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Post by Trésor

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It is this time of year when I most like to indulge myself in longing daydreams of summertime sunlight and balmy afternoons passed to combat what seems to be a lifetime sentence within a glacial dimension of never-ending ice and snow, otherwise known as a typical Canadian winter. I imagine myself not far off, lounging in tranquility on the crystalline white sands of the Maldives but within the splendid embrace of an evening’s breeze on a midsummer’s stroll through the forest behind my home. The exquisite fragrance of the trees dancing a gossamer tango with the vapours of an eau de cologne I’d lavishly splashed prior to my departure, unifying in paradisiacal harmony and guiding me so gracefully through my frost-bound reality. It is within the vitreous sapphire flacon of Atelier Cologne’s new Cédre Atlas where perfumer Jerome Epinette has mirrored this dream sequence so effortlessly, an olfactory time machine into one of my most treasured escapes.

Cédre Atlas by Jerome Epinette for Atelier Cologne 2015

Photo Stolen Sephora

BaseNotes gives these featured accords:
Top: Lemon, Bergamot, Blackcurrant bud
Heart: Atlas cedarwood, Egyptian jasmine, Apricot
Base: White amber, Indian papyrus, Haitian vetiver

Cédre Atlas opens on my skin with the most ebullient note of radiant lemon underscored ever so slightly by a gentle whisper of bitter bergamot. It is not long after the initial burst of lustrous citrine that cedar begins to take centre stage. The cedar in Cédre Atlas has been executed with such visceral clarity and grows increasingly powerful the longer it spends on the skin, pushing my personal boundaries of what I would consider to be “too much” without ever actually crossing the line. I find this bit particularly fascinating and if I am being honest it is quickly becoming my favourite use of cedar I have ever encountered in a fragrance, forceful but delicate; a dichotomy and harmonious synchronicity. After about the sixth hour the cedar begins to ebb and flourishing jasmine petals descend upon the composition and make way for a sweet juxtaposition of juicy apricot painted in empyreal watercolour. The extreme dry down reveals silken tendrils of vetiver enraptured within a sensuous veil of soft, transparent amber. It is within this graceful descent that the composition becomes a skin scent and then finally becomes but a sublime memory.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

The sillage with Cédre Atlas is subtle but most certainly present, hovering around you as a soft cloud of aromatic cirrus. Longevity is what I think impressed me most, managing to cling to my skin for upwards of ten hours and finally dissipating entirely around twelve, an attribute I find rather impressive not only with this fragrance but with most of the offerings within the entirety of the Atelier Cologne range. I urge you to give Cédre Atlas a go if you are looking to experience a cedar note executed with both dynamism and grace or simply wish to take an alternative route to reliving a state of summertime bliss.

Photo Stolen DeviantArt

Further reading: Colognoisseur and Now Smell This
Sephora has $125/200ml
PeonyMelbourne doesn’t have it yet but I’m sure they will soon!

Do you have a favourite Atelier Cologne? Which and why?

Until next time, my darlings!
Trésor xx