Histoires de Parfums
Histoires de Parfums
142 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Aldehydes fizz with synthetic purposefulness, immediately joined by a sugared orange that feels more lozenge than fruit—bright but architectural, almost medicinal in its clarity. The top notes establish the fragrance's conceptual premise within seconds: this is construction, not nature.
The geranium's powdery green character softens the sweetness considerably, whilst honey emerges as a binding agent between the orange and the woody base notes developing below. By the second hour, the fragrance settles into a predominantly sweet, slightly soapy skin scent that feels deliberately muted and intimate.
Patchouli and musk form a pale, creamy foundation where the amber dissolves into something almost imperceptible—a vague warmth rather than a defined note. The fragrance becomes a barely-there sweetness clinging close to skin, less a dry down than a gentle fade into near-invisibility.
This is not a Blue Bottle 1.1 announces itself with synthetic clarity—a deliberate artificiality that feels more conceptual art installation than wearable fragrance. Julien Rasquinet has constructed something deliberately abstracted, where aldehydes crack open an orange that tastes almost candied rather than citrus-bright. The fragrance prioritises sweetness (88% of its accord profile) as a governing principle, layering that candied orange into a honeyed heart where geranium provides a slightly powdery, almost soapy counterpoint to the honey's viscous warmth.
Where most fragrances attempt naturalism, This is not a Blue Bottle embraces its synthetic DNA. The patchouli-musk-amber base emerges soft and diffused, never assertive, creating a skin scent that feels more like wearing a whisper than a statement. The woody notes (52%) peek through as gentle undertones rather than structural support, while the musk rounds everything into a vaguely sweet blur. This is a fragrance for the conceptually minded—someone drawn to ideas over olfactory drama, who appreciates Magritte's subversive wit and wants their scent to match that sensibility.
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