In which Bertrand Duchaufour takes the Orient-Express to bring back a scented postcard from Istanbul to add another chapter to LArtisan Parfumeurs travel series Traversée du Bosphore (Crossing the Bosphorus) is, like its namesake strait, the link between the West and the East, or rather, between cutting-edge French perfumery and its ancient Oriental roots. To conjure the smells of the city, Bertrand Duchaufour has deftly matched two icons of Istanbul, the famed Anatolian leather and the Turkish delight, into a unique interpretation of the leather genre. The leather accord itself is soft suede rather than rawhide: it rides out in the top notes in a huge gust of dry, powdery iris (real orris absolute was used in the blend), boosted by saffron which, like iris, has leathery facets. The tart and juicy apple and pomegranate accords act both as souvenirs from Istanbul the former a quote of the apple-scented tobacco smoked in hookahs, the latter of the pomegranate juice sold in markets and as bridges between the raspiness of the leather and the delectable rose and pistachio Turkish delight accord. Which is startlingly vivid, from the melting, jammy chewiness of the sweet to the dusting of caster sugar.
With its balance between the dryness of the leather-iris-saffron and the sweetness of the Turkish delight, Traversée du Bosphore will delight men and women alike. Go ahead. Take a bite...
Traversee du Bosphore Notes: Apple, pomegranate, tulip, iris, leather, saffron, Turkish delight accord (rose and pistacchio), vanilla, musks
