Everyone loves a love story – or, as the French say, “une histoire d’amour.” From the first chance encounter to the mishaps and mistakes and the distances bridged and the obstacles overcome, we hold our collective breath hoping for a happy resolution.
Héloïse and Abelard. Anthony and Cleopatra. Hyacinth and Apollo. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Othello and Desdemona. Heathcliff and Cathy. Some love stories are destined to be immortalized.
More than a fragrance collection, Jul et Mad is an extraordinary love story revealed through a trio of exceptional perfumes. Known to their friends around the world as “Jul et Mad,” the beguiling, binational couple Julien and Madalina first glimpsed each other on the streets of Paris and their “coup de foudre” fueled and fused their subsequent emotional and entrepreneurial dreams.
Working with the two principals, perfumer Dorothée Piot of Robertet of Grasse, France has transmuted the opening chapters of this bona fide love story into a triumphant olfactive triptych.
© Jul et Mad
The sparkling fruit-laden chypre Stilettos on Lex captures the effortless effervescence of youthful confidence, when New York City is your sandbox and every boy your toy. Picture a long-legged sylph striding along the avenues of Manhattan, a New York girl as timeless as Holly Golightly, Babe Paley, and Candace Bushnell.
With lovely round top notes of pear and plum, perfumer Piot captures the promise of summer, complemented by a floral heart of carnation and heliotrope and the sharp green of violet leaf as our heroine strolls through the Central Park Conservatory.
Stilettos on Lex kicks off its uptown heels for a sit in the park amidst basenotes of cedarwood and Madagascar vanilla. A waft of patchouli hovers in the air – perhaps from the guitar-playing youth seated across the lawn. It’s high summer and the night is young.
A paean to youthful promise, Stilettos on Lex evokes that evening when anything might happen – and everything is good.
© Jul et Mad
Skip ahead a few years and our heroine is lingering at a café on the Left Bank of Paris – when her eye catches that of a modern-day flaneur, a young Parisian gentilhomme who is mesmerized enough to lose his balance and trip while holding her gaze. It’s that moment of connection that is immortalized in Terrasse à St-Germain.
The first runner-up winner of the 2013 Fragrance Foundation Indie Award (the FiFi award that celebrates innovation), Terrasse à St-Germain captures the duality of complementary opposites, from masculine and feminine to classic and modern. A woody floral might appear to be an oxymoron, but no more so than male-female, which is what Terrasse à St-Germain celebrates: the double helix of two lovers bonding together.
For the second chapter of Jul et Mad, perfumer Piot opens with a spritz of citrus scored by the tartness of rhubarb. A floral heart of freesia and lotus flower evokes that moment when two people lean in closer – and their fragrances meld together. For hours, they talk at the sidewalk cafe on Boulevard Saint-Germain. People come and go, but our lovers remain. In the warmth of gloaming, the musk of their body heat mixes with sandalwood and patchouli.
An amalgam of opposites, Terrasse à St-Germain represents the collision of complements and the harmony that results.
© Jul et Mad
Legendary lover Lord Byron called it “La Serenissima.” That would be Venice where passion plays out against a backdrop of bridges, balconies and ballrooms. Evoking Venice’s past as the center of the spice trade, Amour de Palazzo beckons with a four-spice mélange of pepper, clove, ginger, and nutmeg. Notes of leather linger above the lagoons. Behind the masks, beneath the gowns, everyone is equal: heavy with desire.
With Amour de Palazzo, perfumer Piot unleashes her libido in the creation of a fragrance redolent of seduction. Amour de Palazzo is what Casanova would wear in the pursuit of his conquests. A swooning marvel of amber and oud, the narcotic fragrance is made for twilight. The hunt is on. Heart notes of cedar and labdanum segue into a base laden with animal castoreum. The effect is mesmerizing and there’s no turning back. Caught in the labyrinthine pleasures of a Venetian love, resistance is futile. Caveat emptor, Amour de Palazzo is when love conquers all.
© Jul et Mad
The initial trio of fragrances in the Jul et Mad line are presented in stunning dove gray coffrets of leather and velvet, complete with a separate rechargeable silver “Nomad” travel spray. Further surprises await those who purchase (or receive) the elegant full-size 50-ml. bottles etched in platinum lettering.
For those desirous of tempting fate, the Jul et Mad trio of fragrances is also available as a Love Dose in 5-ml. miniatures. Give in to the universality of love – and the chance encounter that becomes your own “histoire d’amour.”
