an animal? The animal is a tiger, fleshing his teeth.
• if it would be music? It's 100% Björk, I never understood her music.
• if it would be a place? It's clearly a smoke house. The smoky crudo opening does last pretty long on me. Occassionally it smells a bit like harsh incense but the smokiness is so overpowering on my skin.
• if it would be a cloth? For the piece of cloth I choose felt. It is edgy and harsh, not soft.
• if it'd be a movie/book? It would be Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.
• if it would be a personality (storical, pubblic,...)? The red queen played by Helena Bonam Carter in the Tim Borton's movie.

Marcopietro
I tried it directly on skin. The fragrance has an enigmatic start that wrongfooted me with the great contrast between sweetness and an almost smooky sensation. I smell also musky sensual notes not at all animal thought and a sweet breath joined from time to time by a saltier note. The result is feathers and baby powder on human skin, flowers (jasmin, narcissus?), amber, vanilla but from time to time I get the vegetal and green aspect of flowers and a seabreeze emphasizing musks. It doesn't pop out immediately on my skin and has almost no topnotes, but as long as it warms it grows coming up to life. Sometimes during its evolution it becomes saltier and smokier, it's like a floral carpet popping out also a grilled meat smell. This is a bit disturbing to me and I don't think I could wear it. I can see it on a woman who wants to look mysterious like a feminine archetype revisited in a contemporary way.

• if it'd be a colour? It recalls me the whiteness of a snowy extense, nothing ici but a place where the sun shines and the reflections of the sky paint everything in pale blue and shining silver.
• if it'd be an animal? A bird with flamboyant feathers, a paradise bird with long feathers shaking with its moves, showing different shades of the dark feathering with intense turquoise and yellow spots.

Paradisaea Apoda

• if it'd be music? Electronic minimalism, Glass or Nyman, maybe a piece from Glass I like a lot: "Changing opinion".
• if it'd be a place? A restaurant in a quite seaplace, a terrace by the sea between pergolas and giant vases with fruit trees and vegetation, lots of light and intense colours: sky and sea through the bougainvilleas and a beautiful woman looking at the horizon.
• if it'd be a cloth? A big hat made of open-work pale straw decorated with a big silk ribbon printed in big geometric shapes. A hat made to stay in full sun in the summer.
• if it would be a movie/book? "Teorema" by Pasolini, when an appearent state of quiet hiding uneasiness is upset by an external event letting the hidden dark side emerge.
• if it'd be a personality (storical, pubblic,...)? Veruska, the famous model, algid german beauty and feminine icon able to morph into a fierce animal as well as still life during a body painting performance.

Ninù
It's a difficult one to me because since the beginning I found it shifty. It develops slowly with an indefinite aura that's not easy to immediately work out. At first it almost make you willing to give up and it wrongfoots you. Nevertheless if you let it grow and melt into the skin, it reveals a delicate sweet nature like a fruit with a tough peel.

• if it would be a colour? It would have the delicate pale shadows of Monet paintings.
• if it would be an animal? It would be a cat. It comes to you looking for cuddles when you less expect it.
• if it would be music? It'd be "Comptine d'une autre été" by Yann Tiersen.

• if it'd be a place? It makes me think of an english salon fin de siècle.
• if it'd be a cloth? A weightless silk scarf.
• if it'd be a movie/book? It would be "The wonderful world of Amelie".
• if it'd be a personality (storical, pubblic,...)? The role of Amelie played by Audrey Tatou.

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