Ramon Monegal ~ Pure Mariposa

 

 

“I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naive or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman.” - Anais Nin

 

 

 

I believe Ramón Monegal to be such a man. 

 

When you get to enjoy as much new perfume as I do every year, there is always the chance that you’ll eventually become a little bit jaded. In 2012, a year where there were approximately 1400 new fragrances introduced into an already swollen marketplace it would be hard to envision anything that would stand out so much that I would end up feeling as if I couldn’t sleep peacefully until I’d owned at least one bottle. 

 

I have written prior to this that I truly wasn’t looking forward to the onslaught of fragrance introductions in 2013; however I have found that I must now eat my words. The perfumes of Ramón Monegal have completely captivated me and allowed me to believe once again in the magic and true artistry that can be created when an exquisitely talented nose is given free rein over the tools needed to create olfactory alchemy.

 

He has the sorcerer’s touch; the ability to create perfumes that are instant and enduring classics. These are the perfumes that I know that I’ll be reaching for 10 and 20 years from now because they are crafted of pure emotion and the notes used are woven together like a rich and subtle tapestry. These perfumes spin fascinating tales told not through melody, paint or prose, but that are instead experienced through the most primitive of our senses which is why I believe that a RM perfume hits it’s desired mark every time. Move over Tom Ford. I think that I’ve fallen in love.

 

I first became acquainted with these extraordinary fragrances when last month I walked into a perfume store in La Jolla, California that had changed hands in the last year. I definitely need to admit right here and now that it’s always a lot of fun when people find out that I write for the industry because that’s when they begin to break out their very best bottles. It’s not only flattering but I always get to learn a thing or two. 

 

“Have you smelled anything by Ramón Monegal?” I was asked and then they slowly and effectively began to peel away my willpower with some of the loveliest and most creative perfumes that I’ve enjoyed in years. I mean, how can you possibly not adore a perfume named “Kiss My Name” or “Impossible Iris”? Resistance was futile and anyhow would have taken a far more sensible woman than I know myself to be.

 

 

 

 

I returned home from California and a few days later received a positively ebullient phone call from Raphaella Barkley, my Editor in Chief. “I have something that you must smell immediately, ” she said. I was ecstatic when I discovered that the scent in question was an exclusive for Neiman Marcus; a beauty named Pure Mariposa. Mariposa means “Butterfly” in Spanish and was created by the same brilliant nose whose acquaintance I had just made two weeks before.  

 

Whereupon reading the first few lines from the press release I was completely intrigued, The Inspiration: “The butterfly is an extraordinary creature that embodies many of the values that motivate me when I look for inspiration to fashion an olfactory tale in the form of a perfume”  

 

By the time I’d gotten through the first descriptive paragraph I just knew that I was going to love it.

 

“The Perfume: Memorable, feminine, resplendent, light and persistent. A harmonious, colorful and elegant floral nectar accord (tuberose, gardenia, orchid) with a festive tone (orange blossom) dressed in a dew covered green forest (oak moss, sandalwood), pure and vital, surrounded by a rejuvenating breeze of ozonic air on a majestic and rich bottom accord of a noble amber and silky musk” 

 

Ramón Monegal is a Spanish perfumer who is based in Barcelona, blessed with impossibly good taste and the incredible ability to create perfumes that are at the same time progressive, bold yet undeniably sophisticated and worldly. To say that these fragrances are well crafted would be an insult because they are without a doubt some of the finest examples of the modern perfumer’s art that I’ve had the opportunity to smell in my entire life. Because he is also a designer of the highest caliber there is not a single detail in the presentation of his line that has been overlooked. The encompassing experience of one of his fragrances is that of a piece of wearable art, designed to leave you feeling strong, wonderfully feminine and utterly exotic. 

 

 

I waited impatiently and the day arrived when the box appeared at my door, but not surprisingly it took me over an hour to sniff because I was so completely taken in by the packaging. Pure Mariposa is fashionably dressed in one of the most beautiful presentations that I’ve ever seen, enrobed in a kimono of hard white lacquer and imprinted with gossamer butterflies that would have been enough of a first clue to let me know that the perfume inside was very special indeed.  

 

I turned the box over and over in my hands and almost reluctantly twisted it open. I was immediately enchanted to discover the most stylistically strong perfume bottle that I’d ever seen, fashioned from a piece of Baccarat quality crystal with a perfectly fitting lid that flipped open easily, the effect of which sent me reeling back in time to the table lighters that I remember from my childhood and the glamorous women who I’d seen using them. I have no fancy ritualistic behavior that I adhere to when it comes to smelling a new fragrance; I generally just open up the sample and spritz it on. This was to be a very different day. Before I took my first sniff I was strangely compelled to go upstairs, enjoy a warm bath and dress for dinner; the second clue that I was about to be dancing with a master.  

 

Pure Mariposa is an absolutely gorgeous long cashmere wrap of a fragrance that clings to the body and shimmers subtly without even trying, like a long rope of milky pearls or diamonds by the yard. It is a true sophisticate and it’s not a perfume that I’d ever wear casually because it makes absolutely no sense to me in that context. It needs a bone deep and smoldering heat to bring its powerful elegance into focus. 

A veritable Garden of Eden dripping with green mosses, drenched with fleshy white flowers, juicy fruits and slippery with musk, Pure Mariposa somehow manages to be at the same time both tempting and restrained. My husband called it a laser beam of a fragrance and I think that’s quite a fine description. Personally I find Pure Mariposa to be teasingly restrained yet as bewitching as a tango. In fact I’m completely sure that if Anais Nin were alive today her signature fragrance would be Pure Mariposa and that’s the greatest compliment that I could ever give it. 

 

Ramon Monegal has created a line of perfumes that is that compelling, daring and courageous. You owe to yourself to try every single one. 

 

You can experience Pure Mariposa exclusively at Neiman Marcus.

 

 

This was originally published at The Perfume Magazine