One of the best parts about being a beauty editor is getting to test new beauty products ahead of launch. And one of my favourite parts is testing perfume launches before they come to market. Recently, I was invited to visit Grasse (AKA the perfume capital of the world) with one of my favourite French perfume houses, Matiere Premiere. You may know it from its viral Vanilla Powder scent, but what you might not know is that the founder, Aurélien Guichard, is the only perfumer in the world to grow and produce his own raw ingredients (including rose, tuberose and lavendin) in Grasse. Not only does this make its perfumes smell incredible, but the ingredients themselves are the standout notes that shine simply yet beautifully in each and every scent.
During the trip, I had a secret preview of the next scent to launch this summer. I came home with a lab sample, and since wearing it at home, I’ve not only fallen for it, but I’ve been inundated with compliments too. I’ve had to keep tight-lipped about exactly what it is when people have been asking after it, but now I can finally share the scent I’ve been wearing.
Matiere Premiere Black Currant Extrait de Parfum
Key notes: Black currant absolute, oud assam oil, rose oxide, patchouli, leather accord
The Scent
Blackcurrant isn’t a common note you find in many perfumes, but its unexpectedness makes this fruity oud perfume all the more interesting. On the first spritz, you get that sharp juiciness of glossy, plump blackcurrants bursting on your tongue. But it has a creaminess that reminds me of drinking a smooth, dark purple cocktail in the dim lighting of a luxurious bar.
Aurélien Guichard, perfumer and founder of Matiere Premiere, tells me that he chose blackcurrant as the standout note for this Harrods exclusive extrait, as it brings together both French and British cultures. In France, it’s a nod to the crème de cassis blackcurrant liqueur produced in Burgundy. Whilst in the UK, it brings to mind blackcurrant preserves and pastries with the jammy, dark purple fruits. It’s brimming with nostalgia, but is simultaneously fruity, luxurious and grown-up, combined with hypnotising oud and smooth leather.
“For Harrods, I wanted to create a fragrance around blackcurrant because it carries something both deeply French and strongly connected to British culture. In the UK, cassis is a familiar flavour shared across generations. I was interested in revealing its darker, deeper and more contemporary facets,” he says. “This blackcurrant absolute produced in France gives an immediate savoury pleasure, but also has darker and almost ambery facets with remarkable persistence,” he says. “I wanted a black currant textured with oud—where the purple vibrancy of cassis gradually darkens into leather, woods and musks.”
Upon spritzing, it really does paint a purple profile. The mouthwatering juiciness of blackcurrant is complemented by the oud and leathery dry-down, which envelops you like the leather interior of a dark purple-lacquered Bugatti. I’m not usually one for oud perfumes, but this jammy combination has totally won me over. And since I’ve been wearing it, I’ve been inundated with compliments whenever I’ve worn it. Thanks to the potent extrait de parfum formula, it’s a real long-lasting power perfume that lingers and creates a halo of scent as you walk. What I love most is that it works just as well as a fruity high-summer perfume, but lends itself beautifully to the autumn season, too.
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