WHITE | 照夜白

Eau de Parfum

There have been endless discussions about the nature of white; is it a colour, or all colours? White light can be broken down in a prismatic array of tones and there is also the consideration of transparency versus opacity.

As a colour, it can veil, render opaque or glow with reflective beauty. Take Greco-Roman sculpture; to us now, the legacy is bone achromatism, pieces of bodies, heads, horses, hands and musculature that glows as lit from within. Yet they were never meant to be seen like this, the sculptures often brightly painted, some garishly so. Yet we continue to praise the sublime monochrome, the milky immaculacy of such work.

Using white often means that form and decoration are more emphasised, an artistic rendering of snow on landscapes, blurring mingled emphasis with cached shapes. Ashley Balavoine's White simmers in its ivory luminosity, a perfumed work of art, all of the complex and fascinating materials designated white, so in effect the fragrance is a multi-exposure of colour and its own absence. Essentially an exquisite portrait of white musks, powder, delicate tea and anisic petals, White smells like an ethereal gift, a scent of immense grace and opalescence.

There are parallels to be found in the nacreous beauty of Blanc de Chine porcelain, made in Dehua in Fujian province. It is the only form of Chinese porcelain that does not use any coloured decoration, but this is not to say it is colourless. The flawless fusion of body and glaze, the ivory gloss allows a clarity of form and attention to detail as opposed to ornate colourways.

There is lustre, sheen and silence in Aromag's White, a translucency akin to holding fine porcelain to a light source and watching it glow. Despite the sizable list of white-themed materials, the overall effect is of a flawless perfumed wall. None of the ingredients have been used to stand out or interrupt the experience. It is a difficult mood to achieve.

White is an intimate essay in necessary comfort. Only once it is on your skin do you realise how much you have missed it, despite perhaps never having worn it; it has a unique impact on the senses. Laundry, clean dry skin, fresh sheets, ephemeral powders coalesce in body, form and olfactive glaze.

Like Blanc de Chine, the brilliancy lies in balancing technique, glazing and textured form. The herbal balsamic glow of white calamus, cold angelica, soft white smoke and pale orris are enfolded from below by consoling synthetic musks that have beautiful longevity and romance. It is hard not to fall in love with the elegance of White, swooning to the luminous osmosis of skin and scent.

Composition:

• White Anise, White Calamus
• Angelica, White Lacquer Wood, White Olibanum SFE*, White Tea SFE*
• White Incense, White Orris, White Cedarwood, White Musk SFE*, White Vetiver*

The notes marked with an asterisk are derived from natural ingredients that meet environmental standards. SFE stands for Super Fluid Extraction, indicating that the natural ingredients are extracted using supercritical fluid extraction technology, which is more environmentally friendly.

Perfumer: Ashley Balavoine, 2023