Act II, Scene III
Inner monologues. (Homage to) Hemingway. ‘His eyes were the same colour as the sea, and they were cheerful and undefeated.’ (E. Hemingway). Interpreted by Fanny Bal. Pure, bright vetiver. Caribbean atmosphere.
When the creators of Masque Milano were working with IFF on the development of one of their previous fragrances, they heard about Fanny Bal, a young and promising student of Dominique Ropion (the master of vetiver). They heard about her talent and especially her penchant for working with a raw material such as vetiver, which is both beautiful and difficult. They knew then that they had found the next perfumer they wanted to work with. Working with Fanny, they had the pleasure of experimenting with one of their favourite ingredients – vetiver – in all the variations available in the wonderful fragrance library LMR (Laboratoire Monique Remy). They worked on balancing three different versions: vetiver from Haiti, woody, dry and spicy with a slight bitterness at the beginning that blends perfectly with the rhubarb note. Vetiver from Java is dirtier, with smoky notes and leathery facets. ‘Vetiver Heart’* is a fantastic raw material, producing a clean and dry vetiver note without any earthiness. With their Masque Milano line, they were known for discovering young noses who, after working together, developed a whole range of successful niche fragrances. ‘We wish Fanny the same meteoric rise, because she definitely deserves it!’
*Steam distillation followed by fractional distillation to isolate the heart.
‘Our short message is an ode to a raw material we love – vetiver – and to a writer who inspired us both – Ernest Hemingway. We were looking for a perfumer with the right qualities for this creation when we heard about a promising young perfumer named Fanny Bal during a visit to IFF in Paris. That was in early 2017. During our research, we discovered that Fanny was a protégé of Dominique Ropion (famous for his Vetiver Extraordinaire...) and was herself passionate about vetiver. When we met her, it was definitely love at first sight. In her own words: ‘When I first met Riccardo and Alessandro, I felt a strong connection because they are both as passionate as I am. We speak the same language and sometimes don't even need words to understand each other. It was very easy to work with them because we immediately agreed on a fragrance direction for the new scene, which was to be based on vetiver, a raw material we all love.’
Fanny responded to our brief ideas by creating a fragrance for our line with the shortest list of notes. But hey, what a list! Three different types of the best quality vetiver money can buy: vetiver heart, vetiver oil from Haiti, vetiver oil from molecular distillation in Java – all three produced by Laboratoire Monique Remy. All crowned by a fantastic opening of ginger oil (also LMR) and rhubarb. The short list of notes does not mean that the fragrance is simple. On the contrary: like Hemingway's prose – where short, pointed sentences point to a deeper meaning – the perfume style of (Homage to) Hemingway is minimalist in terms of notes, but extremely complex in its development (especially on the skin).
We achieved this result through the use of outstanding natural raw materials: the complexity of each of these breathtaking substances would be enough to make a finished perfume out of this single ingredient; through the overdose of vetiver: the prima donna of this creation takes up almost the entire stage. The three oils account for almost 60% of the total weight in the formula. This, combined with a concentration of 20%, makes Hemingway most likely the fragrance with the highest vetiver concentration on the market. We added an unexpected Caribbean vibe: we avoided the bergamot and lime clichés and created the liveliness of typical citrus top notes without using citrus notes: fresh, lemony and spicy ginger paired with the sour facets of rhubarb. Feel like Hemingway drinking a daiquiri at Floridita and singing loudly with the other regulars?
