Perfume Review: Nahéma by Guerlain
Back in 1979, I was merely a three year old child, marching happily with my little red flag and singing numerous Lenin songs. With a ridiculously huge white bow on top of my never yielding, thin, dark hair, a short pink dress on, absurdly unmatching shoes, and socks rolled down carelessly, I was a girl as I knew it, and that was my definition of glamour. Back in 1979, Guerlain unveiled one of its masterful creations of all times – Nahéma – “a woman of great mysterious intensity, whose profound passions remained unexplored”, “the daughter of fire”, inspired by Scheherezade’s tale of “two twin princesses, of equal beauty but of different nature”. Back then, we couldn’t have been further apart. Today, we’re inseparable.
While I don’t wear bows in my hair any more, I could never call myself a woman of great mysterious intensity (great intensity, yes, but hardly mysterious). When I smell Nahéma, I want to be what I’m not – enigmatic, bewitching, glamorous. It gets accomplished in three stages. Its honeyed rose and silky peach accord is the epitome of olfactory intoxication, so it gets me drunk first. Then, its animalic-powdery heart is so sumptuous and plush it’s equivalent to being thrown onto a soft bed bursting with cushions and frills where I fall into a deep slumber. When I awaken, I’m Scheherezade herself. I’m a new woman, hardly knowing what to do with myself yet but very much reveling in my new-found guise.
Nahéma has the notes of bergamot, mandarin, rose, peach, cyclamen, lily, vanilla, sandalwood, vetiver, benzoin. In spite of being a hard-core rose scent, it’s not a dark, femme fatale kind of rose. For a great list of those, please check Marina’s musings.
Image source: www.escentual.co.uk
28 comments December 4th, 2006
The Different Company is a French perfume line that’s only been around for a few years. “The brand eschews conventional wisdom, while respecting certain rules for true luxury, precious and identifiable: quality, craftsmanship, difference, materials, rarity and modernity.” (Thedifferentcompany.com). With such a self-explanatory name, you can’t help but wonder what exactly makes it so different. Perhaps the fact it employs only two perfumers – Jean Claude Ellena and his daughter, Celine Ellena – who share a very similar, distinguishable transparent style. Perhaps, it’s the contemporary approach to bottle design and presentation – mechanical and almost industrial (the bottle caps could easily be used in self-defence). Whichever it might be, The Different Company perfumes are quite modern and unprecedented in character. I like them all pretty much equally, with perhaps more affection for Jasmin de Nuit and Rose Poivree. The Garden Trio is the newest addition to the line, created by Celine Ellena, exploring the smells of herbs, flowers, and woods.