This post is dedicated to my love for all things Byredo. The brand Byredo is created by Swedish Ben Gorham – who started developing a project revolving around smell and memory – called Byredo – which is short for By Redolence – meaning reminiscent of.
The principles behind this project was to use personal memories to get people to think of ideas or a memory – and smell is a way to evoke these memories. The brand Byredo was established in 2006.
I discovered Byredo while I was in London last year. Fell in love with Blanche – which reminded me of fresh cleaned clothes. Since then I have collected a few more scents which I discovered along the way – made much easier with the introduction of the niche brand to Escentials in Singapore late last year (Nov 2015).
For me, the attraction of these scents is the unique factor – they are not your usual basic Gucci, CK, Marc Jacobs, DKNY perfumes. The price is slightly prohibitive – a 50ml bottle costs S$182, while the 100ml is around S$280+. The shower shampoo is S$70+, the candle S$115 (around the same as Diptyque), the hand cream S$90+. They are more pricey than my Jo Malone, hitting around the same as my Chanel Les Exclusifs per ml price breakdown. Some of the scents are quite in your face, and definitely out of my league, but yet I manage to discover more and more that appeal to me – which is a dangerous thing!
Let me go through each of the scents I own in order of which I got them but before I go on, you need to check out the Byredo website for a feel of the whole branding and aesthetics – very minimalist and painfully chic – the font, the description, the visuals.. everything. * main perfume description taken from Fragrantica because I am terrible at explaining scents.
- Blanche – introduced in 2009. The perfume is dedicated to white colour. It is airy and simple in its structure, but captures thoughts about a certain person who inspired the creator with its innocence.The perfume opens with white roses, pink pepper and aldehydes. A heart includes violet, neroli and peony. A base is enriched with blond wood, sandalwood and musk. I love this scent so much that I am starting on my second bottle (I am always out of luck when it comes to getting the 100ml one it is always OOS), and on occasion I layer it with the matching shower shampoo.
- Bal d’Afrique is inspired by Paris in the late 20ćs and its infatuation with African culture, art, music and dance. A mix of the Parisian avant-gardism and African culture shaped a unique and vibrant expression. The intense life, the excess and euphoria is illustrated by Bal dćAfrique’s Neroli, African marigold and Moroccan cedarwood.” Top notes includes: bergamot, lemon, neroli, African marigold, Bucchu Middle notes includes: violet, jasmine and cyclamen Base is composed of black amber, musk, vetiver, moroccan cedarwood. I find this a tad too floral for me, though it is not your typical floral scent. This is a very accessible introduction to Byredo scents, besides Blanche and Gypsy Water (which is too citrusy for me).
- Sunday Cologne – is a woody aromatic fragrance for women and men. Sunday Cologne was launched in 2011. Top notes are cardamom, bergamot and star anise; middle notes are lavender, geranium and incense; base notes are vetiver, patchouli and oak moss. This is quite a spicy masculine scent for me fresh, and clean. I like to use this on casual days, and also when I am wearing something more ‘girly’ for the contrast. It is also a very light scent, not overpowering at all.
- Encens Chembur is a Oriental Spicy fragrance for women and men. Chembur was launched in 2008. The fragrance features bergamot, amalfi lemon, ginger, incense, nutmeg, french labdanum, amber, musk and elemi resin. This is my latest fave, at first this is very spicy like Sunday Colgne but it dries down to a rather sweet oriental note. I find the transformation very interesting and appealing, it makes me want to catch a whiff of it as I move about!
The extras – Candles, Hand Cream, Shower Gel
I have Loose Lips – which is a lipstick scented candle, mine is in the LE valentine’s day pink version, and it smells like rose at first, then the middle notes are violet and cherry, and the base is rice powder and orris butter.
(Isn’t the names of everything just so perfect?)
Suede hand and nail cream is a thick rich cream that is not sticky at all. I like to apply this on my arms before I go to sleep at night. It smells almost like Blanche but much lighter and fresh.
Top: Bergamot, Fresh Aldehydes, Pear
Heart: Lily of the Valley, Violet
Base: Crisp Amber, Soft Musks, Velvet Plum
Other quirky stuff you need to check out / and I mean smell them —- which I didn’t buy, but you just to to smell it to believe it:
The LIBRARY SCENT – Bibliotheque Candle
The End of the World Plastic Scent – Apocalytpic Candle
The Burnt Out – Loveless Candle
Hope you enjoyed this entry, and thank you for reading!!
The Makeup Blogette 