Description
Developed exclusively for ‘Scriabin in the Himalayas’, ’Himalaya’ is a unique creation, imbued with the spiritual clarity accessible in high and holy places. Inspired by the original olfactory score of timed scent diffusions created by Roudnitska for the performance, ‘Himalaya’ acts as a meditative portal, capturing the essence of the high Himalayan plateau and Tibetan monasteries, with a subtle veil of mystery which perpetually enshrouds these regions.
Ingredients include spicy Frankincense combined with amber woody oriental notes, earthy Indian Nagarmotha and a small quantity of Vanilla, feminised with Indian Jasmine and Jatamansi flowers. To express the heights of the Himalayas and the freshness of the air, Roudnitska added some ozonic and musky notes, which bring lightness to this very rich fragrance. As a result, ‘Himalaya’ lends itself equally to both men and women.
Given its rarity and preciousness, the fragrance can be used as a degustation or a meditation perfume: just one spray on a small piece of cloth or cotton will allow you to follow the scent for hours.
Limited Edition of 200. Signed and numbered by Michel Roudnitska
Himalaya was launched in 2015.
PeSanepefaf – :
I want this. Yet my prayers to God go unanswered. I weep.
милана – :
Perfumer Michel Roudnitska
Synesthesia has made a mark on perfumery thanks to artists like Dawn Spencer Hurwitz and Bruno Fazzolari. They experience scent as color. Their work in perfumery ranges from depiction of their experience (Chroma) to more abstract exploration. The audience can speculate as to what synesthesia ‘feels’ like, but the work doesn’t induce a synesthetic experience. The early 20th century Russian composer Alexander Scriabin apparently wanted the audience to experience the phenomenon more directly. Though it never came together during his lifetime, a days-long performance that incorporated music, dance, aroma and light took place at an elevation of 11,800 feet at the Thikse Buddhist Monastery in the Ladakh, India in June of 2015. “Mysterium” was a symbolist approach to the Vedic principle of divine energy animating and linking all aspects of being. The people present for the event were considered celebrants as much as audience members.
Michel Rounitska composed a number of scents that were integrated into the performance. He also composed Himalaya, a perfume tribute to the Mysterium project. The perfume conjures a cold, arid climate. The chilly, metallic olibanum is aerated with ozonic materials to create a sensation of cool winds. It has light, sweet vanillic tone that is balanced by a yogurty tartness. A floral quality floats in the air but never lands. It enhances the incense but stays in the background. An almost fruity aspect appears when the sweetness inherent in olibanum is brought out. Frankincense is the clear center of Himalaya. All other notes circle it and point to it but they never take center stage.
Scriabin’s piece has some of the early 20th century exoticism that flirts with fetishizing the foreign. I’m thankful that Roudnitska chose not to take an orientalist approach to the perfume. He chose a material that is appropriate to the setting (frankincense) and then used it to express an introspective, contemplative attitude.
Intermedia events might seem like a contemporary topic, but Scriabin beat us to the punch by about 100 years. Whether creating a performance that explicitly incorporates all the senses will lead to a synesthetic experience for the audience is an open question. Hallucinogens might help.
agafon2511 – :
Totally special! I only have a sample but I can smell the elaborated combination of the notes!Very strong at the opening but calms down very quick to a more delicate fragrance.I like it.
TemnijPrinc – :
Sometimes a perfumer’s interpretation of a brief is so spot-on that the intention is rendered unambiguous, yet it can also be tricky to keep a perfume’s name / imagery from shaping associations. The name Himalaya combined with the mountain image on the bottle spins this scent into bucolic territories. But even without the packaging clues it would succeed in communicating its message.
Tricky to summarize, this scent suspends clear, airy incense notes over soft, botanical musk. My guess is that it’s chilled olibanum and moss elevated by a deft use of aldehydes. Woods are present, boosted by green-leaning spice notes, and there’s a hint of a white floral in which indole is bolstered by overripe castoreum. An hour or so in, it becomes a resin-driven amber that’s ventilated with clove. Every aspect of the scent is understated, working more in gestalt to recreate the kind of environmental smell you might find on a hike. Its presence is striking given that it’s not particularly dominant, and it reads more agrarian than clerical. Although there are contemporary strands present, it has a retro mustachioed feel as well. Not wildly original, but impeccably constructed and wholly enjoyable.
bugaev222 – :
Himalaya perfume is rarer than the 280 people who have summitted K2! A limited edition of 200 bottles of 30 ml. “Imbued with the spiritual clarity accessible in high and holy places.”
@jtd – TY for reviewing the scent and “Scriabin in the Himalayas – an unequaled artistic endeavor – would have loved to attend and smell!
Fox-dz – :
Do you remember how much people kvetched about Insolence when it was released? It was The Death of Guerlain. There had been similar raining-cats-and-dogs wailing about a few other post-LVMH Guerlains: Champs Elysées, l’Instant, the entire Aqua Allegoria line. (Guerlain has in fact survived long enough to hear similar complaints about Idylle, Shalimar Parfum Initial and La Petite Robe Noire.) Guerlain responded by creating two flankers to serve as concession speeches to the Insolence campaign. The two took completely different tacks.
My Insolence came first. It acquiesced. It apologized for Insolence’s garishness. It tacitly confessed and asked forgiveness. Edges were smoothed. The fruit got sweeter. The nail polish note was restrained. The tonka/vanillic base was warmer and more comfortable.
Insolence Eau de Parfum was the defiant, ‘you haven’t seen the last of me!’ version. It kept the hairspray, exaggerated the candied violet, grew monstrously large. It called the critics out for being dainty.
My heart is with Insolence Eau de Parfum for its fuck-you tone, but My Insolence isn’t bad. It might have been built for the buyer who thought Insolence required too much effort, but it was also an alternative for the Britney Spears Fantasy wearer who was looking to get classy with some brand affiliation.
Guerlain aimed for greater accessibility. My Insolence is less sharp than the original. There’s less hairspray, less violet, more berry. It’s fluffier, lighter in every sense. A sweet gourmand lemon note levels out the pitchiness of the original. Think lemon mousse or limoncello instead of Aquanet and you’ll catch the difference between the topnotes of Insolence and My Insolence.
Insolence was intended to be a big seller as the Calvin Klein style name indicates. My Insolence pursued the same goal, in this case by aiming to be more of a crowd pleaser. Just as my expectations of a wide-release action movie are different than what I hope for in a ‘serious’ documentary, my expectation for My Insolence isn’t stratospheric. The fruity-floral is the perfume equivalent of the romantic comedy and My Insolence is a solid if programatic offering within a compromised genre.
xsharews – :
Synesthesia has made a mark on perfumery thanks to artists like Dawn Spencer Hurwitz and Bruno Fazzolari. They experience scent as color. Their work in perfumery ranges from depiction of their experience (Chroma) to more abstract exploration. The audience can speculate as to what synesthesia ‘feels’ like, but the work doesn’t induce a synesthetic experience. The early 20th century Russian composer Alexander Scriabin apparently wanted the audience to experience the phenomenon more directly. Though it never came together during his lifetime, a days-long performance that incorporated music, dance, aroma and light took place at an elevation of 11,800 feet at the Thikse Buddhist Monastery in the Ladakh, India in June of 2015. “Mysterium” was a symbolist approach to the Vedic principle of divine energy animating and linking all aspects of being. The people present for the event were considered celebrants as much as audience members.
Michel Rounitska composed a number of scents that were integrated into the performance. He also composed Himalaya, a perfume tribute to the Mysterium project. The perfume conjures a cold, arid climate. The chilly, metallic olibanum is aerated with ozonic materials to create a sensation of cool winds. It has light, sweet vanillic tone that is balanced by a yogurty tartness. A floral quality floats in the air but never lands. It enhances the incense but stays in the background. An almost fruity aspect appears when the sweetness inherent in olibanum is brought out. Frankincense is the clear center of Himalaya. All other notes circle it and point to it but they never take center stage.
Scriabin’s piece has some of the early 20th century exoticism that flirts with fetishizing the foreign. I’m thankful that Roudnitska chose not to take an orientalist approach to the perfume. He chose a material that is appropriate to the setting (frankincense) and then used it to express an introspective, contemplative attitude.
Intermedia events might seem like a contemporary topic, but Scriabin beat us to the punch by about 100 years. Whether creating a performance that explicitly incorporates all the senses will lead to a synesthetic experience for the audience is an open question. Hallucinogens might help.