Monday 8 June 2020

ESCENTRIC 05 by Geza Schoen

One of the aspects of perfumery that has become incredibly popular in recent years is the desire for information about the actual ingredients that are used to create our favourite scents. There’s a real interest in wanting to know more about what goes into that bottle, and what all of those separate aromas are like. Many of the perfume brands now offer customers the chance to smell the raw materials that go into the latest release, but only one company actually builds a whole fragrance around an individual ingredient. Escentric Molecules has just released the fifth in their collection and it takes Cashmeran as its inspiration.

When Escentric Molecules launched in 2006 it took the perfume industry by storm because it started to lift the lid, in a very public way, on key synthetic ingredients that customers had fallen in love with. Many people didn’t even realise that their favourite perfume depended so much on certain man-made materials, and even the perfumer Geza Schoen couldn’t have anticipated the response. He decided to produce a duo of fragrances, one being solely the molecule and the other an actual perfume that included an overdose of that key ingredient. Launched as Molecule 01, a legendary series was born.

His first fragrance duo focused on Iso E Super, which is a molecule that radiates a scent that can only be described as comforting, and this was then followed up two years later by the sensually long-lasting Ambroxan. Number three arrived in 2010 in the form of vetiveryl acetate, a smoother and softer vetiver with a citrus touch, but it would then be seven years before number four was released. This time Geza Schoen decided to focus on Javanol, which was described as a sheer and transparent sandalwood, and then in 2020 the perfume industry was introduced to Cashmeran.

Geza Schoen is a German perfumer who trained at Haarmann & Riemer, deciding to go solo in 2001. He created fragrances for the likes of Clive Christian and Ormonde Jayne, and his skill at combining the world of luxury with experimental is what's made the Escentric Molecules collection such a success. He describes the Cashmeran molecule as “warm and caressing” but talks of the fragrance that forms the other half of the duo as “the evocation of my summer retreat on a Mediterranean island.” Who couldn’t do with some Mediterranean escape at the moment? Well, Geza has managed to capture it and place it in a bottle.

Escentric 05 opens with wonderfully contrasting citrus and aromatic aromas. You have the orange and bergamot pairing to provide a tanginess but rosemary and laurel add a herbal quality, which puts you in mind of sheltered sunshine. As the fragrance develops you start to get what feels like a combination of jasmine, pineapple, and even the merest hint of cherry. However, that idea of sheltered sunshine returns with a beautifully resinous labdanum which, in conjunction with the Cashmeran, adds a sensuous woodiness. With the inclusion of two previous molecules, Iso E Super and Ambroxan, Escentric 05 really is the scent of dappled ‪Mediterranean‬ sunshine on a wooded walk.

Molecule 05 and Escentric 05 are both available from the Escentric Molecules website at escentric.com priced at £80 for 100ml or £46 for 30ml Portable (pictured). [Samples provided by Escentric Molecules]

2 comments:

  1. I am just sniffing this one. Got to agree Stephan, your review is bang on, and you describe it perfectly, as always.

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    1. Hello Barry, it's a lovely scent and definitely has that wonderfully vegetative quality. Best, Stephan

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