My sin is cardinal when a choco temptation is arround - the deep red Mozart from imperial Vienna and the green After Eight. The trend is green in 2013, high impact green, explosive and sensual. Mint is the main ingredient, but remember there are so many types of plants, crops and extractions. The best type is green, sweet and cool, the best combination of contrasts in taste and scent and several molecular details which are responsible for a high quality extract. Last year, thanks to a visit I paid in a small town, I discovered the source of mint used more than a century ago to supply the imperial court in Vienna The content in essential oil and the quality were the best in Europe at that time because of the special climate and soil - now, the place is not cultivated anymore.
The combination expressed by After Eight, celebrating 50 years of sweet history is one of the most beautiful inventions in perfumery. Easy, but not that easy because the quality of chocolate, the quality of mint and the way they are processed are responsible for the irresistible taste.
Mixing these two ingredients gives an obvious flavor, but the art of perfume is the art of details.
The After Eight accord is at the heart of Emeraude (Coty), a unique combination. However, I insist that only the original formula and the early perfumes had that unique cachet, the fragrance was reformulated since 1930's - I saw only few bottles in the past 20 years which had the original ingredients because they were from the right batch. What people call today Emeraude is the Emeraude reformulated after the success of Shalimar. Very good, but not the same.
With high quality mint, one of my favorite modern creations, MUST (Cartier) can be revisited with the new Firmenich molecules and their fabulous vanilla.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
