Flannie

Master your seduction

Part 2 of my journey with the intimate scent of a woman on my skin. 

Upon waking after my day with Petite Mort, another sensory universe unfolds, that of David Benedek, this time in the shower with his Parisian Collection body washes.

Can a refined sensory experience through Gris Charnel, Rouge Smoking or Pas Ce Soir rival with the intense olfactive experience I had with Petite Mort yesterday?

Gris Charnel blends too closely with the scent of that woman, still lingering on my skin. Pas ce soir has a rather playful opening. It’s ready to seduce, whereas I’m still trying to rediscover my own femininity. Rouge Smoking is the perfect companion. Cherry, black pepper, vanilla bean, tonka bean, and cashmere wood define the character of this first cleansing ritual since Petite Mort. The orgasm of my unknown brunette (was she a brunette, Marc?) still lingers, ghostly, on my wrist as the gel transforms into a cream and the formula unfolds, sensually, on my skin. “For Rouge Smoking, I imagined a Parisian woman moving through Pigalle in a very glamorous way, in contrast to the brutality of the neighbourhood,” David Benedek explained to me one day. In the Collection Parisienne, Rouge Smoking embodies sensuality like no other.

In the shower, it’s as though you’re wearing Pigalle from a unique perspective, as the water flows over your body and the shower gel transforms into a cream on your skin. The combination of cherry and pepper notes is invigorating. Under the shower, you stroll through Pigalle with a blend of confidence and sophistication, striding confidently in a Ralph Lauren trouser suit, smiling at the dancer entering the Moulin Rouge to change for her show in a different light. Perhaps that is the magic of Rouge Smoking: multifaceted femininity in a bottle. You are a woman, I am a woman. We each wear red in our own way. Your femininity is revealed bare-chested, mine wears the tuxedo like a banner. We are all sisters in seduction while wearing Rouge Smoking.

Amélie Bourgeois, its creator, tells us:

“For Rouge Smoking, David gave me ‘red’ as the colour code to work on a fragrance centred around sensuality. I immediately thought of a cherry accord I had created a few years earlier and kept in my secret drawer, waiting for the opportunity to bring it to life. The body wash contains the same formula as the perfume. This is a point David Benedek always emphasises. Often, with other brands, body washes require reformulation because of their price, but David Benedek is against reformulation. The quality of the perfume is perfectly reflected in the body wash.

Exactly. You step out of the shower already wearing Rouge Smoking, with that Pigalle-esque feeling. Do you wear it too?

Like you, I wear the body wash or the body lotion.

Who is the Rouge Smoking woman for you?

All of them. It is amazing on a man too.

Rouge Smoking has the wonderful quality of initially giving the impression that it is so sensual that it isn’t for every woman, even though, on the contrary, it represents an almost universal seduction.

I like to experiment with accords in short formulations, starting simply and gradually creating something surprising. If I feel that, whilst creating my accord, I’m going further, I add accents.

For the cherry accord in Rouge Smoking, I was trying to recreate the taste and smell of the tinned cherries my mother used to make. I loved her recipe. In Rouge Smoking l’extrait, David suggested going for an even juicier cherry.”

What other sensual accords have you worked on recently with the same pleasure?

An amber accord as the base of Ambre Supermassive for Les Eaux Primordiales to which I added sesame, rum, and vanilla (soon to be reviewed).