Parfumeurs du Monde Albedo courtesy of the brand
Where finally gold flecks
began to dance, suddenly
a yellow curd was weighting the churned-up white,
heavy and rich, coagulated sunlight
that they fished, dripping, in a wide tin strainer,
heaped up like gilded gravel in the bowl. Seamus Heaney
Thierry Bernard and Stephane Picquart – Parfumeurs du Monde
How does one begin to delve into this exceptional perfume, a perfume and yet so much more, for herein lies a myriad of discoveries, layers and layers of dissolved perceptions and the opportunity to explore a new horizon. To comprehend its simple, yet complex inspiration it is necessary to touch upon the essential elements of its creators. Parfumeurs du Monde Albedo is part of an outstanding collection, some of which are the works of Thierry Bernard, the founder of Parfumeurs du Monde and others by invited perfumers. Thierry has a ‘joie de vivre’ and a passion for travelling, plants and all their nuanced perfumes. An adventurous spirit, he believes in our capacity to retain the awe and wonderment of seeing with child’s eyes. The perfumer for Albedo is Stephane Picquart who joins the list of notable curators of the portfolio of Parfumeurs du Monde.
Unsplash Evie S
Stephane Picquart is a man who continues the great voyages of discovery of past eras, he is an explorer, travelling remote place, always searching for the perfume of plants and naturally occurring states all uniquely inscribed with the ‘genius loci. As Le Sourceur he travels extensively, discovering the best expressions of known and lesser known plant essences. These are available for interested parties via his websites, Le Sourceur and ‘Behave’. Exquisite natural extractions that constantly fascinate my ever-inquisitive senses. He is a self-described hunter of smells. Stephane and Thierry’s ethos collide here with a magnitude of synchronicity as they place the sourcing of the best quality components alongside ethical practice, working with local and native inhabitants to secure livelihoods. Constantly curious individuals who have now joined forces in Stephane’s first perfume creation Albedo.
Cherry Laithang – Unsplash
One must strain off what was personal and accidental in all these impressions and so reach the pure fluid, the essential oil of truth.” Virginia Woolf
Albedo – ‘The Whitening’ an alchemical stage upon the path of the Magnus Opus – The Great Work. A second stage after Nigredo or the Blackening, it represents the purification of chaos, the washing away of impurities, the bringing of light and clarity to the physical matter and the regaining of an original purity and receptivity. Stephane as an ardent humanist added several dimensions to this wholly impressive perfume. Not only composed as are all Parfumeurs du Monde collection of all natural components, Stephane has built a core around a promise, a promise of the potential that resides in us all once all the detritus of accumulated conditioning is wiped away. A wish for a renewed humanity, one, where old boundaries and restraints, outdated cultural norms and inequalities are broken down and we are left standing in the pure brilliance of the potential of humanity.
Parfumeurs du Monde Albedo illuminates a future, in the dissolution of chaos and darkness into a view of higher aspirations.
Founded there, like Heroes in a barrow
They sought themselves in the eye of their King
Under the black weight of their own breathing.
And how he smiled on them as they came out’
The sea a censer and the grass a flame. Seamus Heaney
Staying true to this philosophy, Stephane inverted the structure of this perfume, the olfactory pyramid turned on its head, beginning with a darkness and progressing toward the light. True Albedo. Here is a misty, swirling departure of Sandalwood, soft and richly woven on this path of transformation. An ancient scent of murmuring prayers and incantations, a green vanilla that coils from my very roots planted deeply in soils bed, rising in rhymical undulations of Hyraeceum and Feve Tonka, lapping at my feet, encompassing my entirety, this oh so essential movement in slow respirations, it has begun. To undertake this voyage, one must traverse the darkened lands of self, to hear all its stories and release them one by one, lightening with every step on parched earth, self-knowledge gathered and sifted, a harvest bought home and only the kernels kept close. To traverse it shadowed corners and unlit plains, it is the necessary voyage.
Thomas Kinto and Rodion Kusaiev – Unsplash
Morsel by morsel as the shadows are confronted and the ashes of former states fall away, released. The scent of a Rose in early bloom, fecund and swollen heralds a dawning, tinted with hues at the edge of a horizon, the far side can be reached from here, glimmers of the destination. Paired with Firetree/ Tasmanian Pepper which aids the clarity of vision and the waxy, unearthly scent of Bushmen’s Candle, unnervingly, otherworldly beautiful. The light is diffuse swathed in clouds of white Myrrhe like rays piercing through thunderclouds, coagulating in pools of light upon an arid land.
Bushman’s Candle – Unsplash
Sensing about me the growing dissipation and thinning mists, reaching for that blinding light that momentarily occludes an outdated vision. To reopen my eyes upon a field of whiter shade, to sense a lightness of being, divested of heavy attitudes and divisive thoughts. A spreading joy pervades me from my very inward depths and shines forth in solar brilliance, Ylang Ylang embraced with Mandora and Orange blossom deliver a peace, a stillness that allows enhanced perception, at last to see as things truly are. In Albedo there is written a formula, not of perfume, not of a chemistry but of an older magic we have forgotten, a transformative capacity, the gentle breeze of hope. A way forward, a clearer path, a humanely trod future strewn with new growth and scented with delicate compassion.
Parfumeurs du Monde Albedo carries within it such beauty and a cipher that when worn on flesh opens warmly and invitingly to this other field, a field of bright kindness and considered actions, untethered love and just deed, this perfume turns the world inside out and upon its head, perhaps it is well and truly time. The individual transformation for a collective future.
My gracious thanks to Thierry Bernard and Parfumeurs du Monde for Albedo, it is a brightly held hope.
Danu Seith-Fyr, Contributor
Base notes: Sandalwood spicatum, Sandalwood grains, Green vanilla, Tonka bean, Hyraceum; Heart notes: Rose, Fire tree, Gowé, Bushmans candle, Myrrhe Omumbiri;Top Notes: Cosmos, Mandora, Solar Ylang, Orange Blossom, Bourbon Geranium
Parfumeurs du Monde Albedo
Thanks to the generosity of Parfumeurs du Monde and Thierry Bernard we have a 50ml bottle of Albedo for one registered reader in the US or the EU. YOU MUST REGISTER OR YOU NOT BE ELIGIBLE. Please leave a comment about what strikes you about Danu’s review of Parfumeur s du Monde Albedo and where you live. Draw closes 8/27/2024
Please read Karl Topham review of Nam Chaa. Enjoy reviews for Les Parfumeurs du Monde Androgyne 16020 by Ida Meister and Brin de Peau here. Former Contributor Einsof reviewed 2019’s Ujan by Thierry Bernard here, his 2018 Val d’Orca here AND each fragrance from the inaugural 2016 collection from Michel Roudnitska (Agua Nativa), Kashi by Isabelle Gelle, Izwe by Perrine Scandel, Tsingy by Thierry Bernard, and Tzundha by Jean-Claude and Eric Gigadot here.
Editor’s note: All Parfumeurs du Monde Perfumes are 100 percent natural and a portion of the sales are donated to Coeur de Foret. The entire collection of Parfumeurs Du Monde is available on Parfumeurs du Monde and Jovoy Paris
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