This is my first real
opportunity to dedicate a full post to the work of Cécile Zarokian, a perfumer
whose work I admire tremendously. She is part of a group of passionate young
noses whose olfactory art in recent years has seduced and dazzled me. Working
within the shifting and evolving restrictions of IFRA’s annual bell-tolling
pronouncements on materials, they choose to see everything as a challenge and
creatively, evocatively produce work that circumnavigates the brouhaha and
still meets Houses briefs or radiates individuality and sensual signature
charm.
I wrote about her work when I
blogged on Masque Fragranze back in December 2014. She created Tango for Riccardo and Alessandro and I
love it, along with Russian Tea, it
is my favourite Masque elixir; it took a few wearings to get there, like
meeting someone you weren’t sure about and then you spend all your spare time
dreaming about them. In my piece on Russian
Tea, this is what I had to say about Tango:
‘The thing that really dazzles me with Tango is
how close the formula smells to being decayed and turned. In my scented travels
I sometimes come across near empty flacons with the syrupy residue of perfumes
lying stickily in the base. These evaporated, reduced, concentrées have strong
vintage odours of creosote, face powder and sweet stale gateau. Oddly this is
what I detect in the powerful drama of Tango…. It’s a tricky balance, the
suggestion of corrosion, whilst surrounding it in swathes of smouldering
ambered ardour. But Zarokian knows her stuff and has produced a scent of fire
and passionate generosity’.
Cécile Zarokian
Cécile’s versatility is
becoming very apparent. She set a very high standard for herself when she
created Private Label for Jovoy, still
I think one of the finest scents in the House’s complex and sensual repertoire
and the personal favourite of Jovoy Creative Director François Henin, who
Cécile credits with sincerely helping and supporting her in the early days of
her career as an independent perfumer. Patchouliful
for Robert Drago’s wonderful Laboratorio Olfattivo is one of the most luxurious
and sexy patchoulis in years, intimate and dangerously addictive. You want to
keep on spraying until you drown in its warm, leathery embrace. The cinnamon
blast at the top is genius, mingling beautifully with the frangipani Cécile
walks carefully alongside the gorgeously rounded patchouli.
Now we have Cio Cio San, the second scent she has
created for Claude Marchal’s rather oblique and mysterious niche house MDCI.
Cécile also made Nuit Andalouse, launched in 2013, a
beautifully constructed gardenia couture gown of a scent with a floating train
of shimmering white holiday drenched salicylates. Underpinning this is a bodice
of violet and orange flourishes that hold the construction together with grace
and delicate pressure. It is a remarkable and perceptive piece of perfumery,
ticking floral and holiday fantasy boxes whilst at the same time demonstrating
an eccentric decorum that is both graceful and alluring.
