What would Neela Vermeire of NVC do and say if she were a guest at my dinner party and we brought out the wine, the
amuse-bouche and the board games for adults? I invited her over to have a Scent Game and she gracefully and playfully indulged me. So take thee over to
Fragrantica to read our little game, where she describes her perfumes in dessert terms and not only (saffron kheer with bhang for
Trayee for instance or rose & carrot halwa for
Mohur) and post a comment here on Perfume Shrine to enter a
fabulous giveaway she's offering to our European readers. The draw is open to European Union addresses and the generous (fabulous!) prize includes
a classic flacon of NVC Mohur perfume with samples of Trayee and Bombay Bling as well as a glass sample vial of Ashoka. Submissions will be counted till Friday midnight and winner will be announced on Monday.
Now that we have gotten this out of the way, let me elaborate why I feel Neela Vermeire Creations is such a big deal. From the musky depths of the historically inspired
Trayee to the delicate and graceful arc of
Mohur right up to the fruity exuberance of
Bombay Bling and the unusual
Ashoka,
Neela Vermeire Creations is among the best niche lines to grace the horizon in some time. Although I personally discovered it with at least one year delay, I consider it one of the brightest "a ha" moments in my course of scent writing. And those don't come often, let me tell you.
I was personally interested in finding out
how and why the 4th installment, Ashoka eau de parfum, came to be, especially since it's such a multi-nuanced and unusual fragrance that seems both a little apart and at the same time very much in tune with the spirit that traverses through the Neela Vermeire Creations line.
Neela obliged me: "The first trio were based on wide historic eras in India. We wanted to continue this journey and develop our India inspired collection with our fourth fragrance, Ashoka Eau de Parfum.
Ashoka is a tribute to the internal/philosophical changes that occurred during the life of Emperor Ashoka (when he realized upon his conversion to Buddhism that wars were not the solution and compassion was the way forward). It is an important message for the world we live in and Emperor Ashoka has been of interest to us. After all our logo was inspired by Ashoka's chakra."
Indeed the fragrance presents a panorama of redemption and spirituality. You can read my review of it
on this link.
The bottom line I suppose is that the success of the line lies not only on the deft handling of the concept by the perfumer (
Bertrand Duchaufour) but first and foremost on the art direction of Neela herself; a dedicated person, an aficionado as well as a connoisseur, and an excellent communicator all around. It's been a true honor knowing her.
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