S-ex by S-Perfume

S-ex was created for S-Perfume by Christophe Laudamiel, the author of Estee Lauder Youth Dew Amber Nude, Ralph Lauren Polo Blue and Clinique Happy Heart. When I first smelled S-ex, I could not quite understand why this particular fragrance was chosen to bear this particular name. If a fragrance like Muscs Koublai Khan was called S-ex, the connection would have been immediately obvious. That would have been the scent of urgent, hungry, animal-like fornication. If a perfume like Musc Ravageur was named S-ex, it would have been easily understandable too. That would have been the scent of beautiful passion, of candle-lit love-making on silk sheets. But when presented with a perfume like S-Perfume’s S-ex, one has to stop and ponder. Which is true for most if not all S-Perfume scents; they are conceptual fragrances, to understand them one has to read between the lines, or rather between the notes. The first note on the scene is the easiest to figure out. Leather. Dry, austere leather of repressed desires and/or kinky fantasies. Combine that with a little bit of musk and you have a s-exy scent indeed. But that is not where the story ends. S-ex has a twist. Just when one thinks one has got it all figured out, an unexpected marine accord comes into play, an incredibly salty note that seems to be so out of place in this understatedly sensual blend…It eclipses the leather and the musk, it grows more and more salty, leaving me feeling almost physically parched. I feel like a survivor of a shipwreck, lying on the sand of an unknown land, soaked in salty ocean water…And suddenly it all becomes very clear to me. S-ex is not a scent evocative of the act itself. It is an olfactory equivalent of the aftermath. It tells the story of never being quite fulfilled and fully sated. Seconds after having experienced a seemingly perfect satisfaction of one’s desire, one is already dis-satisfied, empty and longing for more. Says Marichiko a.k.a. Kenneth Rexroth: Making love with you Is like drinking sea water. The more I drink The thirstier I become, Until nothing can slake my thirst But to drink the entire sea. This striking, unusual and surprisingly wearable fragrance is available at S-Perfume, $67.00 for 2oz. *The image is from S-perfume.com.