When it comes to perfumers and fragrances most of us will be forever chasing our tails trying to keep up with the latest releases and newest creators. They come and they go, but many of them also remain slightly under the scented radar. This devilish hint of exclusivity is always exciting when it’s found, and even more exciting when it’s worn, but the discovery is often by chance. That’s what happened on a cold February evening when I was out to dinner with friends. One of them leaned in and I was captivated by their perfume. I had to ask what it was, and the answer was Églantier by Nancy Meiland Parfums.
One of the changes brought about by the curtailment of travel during the past few years was that people actively started to look for new ways to experience unfamiliar locations and unexpected situations. Whether through literature, perfume or music, it opened the eyes of customers all around the world. Shopping local is still a cause to be championed, but shopping internationally also brings with it an added originality. This was the situation when I first discovered the Los Angeles based Ankermade. Their Machine Shop fragrance had been fantastic, so I had no option but to revisit the company and bask in their Cosmic Burn.
There’s always been heated discussion over whether perfume should be classified as art. It stems from a basic disagreement over whether “fragranced frippery” is in the same league as a renaissance painter. Whichever camp you side with, the topic of “perfumed art” tends to accompany the release of scents that are deemed “challenging” (which may translate as unwearable) or those created specifically for an art installation or exhibition. However, the undisputed artistic skill of a perfumer is to translate a concept into a finished fragrance, and that is definitely on display with the finely tuned Machine Shop from Ankermade.
