FRASSAÏ
Frassaï is a collection of Argentine and voyage inspired perfumes imbued with grace and assured beauty, a mix of enigma, private longing. Over-adornment in any form is unnecessary.
The impact and sensual longevity of such charismatic perfume is rare. True beauty mingles confidence, originality and mystery with a sense of classic desire that is neither dirty nor entirely pure. There must be a want, a longing for something. Amid the glut of perfumed baubles on the market, the Frassaï collection of exquisitely wrought compositions that adorn and caress the skin like fine gold.
Frassaï is the first woman-owned niche house from Argentina. Natalia Outeda is the brand’s creative force and founder, born in Buenos Aires and relocating to NYC when she was young. Her background in fine fragrance creation at Givaudan led to the creation of Frassaï. She works with several hand-picked noses to compose perfumes that reflect her Argentinian heritage and other plush inspirations from around the world. What makes Frassaï so compelling is the beauty of finish over sensual strata of beautifully arranged materials.
The best perfume brands always have an innate connection to the artists involved. There are a lot of artistic directors that barely register, such is the anonymity and desire to make money from bland and indifferent work. While it's true that trends are important to monitor, truly original work or perfumes that genuinely follow through on a thoughtful premise will always be more intriguing.
Some might argue that only the noses matter when it comes to creating a collection and while this is important, a talented and quixotic director should spark vision, mood and motifs. This is abundantly clear at Frassaï where Natalia has thought long and thrillingly about how the perfumes connect using high calibre materials, the mystique of her Argentinian storytelling and allowing perfumers to meld their personalities with bravura scentscapes.
Frassaï launched with A Fuego Lento, Blondine, Verano Porteño and Tian Di in 2017. Teisenddu followed in 2018 then the sublime El Sur trio of Cuir Pampas, Rosa Sacra and El Descanso. The most recent perfume is the opulent Victoria, inspired by the iconic Argentinian writer, editor, publisher and translator, Victoria Ocampo.
The collection has gentle grace with flares of muted shadow and floral embrace. Spices, woods, citrus, verdancy and gourmand tones effloresce through carefully delineated compositions that have a real sense of luxe sensuality. There are classic perfume tropes, careful traces of floral, woody, smoke, rosaceous, verdancy, gourmand and leather within the formulae; and while experimentation is to be lauded, there must be some recognisable moods and styles to allow people to connect with.