Caron
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Blackcurrant bud arrives with a green, almost resinous snap, immediately joined by jasmine that's remarkably austere for a white floral—no creamy indulgence, just structured elegance. Within seconds, you're aware this won't be a conventional fruity floral; the blackcurrant has tartness that suggests leaf and stem as much as fruit.
The blackberry and black pepper emerge as the blackcurrant softens, creating a distinctly dark, almost savoury middle where spice mingles with juicy stone fruit. The jasmine recedes tactfully, allowing the heliotrope to introduce its powdery-sweet counterpoint—it's like watching dark plums dust themselves with icing sugar, the pepper keeping everything balanced and alive.
By the fourth hour, the composition settles into a soft amber-musk base adorned with heliotrope's almond-powdery embrace, all the sharp edges worn smooth. What remains is barely a whisper—sweetness without substance, something you must lean close to detect—but it's the fragrance at its most intimate and honest.
Accord 119 is a fragrance that captures the precise moment when fruit transforms into something deeper—when the bright promise of blackcurrant bud gives way to darker, more contemplative territory. Richard Fraysse has constructed something genuinely intriguing here: a floral-fruity composition that refuses to be merely pretty or summery. The jasmine enters not as a sweet, creamy presence but as a structural element, allowing the blackcurrant and blackberry notes to maintain their tart, almost herbaceous character rather than dissolving into generic fruitiness.
What makes Accord 119 compelling is the spice-and-pepper tension running through its middle. Black pepper doesn't whisper here; it creates a noticeable friction against the fruit, preventing the composition from becoming cloying or overly feminine. The heliotrope base adds a powdery sweetness that feels more almondy than vanilla-adjacent, grounding the volatility of the top and heart notes with something structurally sound.
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3.6/5 (79)