What happens when LIFE happens prior to a special event like FRAGments? When a couple of fragrance designers couldn’t make it, then you get someone like Mario Gomez to step into the void and talk about great scents and fabulous collections. That’s what happened to 3 different fragrance brands at FRAGments! Mario Gomez, a noted fragrance afficionado stepped in for these fragrance houses and was able to best explain to me the newest scents along with scents coming back for another visit!
In this post, Mario talks about scents from House of Matriarch and I talk to David Falsberg of Phoenicia!
Here’s a bit about the House of Matriarch’s Fragrance Creator,Christi Meshell.
Mesheel composes each fine fragrance from our vast catalog of rare, exotic and vintage essences. Critics and fans are continually awed by her designs, proclaiming them as “The Gold Standard of Fragrance” and “Genius in a Bottle”. Her mystical Native American, Gypsy and Sicilian roots have called her to the lifelong study of magical correspondences, plant medicine and sacred cosmology, knowledge which finds practical application in the fragrance creation process.
The scents that I saw there and that Mario Gomez talked about (as you can hear in the podcast below) are the following!
Om:
This fragrance evokes memories of the incense and orange blossom aromas he enjoyed during his time in Southern Spain. It weaves childhood memories, a lifetime of travel and the present time into one scent memory: Semana Santa in Sevilla
This scent was created for Dr. Marlen Harrison, ” The Perfume Critic”
Carmine:
This scent is an animalic, Herbal Floral (100% Natural)
A brave new perfume created in an ancient tradition, Carmine returns the wearer to a basic truth: Nature is the ultimate luxury. A formula of natural aromatics too obscure and costly for use in conventional perfumes, Carmine offers something strange, unique and purely luxurious to the perfume connoisseur.
Liquid gold; intense, yet subtle. More than one hundred different aromatics comprise this silky scent, including rare essences of ambreine and a very special vintage “super refined” dragon’s blood. Fresh mimosa and davana top notes awaken the luxurious unfolding of this ultra-natural amber as costus offers it’s animalic mystique. Perfect for lovers of musky notes who command a fragrance free of animal products.
After the initial floral impression, the reverse dry down begins…..it takes six hours or more to fully develop, growing mysteriously stronger with time.
Majmua, the essence of India. Majmua means “gathering” and this is a classic accord that all attar collectors adore. Practically all modern Majmua is synthetic, so we created ours from the finest aromatics money can buy to demonstrate the beauty of this simple yet exquisite recipe.
Aged attars of kewra, kadam, mitti and vetiver form a magical quintessence worthy of magic carpet rides, royalty and romantic occasions. As several of the aromas in this formulation have already been aging for decades, this perfume already has a vintage feel.
Blackbird (The star of the event for House of Matriarch)
Created in 2012 to honor the mysterious essence of Seattle style makers and artists, this worldly and penetrating perfume contains hundreds of exotic and rare aromas. NW conifers, Puget Sound seaweed, black leather, rare oud and cannabis: favorite notes of the Seattle avant garde. Genuine animal fixatives add depth and sex appeal. Offered at 33% concentration, the extrait is such a dark green, it’s nearly black. 93% natural raw materials, 7% aroma molecules in a base of organic grape ethanol. Unforgettable
Destiny
This is a “white floral/chypre” scent.
SUNSHINE IN A BOTTLE! Packed with feel-good botanical essences, this beautiful fragrance was created to combat seasonal affective disorder during the dark Seattle winters. It’s still a Seattle favorite, but it’s fragrance fans from the rest of the world that have made Destiny our top selling perfume. Two varieties of jasmine and rare gardenia add exotic white floral notes to the cheery neroli backdrop. An undetectable trace of lemon grass provides a sheer lift without the usual lemony effect. The unapologetic and bold oak moss finish will keep your interest throughout the entire dry down.
This is a podcast with Mario Gomez for House of Matriarch and David Falsberg for Phoenicia Perfumes!
Phoenicia Perfumes with David Falsberg!
New to you? I bet- but when you hear David’s story, it’s fascinating!!
(My apologies to David Falsberg for not having a good photo of his station at FRAGments! Half a photo is no photo at all!)
Phoenicia Perfumes pays homage to the mythical phoenix who rises from the ashes, symbolizing the rebirth and regeneration of the body and spirit. David Falsberg, creator and nose at Phoenicia, is a survivor.
David lost his eyesight in 2007 after severe medical trauma caused by Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a life-threatening syndrome that literally causes the skin to burn from the inside out. However, this trauma was a blessing in disguise as he found his sense of smell had turned what David calls, “alpha dog”. He began to explore scents from an enhanced olfactory perspective, experiencing scent as sensory vibrations. After years of recovery and with his eyesight restored, David now uses his newfound gift to create fragrances with no boundaries nor limitations.
We continue to produce both natural and mixed media scents that are nothing less than groundbreakinng. Our spirit guide continues to inform us of new avant / artisan blends for your wearing pleasure All perfumes are EDP and over 80% of the oils, absolutes, ottos and ruhs contained in them are from highest quality natural products.
Photo by David Falsberg
Skin Graft
Notes: Honey, Iso-E, Jasmine Sambac, Opoponax, Cedar
An autobiographical scent inspired by Phoenicia’s hospital treatment for Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. The perfume narrates the powerful hallucinations of alien flowers he experienced during an induced coma as his skin was grafted and began to heal. The addictive combination of sweet floral notes, gauze accord and animalic honey, create a fragrance which is other worldly yet eerily familiar. You have never experienced a perfume like Skin Graft before!
Gone But Not
NOTES:
Top: Fruit, Elemi and Cognac
Heart: White Rose, Jasmine
Base: Musk
Phoenicia continues to put natural ingredients in the forefront but seeks to broaden our olfactory environment with the use of synthetic enhancers. Think grandma’s Joy meets grandpa’s Jovan musk with an industrial hint of hair spray.
Far West
Notes: Fir, Caraway, Cedars, Skunk, Choya Loban, 95% natural EDP.
Another scent of memory with olfactory twists. Driving through the Olympic Rainforest at sunrise, the damp woods would beckon, smells of skunk and cepes would waft ln and out of focus and the tires on dad’s Rambler would project a strong veil of rubber while we traversed the mountainous twists and turns of the journey home.
RealOud
Notes: Hindi Oud, Laotian oud, Bulgarian Red Roses, Ruh Khus, Classic Spices, Animalics
We have reasons to doubt there is more than a microscopic dab of real oud oil in any of the popular Western ouds that designers keep cranking out and the public keeps spraying. REALOUD is a sultan’s blend in the true tradition of Arabic perfumery. David has spent countless days sourcing the most genuine materials to create this “mukhallat”, a symbiotic maceration without adherence to the Western scent pyramid. Phoenicia sources real Indian oud fermented in clay pots, Bulgarian red roses, spices and animalics. In addition to our usual Hindi funk we have added some high grade Laotian oud with a skanky profile to this batch for heightened olfactory pleasure. The final result is a fully uncensored, authentic olfactory expedition that is unlike any hyped Western oud blend. This is a highly concentrated fragrance with great sillage and longevity.
** NB– the scents in this collection are really unique. They emerged from David Falsberg’s personal experience. It’s a time-consuming task he has undertaken and one that in the course of creating fragrances, he is sharing part of his personal experiences and his soul with who ever chooses to wear his scents.
Thanks to Mario Gomez for all his time and much appreciation to David Falsberg for explaining how he managed to create these sensational fragrances!!
Stevie Wilson,
LA-Story.com
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these do sound gorgeous. Not sure we have them in the UK!