A few months ago, the French niche fragrance label Obvious Parfums launched the new High Standards Collection with the fragrances Frida’s Thorns, Himalayan Spell and Malfa Walls. The brand’s new line was created by perfumer Julien Rasquinet. It revolves around luxury, as we already know from Obvious Parfums. But while the classic collection was always dedicated to simplicity and sought luxury in minimalism, the High Standards Collection is a journey through the world. To places that may not be on the conventional bucket list of a package tourist, but that are exclusive, special, high standard.
And so Obvious Parfums takes us first to Frida Kahlo’s Mexico, then to the heart of the Hindu Kush, the high mountains of the Himalayas, and finally to the Mediterranean, to the small but beautiful island of Salina north of Sicily. An olfactory journey around the world that tells of exciting personalities, impressive landscapes and fascinating destinies.
Obvious Parfums in the fragrance diary
Below you will find all the articles on the classic collection of the French niche fragrance brand that have been published here in recent years:
- Obvious Parfums – The elegance of simplicity
- Une Vanille and Une Rose by Obvious Parfums – Nature and Luxury in Harmony
- Obvious Parfums: Un Patchouli, Une Fleur d’Oranger and Une Poivre – Three are not one too many
- Une Verveine by Obvious Parfums and Marque-Page by Ormaie – On the pulse of time
- Interview with David Frossard from Obvious Parfums
- Une Figue by Obvious Parfums – Head in the sun, feet in the water
- Un Oud by Obvious Parfums – Meditative Highlight
- Un Été by Obvious Parfums – Fragrant Summer
- Une Pistache by Obvious Parfums – Green Delight
- Scoville by Obvious Parfums – Some like it hot
Frida’s Thorns – Love, pain & longing
The Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) was one of the most important, if not the most important painter in her home country. Her works were characterized by her not entirely easy life, which was marked by illness, pain, affairs and passion. The young Frida contracted polio at an early age, which shortened one of her legs. This was compounded by a tragic bus accident in which she was so badly injured as a teenager that she had to undergo several operations throughout her life, was repeatedly bedridden – she painted many of her works lying down with the help of a specially made apparatus – and was in severe pain. In the end, she even had to have her lower right leg amputated.
A few years after the bus accident, she married the much older Diego Rivera, a well-known Mexican artist who – as it later turned out – was highly unfaithful. Scarred by heartache and physical torment, she herself also had numerous affairs, several miscarriages and alcohol problems. She found refuge in her painting, in which she addressed and tried to come to terms with many of her strokes of fate. Her colorful self-portraits are well-known – sometimes with animals, sometimes without – in which she always appears distanced and marked by serious melancholy.
Characteristic are the fused eyebrows and the dark lady’s beard, which she always depicted much more drastically in her self-portraits than in reality. Her paintings are an expression of her agony, her suffering and her pain, initially still characterized by a certain joie de vivre, which diminished more and more as she grew older.
As you can see, perfumer Julien Rasquinet’s Frida’s Thorns is not a simple subject. With the ingredients raspberry, pear, rose, chocolate, cocoa, patchouli and vanilla, Rasquinet captures the bright colors of Frida Kahlo’s paintings olfactorically and also uses an ingredient that is closely associated with Mexico: cocoa, already revered and highly valued by the indigenous peoples of Central America – the Olmecs, the Maya and the Aztecs – who lived in what is now Mexico, among other places.
Fragrant homage – Frida’s Thorns
Frida’s Thorns opens with a fine fruity sweetness, delicate, a little sour and incredibly juicy, which is soon joined by very soft, smooth and creamy nuances. The chocolate is not too dark, rather milky and gentle, accompanied by a subtle, earthy patchouli cream that blends skilfully and very harmoniously into the composition.
Subtle rose notes bring transparency and lightness to the composition. Dewy, a little greenish and carefree, the blossom appears youthful and cheerful, its playful facets flashing through the fragrance before it dives back into the warm, gentle depth of the woody-creamy nuances and merges with them. The cocoa provides tart accents that create a delicate powderiness.
Frida’s Thorns by Obvious Parfums is an exciting olfactory homage to the strong and self-confident artist Frida Kahlo, which takes up and combines very different facets: the fruity sweetness of the opening, the creamy, earthy softness, the milky chocolate notes, the delicate rose light-heartedness and the tart, subtly bitter and dark cocoa powderiness. Perfumer Julien Rasquinet combines all of this to create a calm, quiet, slightly melancholy fragrance full of expressiveness and depth. Warm, spicy, not overly sweet and wonderfully comforting, Frida’s Thorns is a creation that I would rather wear on cooler days or in fall and winter. In my opinion, the eau de parfum is an all-rounder in terms of its wearability and is suitable for the office as well as for everyday wear, for an evening date or as an olfactory companion for an afternoon of reading snuggled up on the sofa. 💙
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