One of the great things about Sniffapalooza is that you get to learn about brand new perfume houses before anyone else does. Manuela Pfannes-Völkel is a German perfumer who started making privately commissioned scents years ago, and just started her own house, Arts and Scents.
Pfannes-Völkel likes to mix scents you don’t usually see together, like mint and tonka. Her perfume line is accessible and a little kitschy, with names like Wild Cat Musk, Fantastic Green Bird, and Dream Of India.
NY Steel Flowers was inspired by the mix of nature and industry you see in New York City. It’s a great concept. New York City thinks commerce rules everything, which is true in the human world but nature still fights back when prompted. That premise has not only brought forth cool fragrances, but also time-tested blockbuster films like Godzilla. (He feeds off nuclear waste. Watch the movie.)
New York City’s nature/industry pull can be shown in harmony, like in the High Line:
and it can also manifest with giant cranes dangling precariously from the most expensive residential building in Manhattan during Hurricane Sandy.
(WSJ)
Anyway. It’s really hard to pin down the scent. It starts off sweet and woody, very, very sweet actually. It calms down fast. I think the overall effect is of a sweet tobacco. I can also detect some kind of machinized neocivet note in there, like a half-robot civet cat in 2134 who’s royally pissed at having been used to make perfume for so long. It’s a one-accord wonder, but recommended.
Perfumer: Manuela Pfannes-Völkel
Price Range: Moderate
Recommended Occasion: Casual
My Rating: 7