Take the opulence and artistry of perfume traditions, add the effervescent charm and irrefutable style of Italian fragrance and you’re left with a perfectly harmonious marriage in the form of Moresque. With some of the most stunning flacons we’ve seen, and a whole host of decadent scents to discover, we think you’ll love being taken on this fragrant journey.
Moresque Parfum was born from a sheer love of the intricacy of Moorish art and the passion for elegant but opulent perfumes by founder, Cindy Guillemant.
Right from the start, she says, her work has been driven by this desire to bring together Italian taste and Arabic charm. ‘I completed my MBA in International Business in Florida and built my career between Monte Carlo, Paris, Miami and Milan. I always used perfumes, but my grandmother instilled in me a real love for fragrances and provided me with knowledge that motivated me to delve into this industry.’
That familial connection resounds still in Cindy’s work, and she finds that ‘I still rediscover my grandmother’s knowledge even today with all the scents I collect from around the world through their volatile notes, essences and the most mysterious and profound flavours.’
The whole journey began in earnest when she decided create a truly stunning one-off bottle that would encompass both these diverse styles, and when she met with perfumer Andrea Casotti to tentatively discuss her ideas, she discovered they both shared an outlook on life, ‘a particular way of sensing things and of approaching concepts with a critical perspective’ – along with a love for modern art and artistry within the fragrance compositions themselves… the fate of Moresque Parfum was sealed, and their story set in motion.
As the Moresque collection grew, Cindy decided to separate the fragrances into four core categories, beginning with a trio for the Gold Collection, inspired by the elements.
In Fiamma, she describes ‘calmness and heat in every breath, the core of the bouquet reveals a surprising accord of musk, resins, amber and leather matched with sweet hints of honey and vanilla.’ Aurum is ‘a bright fragrance with a sweet and sensual soul’, resonating around a rich base of oudh.
Cindy was careful to not let oudh dominate the compositions when working with the perfumer, and explains how the ingredient is woven through the scents as giving ‘…a three-dimensional feel to the composition’ that, along with musk, ‘adds a graceful and unmistakable touch.’ Oroluna is more ethereal, with a sense of mysticism found in a dance of cardamom, pink pepper and grapefruit before swooning into a dry-down of shimmering, woody notes.
The Black Collection, meanwhile, is all about celebrating ‘audacity and intensity, elegance and exclusivity,’ the floral/leather homage to the Emirs and royal power. Fleetingly citrus, it encompasses armfuls of garden flowers before swooping to a decadent patchouli-infused base. Al-Andalus is named for the ancient cultural province of the Moors. Fiery, full of sultry passion it embellishes saffron, ginger and black pepper with oud from Jakarta, French labdanum and Haitian vetiver. Rand is inspired by the desert flower, a powdered delicacy dusting every note and the heart of Florentine iris and ylang ylang a delightful and modern take on these most feminine flowers.
The White Collection, meanwhile, showcases grace, charm, ‘awakened desires and unexpressed desires,’ caressing the senses with a delicious gourmand (Diadema), a woody floral (Tamima) and a floral/fruity (Moreta).
For true ‘wow’ factor and dressing table display envy, though, it takes a lot to beat the Art Collection’s flacons – each piece is painstakingly handmade and decorated, making every single bottle a unique art piece to collect and admire, but (even more importantly) exquisite to wear.
In each fragrance it’s really possible to feel connected to the deep passions that so inspired Cindy to create the house of Moresque – a contemporary kind of luxury that harks back to her ultimate desire, for a fragrance to be ‘a harmonious synthesis between form and content, between aesthetics and essence.’
