Papyrus Moléculaire is a delightful woody, powdery, and spicy fragrance.
It has the more rigid core of the woods yet dewy on the outside. The earthy facet has a touch of aromatic sweetness in it, and it strikes me with a boozy feeling on the top. The aromatics have freshness like the top of the mountain. It smells green, airy, not particularly herbaceous, yet refreshing to the nose.
Papyrus Moléculaire’s woodiness has a pleasant contrast between the earthy, somewhat spicy character of the papyrus and the creamy, delicate facet of sandalwood. These two woods appears quite early in the top notes, although disguised by the aromatics. A dash of black pepper oil presents at the beginning to quietly amplify the woods’ spicy and smoky tonalities. It lingers for some time before taking us deeper into the evolution of the scent.
Papyrus Moléculaire evolves beautifully on my skin and begins to show the floral character underneath its woody character. The floralcy transport me to an elegant, opulent, honeyed bouquet of exotic flowers. There’s some fruitiness in the colorful bouquet, luscious and delightful. The floralcy somewhat reminds me of the ylang-ylang and osmanthus flower because it has an illusion of leather notes.
The leather notes are the surprising facet of Papyrus Moléculaire that I find adorable and original. The feeling is suave and polished. The texture is smooth, refined, and rich. It doesn’t stop the flowers from blooming. Instead, they provide a unique ambiance for the flowers and the woods to transpire together.
One other thing that I notice to be exceptional in Papyrus Moléculaire’s woodiness is the powdery aspect that reminds me of the tonka bean and a slight carrot hint. Its powdery and balsamic character overflows in the wooded backbone, surrounds the woods and leather facet with a soft and comfortable ambiance. Moreover, a cloud of feathery musks flutters on top of the leather facet, enveloping it. It feels suede.
In the end, I feel the sillage of Papyrus Moléculaire becomes smokier, like the smell of tobacco, apart from the balsamic and powdery tonka bean. The creaminess of sandalwood is still very much present, as well as the earthy notes of papyrus. Overall, Papyrus Moléculaire’s complexity is elaborated well, balanced, and that balance makes Papyrus Moléculaire desirable.
Papyrus Moléculaire is created by Thibaud Crivelli in collaboration with the perfumer Leslie Girard.
Papyrus is one of my favorite woody materials that I found out about much later than the other woods.
However, I find it amazing when paired with creamier woods as sandalwood. We can see this duo in Santal 33, which perhaps why some people say that Papyrus Moléculaire reminds them of Santal 33. In my case, I didn’t recall Santal 33 the first time I discovered Papyrus Moléculaire. Instead, I found the clean, bright, and airy papyrus notes that I noticed on the first sniff. It feels so pure and suddenly transports me to the top of the mountain (as I mentioned at the beginning of this post).
Smelling and wearing them further, I found that Papyrus Moléculaire evolves longer and smoother on my skin. It has a more feminine side because of the floral notes–the brand doesn’t mention flowers in their description; however, I catch a glimpse of it. I love the effect– and the powdery, balsamic tonka bean. It has a more tender sweetness in it if compared to Santal 33.
Nevertheless, this is a simple example of why sometimes we recall other perfumes when smelling a scent. The main olfactive families revolved around the same ingredients for years and years that most of us, especially fragrance enthusiasts, may already familiar with. Moreover, we may be sensitive to certain elements that make us notice them right away. Hence we find it similar to other fragrances which contain the same or similar molecules.
In my opinion, ideas and creativities are often repetitive, and that’s inevitable. We are unconsciously inspired by something around us as we store in our brains what we’ve seen, heard, taste, smell, and touch. Those memories could influence our creations even when we start from a blank page and honestly wish to make something new. However, we still have one unique thing that only belongs to us. It’s our fingerprints.
Always try to dig deeper and explore the brands’ fingerprints because there must be something different in each creation.
It could be the evolution, the texture of the fragrance, the design of the accords, the highlighted facets of the ingredients, the overall feel of the scent, and many more. Amazingly, each design has its own niche.
I dig a little further into the brand and found out that Thibaud Crivelli, the brand founder, had such a long journey outside his home country (France). He traveled the world and lived in several countries across five continents for more than ten years. His adventurous nature brought him to a multisensorial experience that he transcribes into his perfumes.
Maison Crivelli is a house that has a deep sensorial value inside each fragrance. This house is all about the experience. Their fragrances have a pleasant evolution. It opens with impressive notes and then slowly, smoothly, brings us deeper into their universe. It feels like my emotions flow with the scent, which is an incredible experience. For me, that’s their fingerprints.
Maison Crivelli has nine fragrances in their collection, and from what I’ve heard, they’re going to launch several more this year. They have a lovely discovery set that you can purchase on their website. All their perfumes are available on their website and pop-up stores. All information about the price and the point of sales are available on their website and Instagram. So, don’t forget to check them out.
If you have some experience with Maison Crivelli, I would love to hear it! You can also find me on Instagram @thesensory.club and YouTube The Sensory Club. Don’t hesitate to drop me a message. 😉
By the way, if you are curious about Santal 33, find my post about it here.
See you!
Cheers,
Gia.
