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Post by Trésor

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“Im a Barbie girl in a Barbie world. Life in plastic, it’s fantastic.”

If you just so happen to be a 90s kid like me chances are you will recognize those lyrics from Aqua’s Barbie Girl, a song which was essentially the soundtrack to my childhood. Much like the synthetic starlet herself this Danish bubblegum electropop anthem immediately calls to mind one of my absolute favourite fragrances, a composition by Christophe Laudamiel for niche concept house S-Perfume called S-ex. Perhaps one of the most terribly fascinating and unconventionally beautiful fragrances in my collection.

S-ex by Christophe Laudamiel for S-perfume 2004

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Oxygen, salt, camellia, willow, skin musk, strawberry, baroque musk, white leather, black leather, pepper, nutmeg, bergamot, wheat, woodsy notes, malt, birch, patchouli, sandalwood, jasmine

I will admit, the opening sequence of S-ex was not an immediate affection for me and I can remember so vividly the very first time I sprayed it on my skin. A glacial surge of metallic ozone bursts forth from the atomizer, illustrating so viscerally a hyperborean landscape of frigid metal and ice. Soon though, this frozen thalassic vista begins to recede into the distance and the breathtakingly sensuous aroma of buttery leather begins to unfold and lend an unusually beautiful tactile, skinlike quality to the composition.

Photo Stolen DeviantArt

Beneath this narrative is where my reference to Barbie truly translates as the underpinning of this sumptuous leather is an accord not unlike the aroma of our darling doll’s trademark plastic. It’s an instant rush of nostalgia for me, and I’m certain for anyone else familiar with this particularly iconic smell. The nostalgia factor is only further reinforced by an rather curious note that to me smells of strawberry flavoured chewing gum that I was terribly fond of as a child. Though this combination sounds rather dissonant and peculiar, something about it is interesting and has kept me coming back again and again for years now. The longer the composition has to develop on the skin the more an astoundingly exquisite kaleidoscope of synthetic skin musks seems to develop and it is within this olfactory symphony that I find my greatest affection for the fragrance. The only way I can can think to explain this is to imagine dancing rays of lambent sunlight refracting haphazardly though the facets an intricately cut diamond. They seem as if they are ricocheting off of each other, ebbing and flowing into infinity. It is within the magnetism of this lustrous  symphony that S-ex fades into the skin completely, leaving only delicate whispers of gossamer light in its wake.

Photo Stolen Pixabay

The sillage on S-ex is respectable but not particularly loud and longevity is significant, closing out on my skin at around 10 hours. I will say, this is not a fragrance I would recommend buying blind as those anosmic to particular synthetic musks might not smell much of anything at all. S-ex also happens to be a fragrance I would wholeheartedly recommend every honest-to-goodness fume head try at least once for I genuinely believe it is a masterpiece in its own right.

Further reading: Bois de Jasmin and Perfume Shrine
LuckyScent has $155/50ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

What fragrance would you recommend everyone try at least once?

Until next time!
Tresor xx