I miss Violet
The Different Company (2015)

Imagine the most beautiful woman embracing you while wearing a leather jacket and kissing you with her waxy lipstick. If the dew in heaven's garden's could be bottled up, this would be it. A beauty for lovers of powder, violet, iris, leather, vintage-cosmetic smell, and modern meets classic perfumery. Nothing unique but it is really lovely. Undoubtedly feminine.

Opens with a blast of fresh violet. Then the iris starts to blend in and it becomes more lipsticky with a bit of waxiness. The mimosa becomes evident as well giving her some added vibrance. It tempered by detectable musk and smooth leather. In this phase the scent becomes a bit seductive. This is soft and delicate, you really have to either spray a bunch on or wear it on clothing to get any projection.

What can I say? I am a violet whore. I love the stuff. Can't get enough. Then along comes this one.

Delicate top notes of violet leaf, orange, and ambrette. It is a brief combination start. What really stands out are the violet and iris. I then get a little osmanthus and mimosa. The base isn't very strong or pronounced. I get none of the more "robust" notes like leather or wood. I pretty much only smell vanilla and musk. I won't turn down a violet [or iris] perfume. They are all thumbs-up, for me.

The Bathers by Paul Cézanne 1898 1905

Not quite the violet-leather rival to Heeley's Cuir Pleine Fleur I was hoping for. This TDC has more violets but less leather. I thought it smells a touch sickly, and the pairing of the candied floral with a fizzy topnote just about screams 'violet sweets!'

As the top recedes, a suede-like accord emerges from the base to join the violet candy party along with hints of iris. Interestingly with violet, iris and suede in the picture, one would expect things to get powdery fast. But it never did. Thanks to a hefty slug of white musks, the texture remains clean, almost sparkling.

The road to drydown is sadly, forgettable.

While I enjoy violet scents and love violet leaf notes, I can't find the heart for I Miss Violet. Which is hardly surprising considering many TDC scents, no matter how well-executed, leave me cold. This is one violet I will not miss.

There just a couple fragrances that have an honest-to-goodness hypnotic, mood-altering affect on me. One of them is the beautiful (but only the original) Caron Violette Precieuse. (I'm sure you could register my reaction to VP with a blood-pressure cuff. It has a palpable meditative effect on me with one whiff, and it slays me that this stuff is no longer available.) For daily use, I can rely on Serge Lutens Bois de Violette. Serge's violet is held in place within a perfect structure of supporting notes. TDC's I Miss Violet, by comparison, is almost a soliflore, very lovely, but absent the swoon effect of VP or the full orchestration of BdV. I could easily wear IMV and enjoy it in a light-hearted sort of way, but it doesn't belong on any pedestals.

I Miss Violet opens with smooth carrot-like iris and bright slightly aqueous, semi-metallic violet leaf. Moving to the early heart the composition turns mild to moderately powdery, as the violet leaf gives way to a floral violet and supple suede leather starring tandem with the iris remaining in significant support. During the late dry-down the leather turns somewhat more rugged and more pronounced as it joins a deep, natural smelling vague woody accord and dark musk with just a hint of underlying vanilla-derived sweetness through the finish. Projection is below average and longevity just above average at 9-10 hours on skin.

The Collection Excessive offerings have been the real standouts in The Different Company's line-up, so any new release bearing that moniker demands attention and I Miss Violet is its latest entrant. The first thing one notices when the composition is applied on skin is it has a very different presentation of violet and violet leaf than one might expect. The presentation here is just as much about smooth iris and suede leather as it is about the violet, semi-metallic leaf and all. The last time I was this surprised in a violet presentation (in a good way) was Violette Fumee by the late, great Mona Di Orio. The two compositions really are dissimilar for the most part, but both commendably take the violet and show true innovation in its presentation and use with other materials. The late dry-down on the other hand is a more mundane though competent leathery woody affair, but the journey getting to it is quite worthwhile. My main gripe with the composition is its performance metrics are far from stellar. At this kind of price point, one expects a bit more oomph than the near-skin scent found here, and a bit more tenacity wouldn't go amiss either. That said, middling performance metrics aside, I Miss Violet is a fine creation by the talented Bertrand Duchaufour that while maybe is just a hair behind the other offerings in Collection Excessive, holds its own against most peers rather well. The bottom line is the $245 per 50ml I Miss Violet is a largely successful, innovative release marred only slightly by its semi-dodgy performance metrics, earning it a "very good" to "excellent" 3.5 to 4 stars out of 5 and a solid recommendation to all except those seeking a powerhouse (or those hunting superb value, as $245 per 50ml with this kind of performance is a bit of a tough sell).