Description
Perfumers Bruno Fazzolari and Antonio Gardoni are delighted to announce the release of Cadavre Exquis, the result of a year-long, trans-Atlantic perfume collaboration game the two played.
The term cadavre exquis refers to the game originated by the surrealist artists of the 1920s. In the game, players collectively assemble words or images to create a poem or drawing, with each player making a contribution of his own while totally unaware of the others’. The result is unpredictable and always surprising. The name itself comes from one of the first assembled sentences as reported by surrealist André Breton: “Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau.” (“The exquisite corpse shall drink the new wine.”)
Antonio Gardoni (Bogue Profumo – Italy) and Bruno Fazzolari (Bruno Fazzolari Studio – USA) adapted the game for perfume. They planned and played their game for over a year: swapping, adding and assembling scents, formulas, perfume samples, texts and drawings. The only rule was a keyword: “gourmand” —a popular sweet-fragrance that has been called “insulting to perfumer’s craft.” It is a category of perfume that neither perfumer had explored.
The result is a challenging, experimental eau de parfum produced and bottled in Bruno’s artisan lab in San Francisco. It is a “creature” made of strangely mismatched parts, a smelly Frankenstein, a “monster” that fights against the obvious. Notes include: blood orange, camphor, ylang-ylang, tagetes, dried fruit, star anise, chocolate, cypress, benzoin, vanilla and civet.
Cadavre Exquis is produced as an artist’s edition that combines fragrant and visual elements, it includes a perfume and booklet documenting the collaborative exchange. The edition consists of a 50 mL flacon of eau de parfum and a signed, two-color risograph booklet with images by Bruno Fazzolari and Antonio Gardoni. The edition is limited to 99 pieces and is priced at $245.
Cadavre Exquis by Bruno Fazzolari is a Oriental Vanilla fragrance for women and men. This is a new fragrance. Cadavre Exquis was launched in 2016. Cadavre Exquis was created by Bruno Fazzolari and Antonio Gardoni. The fragrance features blood orange, camphor, ylang-ylang, tagetes, dried fruits, star anise, dark chocolate, cypress, benzoin, vanilla and civet.
chebotegor – :
I was lucky enough to get a sample of Cadavre Exquis off eBay. I like a lot of what Bruno Fazzolari’s Fragrances and have been hunting for all the discontinued fragrances. Sadly it will never be enough. It is intoxicating. It starts off very strong and then has chocolate, wood, and other smells I can not describe. I own five of Bruno Fazzolari’s fragrances and I would purchase this one if it was still made.
evsandre – :
A boundary pushing abstract and somewhat animalic gourmand, this very strange but beautiful fragrance is the result of a Transatlantic collaboration between two exciting young perfumers. The notes as you can see above are very unique and seemingly mismatched. Yet they somehow come together in this resinous and aromatic juice that exudes a certain warmth and character I have only seen in the Slumberhouse creations (this one has many parallels to Baque). Only for truly adventurous perfume lovers but you guys out there who like Slumberhouse offerings will find much to appreciate in this gourmand with a slight animalic kick ( think of a grand feast with roast meat and almond walnut cake placed on the same table). Hauntingly unique and fun!
dimapetryk – :
The Resurrection of Lazarus by Henry Ossawa Tanner 1896
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Cadavre exquis – André breton,Valentine Gross, Tristan Tzara, Greta Knutson – 1933
Smith23 – :
Imagine using a real dead animal as a piñata stuffing it with candy mainly licorice, some resinous dried fruits and throw in some rotten dark chocolate with very sitff pieces of toffe for good measure that’s the image I get whenever I wear it. It doesn’t smell like anything I’ve tried before. Took me a while to try and put what I smell into words still hard. Cadavre Exquis can be terrifyingly scary or extremely sweet and beautiful (never pretty though) it all depends on your point of view. I embrace Cadavre Exquis scary and all the perfect scent for Halloween love it.
viktorNik – :
I got a sample of exquis about a year ago and then I purchased another larger sample. It has lasted me a while because the perfume is so strong. It really reminds me a lot of a particular mushroom found in Northern California called candy cap. There is a strong Immortelle flower smell, molasses very syrupy, dark chocolate thick and rich with an herbal quality from the anise.
So last night I was putting on my Christian Dior Eau Noire and I was struck by something familiar. I couldn’t shake it and felt like this was very reminiscent of Cadavre Exquis. I looked up the notes and the notes are remarkably similar with lavender being substituted for the cypress in this. There are a few differences, with CD EN being easier to wear,less like a Yankee Candle shop than CE. The chocolate/coffee like quality is evident in both, as is the note of immortelle which is not listed in either one but recognized by many reviewers, especially those commenting on a curry note.
Neo1001 – :
I like perfumes that challenge me to recognize that I am wrong in underestimating them. It’s one of the best things that can happen, better than when you get excited about a concept, list of notes and are disappointed with the execution of it. I confess that when I saw the launch of Cadavre Exquis I twisted the nose for the limited edition and the price, even more for being gourmand. And by irony of fate (taking away my favorite Au Dela Narcisse des Montaignes) Cadavre Exquis is one of the perfumes of Bruno Fazzolari that moved me the most.
To be fair, in fact Cadavre Exquis is a collaborative project of Bruno Fazzolari with the Italian perfumer Antonio Gardoni. The process of collaborative creation within the commercial perfumery is something common, mainly due to the faster pace of the creation cycle of a contemporary product. However, in the independent perfumery it is still little explored and the way it was made in Cadavre Exquis it is very rare. The name of the perfume was not chosen randomly, it makes mention of a game widely used by surrealist artists where an artist can never remove what the other has added and must add something to the project without knowing what was included previously. The idea of this collaborative game in itself is already difficult, however Bruno and Antonio have decided to go beyond and work with a category that neither is very fan: gourmands perfumes.
I see that I should have relied on the talent of the two before twisting my nose, for the experience at Cadavre Exquis is fascinating. In a time dominated by polished perfumes, Cadavre dares to be loud and sweet at the same time. The combination of gourmands with animal elements for me is the equivalent of you forming the couple of a delicate young lady with a hairy brute, but the fact is that the differences of the two complete and they arrange a way to make that relationship work. In the dark, Bruno and Antonio were able to tame the fecal brutality of the civet with the black, dense, sweet aroma of the cocoa absolute. At first, Cadavre Exquis has a scent that brings me to a cocoa liqueur that quickly reveals its fecal nuances, intensifying the dark side of the idea. As it evolves it maintains that aspect and adds an intense note of fennel tea, which gives a third black dimension. At this point, one has the feeling that Antonio Gardoni’s style of composing prevails.
This civet, chocolate and fennel accord is incredible, intense and curiously creates an illusion of a roasted aroma that almost reminds me of coffee. To avoid that the perfume fall into a very brutal territory you have the floral sensuality acting in the background, rounding the edges and using the fruity shades of ylang to give more complexity to the composition. Finally, Cadavre Exquis finishes on a woody base that looks like a blend of vetiver, cedar and musks, a moment that seems to have a strong influence of Bruno Fazzolari on composition. Cadavre Exquis is certainly THE perfume that every person who complains of redundancy in perfumery should feel. It is a risky idea and if it is not new it is very little explored. The only sadness in this project is it being restricted to 99 bottles. It should be permanent on the line of both for being so wonderful!
Telin – :
I have to preface this review with the information that I won a bottle of this in the Cadavre Me contest on Instagram. That being said, I took a very long time to test this and make sure that I review it without any bias for or against it’s creators.
The fragrance itself is exceptionally interesting and succeeds as a playful perversion of the gourmand genre. I’ve tried to review this a few times but have found myself struggling for some reason. Ultimately, I would describe it as a large chunk of dark dark dark chocolate, with some strange dried fruits hidden within, all entombed in a mysterious, ethereal green glow, as if the dessert had been cursed by some strange witch doctor and now emanated a subtly ominous, yet inviting (almost paranormal..) air. The aforementioned aura is something that, when dissected, reveals itself to be a very strong herbal camphor note, as well as a rather bold civet note, star anise, and cypress. As it dries down a strangely nougaty, and a sort of roasty, nutty nuance shows up. It rounds out in it’s later stage, becoming almost lactic and sweet, but with a strange, almost savory (curry-esque) spiciness that is intriguing.
Due to this nature of the creation of this, there is a sort of roughness. It wears ragged, endearingly disheveled, with some strange points in the wearing where an accord feels a little heavy or a little light. I think it works because it was never intended as some expertly blended, lab tested “pleasant aroma”. It smells way more “real world” while not smelling like anything that actually exists. It must be said though, that one might expect something a little bit more polished for such a hefty price tag.Additionally I do feel that this is the kind of fragrance that one would not get a whole lot of wear out of due to it’s strangeness and heaviness (this in 100 degree Florida weather is gonna be interesting come summer..). Its sort of a special occasion fragrance, for a baffling, mysterious, yet also jovial night.
I have been enjoying this a ton and It lives up to the Perfumers respective back catalogs. Theres elements of both of their work in this, and I think choosing a genre that neither of them have really done before forced both of them to get out of their comfort zone and get seriously creative and unexpected. Definitely, definitely worth a try.
8/10
makcik – :
Very interesting fragrance. I get an opening that reminds me of a smokey-foresty-camphorous walk through a forest. Then the most rich, dark, almost pungent dark chocolate note kicks in. Then the camphor reigns supreme for a time, but it is still pleasing. This is not a Vick’s vapor rub camphor smell… it’s more like the real thing, more herbal. After that, as @gloriouslove points out, I get a nice anamalic vanilla (benzoin?) dry down.
Probably not the most versatile scent you’ll find, but certainly a worthy adventure. I love wearing it on a winter Saturday.
Two thumbs up for an adventurous, unique, and ultimately really nice smelling scent!
mazur1980 – :
Very interesting and complex. I love it. I love the camphor beginning, the fruits and greens and especially the vanilla and civet. Extraordinary scent. It smells divine on my husband, and beautiful on me. It is really strong for about 7 hours, then tones down to a comforting animalic sweetness for ages – another 7? I revel in it. It’s fabulous.
And purecaramel’s review is also fabulous! Spot on!
cvitan – :
Camphor like in an autopsie..smells as bad as the name is tacky.I am not trying to attract that kind of attention wearing such a lame scent.
I am staying away from that disaster.
desant007 – :
This is different but not freakish. It opens with a huge, and frankly unpleasant blast of camphor and quickly morphs into chocolate civet with an occasional whiff of something sweet and fruity. This phase lasts an hour or so. After that, the drydown is dry, spicy and has a weird plastic edge to it, which I attribute to the tagetes. The chocolate civet phase projects well and is quite nice though I would hesitate to wear it in polite company. The finish is odd but not unpleasant. This is one that needs to find the right person to be fully appreciated and that person will be someone who is fond of civet. I can’t say if this is more masculine or feminine as it doesn’t fit into stereotypes about either sex.
This is an odd, though successful and well put together fragrance.
Atatoliy – :
It seems after all their efforts to bring all these notes together they’ve managed to come up with…………pencil lead. Pass.
Immorlema – :
Yes! The Cadavre is positively Grotesque. Applyiing it is like Swallowing a gulp of Buckley’s Mixture. It goes on like a sticky Camphourous Syrup. It takes you on a journey through an Arcade with the Greasy Butter Caramel Corn, the Indian Market choked with Fenugreek. There are breaths of the Seyrig citrus that provide a hope. The orange begins to expand, sweeten and turns to the colour of a sunripened Peach. As it dries I am able to rest in whispers of Animalic, Dried Fruit, Singular Spice above an Ambery Brulee.
The spice is reminiscent in placement as the cumin dose of a 1991-2001 Bel Ami and points to the animal but overall this is much sweeter than the Hermes. A tilt to the Anise draws my sense away from any cloyness and elevates this from the start of oily depths of Indian Sweets into the heights of dry Marigold clouds. Altogether Delicious!!!
Cadavre Exquise indeed.
A Splendid presentation of an Artist’s Game.
A difficult wear for most and an acquired taste.
Most certainly it fits mine.
Pay attention to the extraordinarily sophisticated use and placement of the Marigold.
Cadavre Exquise is like my first reaction to Picasso Cubism. What is this grotesqueness? Slow, thoughtful,observation reveals a magnificent beauty.
вввввss – :
Maybe it’s the combination of chocolate, cypress and star anise, but I get a strong hit of coffee in this. And as a coffee addict, trying to restrict my intake to one a day, it makes me happy – a sort of vicarious coffee hit, if you will. It’s a complex beast, but I like it – a lot. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever tried before (and thanks purecaramel for the sample :). It’s a beaut! When it first went on, the civet was a bit strong, but that settled once it dried down, and now it’s kind of like the “hired muscle” of these perfume notes – just hanging there in the background, lending oomph and a definite bit of darkness and mystery and menace. It’s sort of spicy but not (maybe it’s the tagetes?), and I’ll be enjoying that, then I’ll get a lovely waft of sweetness from the blood orange and dried fruits, along with a sort of dusty honey. The vanilla takes a little while to show through on me, but it’s there in the background now too, hanging out with the civet, and that’s what I really enjoy with this – the lovely creamy warmth of the vanilla which is in complete contrast to the civet. It works, wonderfully well. This is definitely not a scent for the faint-hearted, but as a total perfume fiend – or “frag-hag” as my husband says (you’re welcome 😉 – well, I like it. A very definite thumbs up!
Borisevich – :
Eating hazelnut nougat in the herb garden behind an Indian restaurant.
This morphs like smoke around me, and I compulsively sniff myself. I cannot imagine reaching for it to wear often, but it is so different, so intriguing, that I adore it even still.
Chocolate powder, fenugreek, immortelle, campfire smoke, sticky nougat, fresh green herbs, musty basement mushrooms, so much more immortelle. It’s almost the scent version of three course mediterranean food: stuffed grape leaves; yellow curried smoked lamb; baklava. All at once one moment, then in pieces, then trading off, then all at once again.
Do I 245$ of love it? Nope. But the more I wear my sample, the more I consider a decant.
2225947 – :
@alfrarom No, it’s not a monster all, unless you’ve never smelled civet in your life. Then it would probably be a challenging new experience. It’s actually quite nice and “easy” once the civet settles. When I think of monster/grotesque fragrances I think of some of the first Strange Invisible Perfumes that smelled like rotten garage in their openings. I remember those were hard too wait through until the top burned off. This on the other hand, is a wearable scent from the beginning for me. Due to the liberal use of civet, it feels vintage to me, more like perfumery art of the past than abstract, modern art. I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn’t expecting such a wearable scent. In retrospect, I should have if I had considered the actual notes without focusing on the unique backstory.
BlackJack – :
I’ve to say I’ve been a huge fan of this project since day #1. I’ve been patiently awaiting for the final result for quite some time now and I can only confirm that the first aspect that’s clear when smelling Cadavre Exquis is that it exudes passion. Passion for perfume, passion for art, passion for sharing. The passion of people collaborating on something they love. You may either like or not what you smell but, to me, it’s clear enough that the approach to perfumery that both Gardoni and Fazzolari are showing, comes directly from the way they process art in their minds as opposed to dealing with it as a mere “product”.
The perfumers are both pretty well known to the most devoted perfumisti for releasing some of the most attention-grabber fragrances of the last five years or so. Gardoni, the man behind italian Bogue Profumo, enriched the perfume world with gems that now need very little introduction such as MAAI, Cologne Reloaded and, lately, the widely acclaimed Aeon 001 while Fazzolari’s Lampblack and Room 237 have immediately jumped up there amongst my all-time favorites in contemporary perfumery. They gathered together to give birth to this trans-atlantic project that is Cadavre Exquis.
The fragrance is the result of a four-hands collaboration based on mould, samples, paintings / drawings exchanges with only one theme framing the whole project: gourmand. As stated on the Fazzolari’s website, The term cadavre exquis refers to the game originated by the surrealist artists of the 1920s. In the game, players collectively assemble words or images to create a poem or drawing, with each player making a contribution of his own while totally unaware of the others’. The result is unpredictable and always surprising. The name itself comes from one of the first assembled sentences as reported by surrealist André Breton: “Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau.” (“The exquisite corpse shall drink the new wine.”)
So, the fragrance is supposedly a gourmand but, with much of my joy, there’s really not much edible stuff about it. It reads mainly like a cocoa-patch with a camphorous quality up-top and a dark, woody-spicy base with smooth animalic facets. Given the composition process, it’s also supposedly a monster, kind of frankensiein type of compositions in which parts were added to a main body almost randomly but, again, the final result feels incredibly coherent and consistent that the chemistry between these two guys seems to have worked pretty darned well.
Don’t get me wrong now, Cadavre Exquis is not exactly what I would describe as an “easy” fragrance but it’s also far from representing the monster one would expect from the descriptions seen around. Yes, it’s bold (but without being overpowering), dark, sometimes even grotesque but in the best possible ways. It has the typical roughness of most indie / artisanal products but it’s also very clear that this roughness is something inherent to the style of the perfumers involved. Something completely unrelated to the skills of either. Something which is part of a treasured personal aesthetic that belongs to style and self-expression. Something I would probably compare to the artistic choice of a band to express via a rougher sound as opposed to the super-polished / auto-tuned production of mainstream pop. In other words, a visceral roughness that comes directly from passion.
I could go on and on with a more detailed description of the fragrance itself but I strongly believe any serious perfume lover should at least experience this little jewel that transcends perfumery to bring us back the love for the things we do.
Long live to two of the most interesting and kindest people in the current fragrance game.
Rating: no need to rate this. Maximum Support.
GradGuirer – :
It’s not as bizarre as I was expecting. Smells like a cross between my vintage Elizabeth Taylor Passion and an Indian meal including dessert. It’s a civet bomb in the beginning and dries down to a less intense civet, masculine gourmand with lots of dried fruit, vanilla and cypress. It’s very likable, if you enjoy civet as I do, and smells good on my husband.