Çafleurebon Aromatic Awakenings: L’Artisan Parfumeur Timbuktu (2004) + Iconic Duchaufour Draw

Pep Dalessandri aka The Scentinel with a bottle of L’Artisan Parfumeur Timbuktu

This story doesn’t start with me recounting how my earliest reminiscence was a fascination with all issues scented. Reality is, I’m regrettably late to the celebration in the case of the artwork, science, and tradition of fragrance. However I’m doing my greatest to make up for the ‘misplaced years’. Rising up as a first-generation Australian of Italian migrant mother and father, my smelly experiences weren’t eucalyptus bushes and vegemite. I had lemon bushes, tomato crops, and tiramisu rising up in my very own Little Italy in suburban Australia.

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Embarrassing reality: I used a pacifier till nicely previous my toddler years and the rationale I select to humiliate myself like it is because my grandfather, lovingly ignorant as he was, used to let me dip my pacifier into his espresso espresso all whereas he was additionally having fun with his beloved Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes. So my first two main scent loves have been espresso and cigarettes (surprisingly additionally a movie I’ve but to look at). However my “nonno” was additionally the supply for my first encounter with precise scented grooming merchandise. From the Brylcreem, to the shave foam that I’m reminded of each time I spray Rive Gauche Pour homme, and eventually to the Previous Spice that he used to brace himself for earlier than a hearty splash on the cheeks and neck. In a while I’d establish that my dad was a Brut 33 man, versus my Previous Spice-y nonno. However for the remainder of my childhood the one distinct recollections of fragrance have been the tv adverts for Cacharel’s Lou Lou, and subsequent bottles my mom over-sprayed. At some point I found a bottle of Chanel No.5 on her bedside desk, and by some means I instinctively knew that this was one of many “particular ones”. Perhaps I simply knew of the Chanel status by osmosis however as quickly as I sprayed some within the air, it solely confirmed that magic can exist suspended in alcohol (means earlier than I used to be authorized consuming age).

Quick-forward to maturity. Making ready for a uncommon social operate I made a decision new “cologne” could be extra acceptable than the body-spray deodorant I had been utilizing for years. I’d get one of the best factor cash may purchase from the native pharmacy and odor like one million dollars. I finally selected Paco Rabanne’s Invictus, despite the fact that I may have opted to actually odor like One Million. By this time in my life I had already change into dependent on the web for all my analysis functions, and naturally my first search have been the phrases that now languish in infamy inside probably the most historic a part of the mind – “greatest cologne for males”.

All of a sudden I used to be like a dry sponge absorbing a flood of aromatic data that was at all times a click on or a swipe away. Perfume boards? Devoted YouTube channels? Communities? I came upon George Clooney preferred Inexperienced Irish Tweed, which then led to discovering out about Creed, which in flip led to Aventus (a complete sub-culture of its personal. I came upon you may purchase splits, samples, decants, after which I came upon about area of interest.

Photograph courtesy of Perfumes The Information Amazon 

By way of all this it got here to my consideration that a “Information” for perfumes existed, which I promptly downloaded to my Kindle and commenced my studying marathon. By now, I had amassed a number of decants of varied issues that have been being hyped on social media channels, however I now grew to become concerned with Luca Turin’s 5 star perfumes (by now I had realized that males really wore “fragrance” too).  Not like the current, I’d blind-buy bottles with abandon at this early stage in my amassing, so why not with the 5 star Timbuktu. The consensus on boards was that it was a extremely rated, however not completely protected blind-buy. Evidently then, I used to be beside myself when the parcel arrived. Not exaggerating.

Now at this juncture, I need to level out that I had no concept what incense, papyrus, benzoin, vetiver, and myrrh have been imagined to odor like, not to mention karo karounde. However just a few seconds after I sprayed this on, that was all purely tutorial. I used to be now seized by the precise magic of a fragrance. The power to move your soul to a spot you might have by no means been, and will not even exist. Smelling L’Artisan Parfumeur Timbuktu on my pores and skin was the primary time I used to be capable of think about in 3D, to an extent that none of my different senses have ever been seduced to do. The best way my mouth begins to water from the mango, the best way I can hear the breeze rustling by papyrus reeds, feeling the heat of the solar as I’m mendacity on the earth. All whereas watching a cloud film.

Bertrand Duchaufour courtesy of Bertrand Duchaufour

I feel it was after this pivotal second that I started to need extra from a fragrance than was being provided on the native division retailer. I misplaced my footing on the sting of the rabbit gap, however I’m climbing steadily down as a substitute of free-falling. It was overwhelming at first with the vary and selection of issues to attempt, however Timbuktu additionally grew to become my tour information. I explored extra of the work of its creator Bertrand Duchaufour, I’ve since bought a number of of his creations for each L’Artisan Parfumeur and different homes. It refined my tastes and likewise grew to become a reference for a fragrance’s artistry.

I’d like to finish this story paraphrasing a caption I wrote for an Instagram publish of this fragrance: Just like the place itself, L’Artisan Parfumeur Timbuktu is each actual and legendary on the similar time. It transports me far-off when the temper strikes, and retains me grounded once I want serenity. Love is in a faraway place.

–Pep Dalessandri, CaFleureBon reader, YouTube Perfume reviewer   @scented_souls

Disclosure: Pep’s bottle was his personal, as are his opinions.

Editor’s Observe:  In my 2010 interview, I requested Bertrand Duchaufour what makes a terrific fragrance…his reply,   “I’m positive of 1 factor; time is one of the best decide of a perfume”. And Timbuktu is, nonetheless, after 15 yrs, one among his most interesting fragrances for the Home. Additionally it is traditional Duchaufour.

 Because of the generosity of L’ArtisanParfumeur we’ve a 100ml bottle of Timbuktu for registered reader within the EU, USA or Canada (you will need to do that and use your person title or your remark is invalid). To be eligible please go away a remark with what you loved particularly about Pep Dalessandri’s Aromatic Awakening and the place you reside.  Draw closes 5/30/2019

We announce the winners solely on our web site and on our Fb web page, so like Çafleurebon and use our  weblog feed…or  your dream prize will likely be simply spilled fragrance.