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Scent Safari: Video Review for Komorebi



Maximilian Must Know Episode # 431 (Scent Safari - Ayala Moriel). 

First video reviews ever for Ayala Moriel Parfums! And first review of my new perfume Komorebi - yay! Maximilian compares it to Serge Lutens' Fille en Aiguilles, and says describes it as redolent of "woods, some forest funk, and this note of pine-like tree sap with some berries (...)" . FYI the vial titled "Forest Amber" is really Komorebi - before I had a name for it.

Also reviewed in this episode: Etrog, Film Noir, Espionage:
"The key word with these fragrances from Ayala is quality, development, power and performance (...) there is no gimmick (...) really high quality perfume made with passion and ingenuity and no shortcuts (...) This is as good as it gets. These are regal fragrances, fit for royalty". ‪

Cedrechor

Komorebi

Naming perfumes is no easy feat. And in the case of KOMOREBI I invited you to the brainstorm with me not only for finding an evocative name for my creation, but also attempt to coin a word that will describe the olfactory phenomenon that inspired the perfume.

I've contacted talented fragrance writer and fellow perfume lover Elena Vosnaki of Perfume Shrine to collaborate with me on coining a new word for describing the phenomenon that Komorebi was inspired by. Elena's knowledge of the Greek language was paramount to this process, and I've learned much from the process - similarities to other languages, myths and lore that encompass the entire globe, well beyond the Greek archipelago.

If petrichor is the scent of earth after rain, then this perfume accurately captured the wonderful cedrechor scent - "blood of the cedar" - the smell of the forest after the sun. Cedrechor can be experienced in late summer and early autumn in the Pacific Northwest rainforests: It emanates from the sun-dappled fragrant forest floor on those warm days when the sun brings out the sweet smells of redcedar, moss & Douglas fir…

The idea behind this ambitious act of smell-naming was to give fellow perfume lovers and writers another word for the scent that is as recognizable as petrichor - and I can only hope it will gain traction and be used well beyond the ad copy for my perfume. There are so few words unique to the realm of scent.

Komorebi is the first in a series of four perfumes dedicated to special places in the Pacific Northwest. Place of inspiration: Cathedral trail in Xwayxway (Stanley Park), which is pictured above.

Notes: Redcedar, Fir, Oakmoss, Black Cottonwood

Fragrance Families: Woody, Ambery, Chypre

New Perfume: Komorebi

Komorebi

Thank you for everyone who've contributed their ideas for a name for the pacific rainforest amber-chypre perfume. The new perfume captures the wonderful scent that can be experienced in late summer and early autumn in the Pacific northwest rainforests: It emanates from the sun-dappled fragrant forest floor on those warm days when the sun brings out the sweet smells of redcedar, moss & Douglas fir…  This is a perfume I've been trying to capture for many, many years, and when I finally got the result I wanted - the name just wouldn't come up... So I asked for your help, as well as Elena from Perfume Shrine to help to find a word that describes the smell of sun-warmed forest floor...

There were many intriguing names, and it was still a very difficult choice. After much struggle, contemplation and even a poll between the finalists, it made itself clear that while in an ideal world there will be a perfect word just for that - or a name of a place that evokes that smell and feeling of mystery and wonder - the name does not have to fit the smell to a T. So rather than going with Cathedral Grove (a wonderful old-growth forest on Vancouver Island, on the highway between Nanaimo to Tofino) - I've picked Avraham Yehoshua's excellent suggestion Komorebi. While the perfume does not smell particularly Japanese, both the scent and the name evoke the same sensation and feeling of awe for the forest visual and fragrant beauty. After all, things don't have to match perfectly to be true or beautiful.

If the word "Petrichor" describes the smell of the parched earth after the rain; this perfume captures the opposite - the scent of the forest floor after its been kissed by sun. It's the Pacific Northwest equivalent of the Meditteranean "Garrigue" (the intoxicating odour of sunbaked earth and scrubland, dominated by sage and labdanum), and in my mind I've been describing it as "Forest Amber" or "Pacific Chypre".  But non of these names seemed to capture the magic quite as perfectly. So I'm thankful to the Japanese language, which has a special word for the interplay of light and leaves, which includes the sunbeams one would observe coming through the trees and shedding light on the vapour they exhale; as well as the dappled-gold forest floor, a vision that is shifting yet constant, as long as the sun is there. This is the essence of komorebi in the Pacific rainforest. 

This perfume is the first in a series of perfumes dedicated to special places in the Pacific Northwest. Place of inspiration: Cathedral trail in Xwayxway (Stanley Park). It is now offered online as an Eau de Parfum (15 mL and 4 mL) or parfum oil (5 mL). 

Notes: Redcedar, Fir, Oakmoss, Black Cottonwood 

Fragrance Families: Woody, Ambery, Chypre


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