Dying A Little: Petite Mort™ by Marc Atlan

By Tom One of the things about being a rather impecunious bachelor living in an expensive zip code is that one almost daily interacts with things that are sybaritically enticing but entirely out of reach, and may even know people who have them as a matter of course. I know people who have lovely homes filled with beautiful things, expensive and luxurious automobiles, or name-brand art. I can appreciate visiting this but really don't necessarily aspire to having it. I'm one person who loathes dusting my one-bedroom hovel in the fashionable "Industrial Triangle" section of Beverly Hills so much I only do it when forced. A whole house would require too much staff, I tell myself. A ride in an S-Class is cosseting, but then I think of parking it at Whole Foods amongst the kamikaze shopping carts and my little Civic seems a lot better suited. Looking at the wall-sized Lichtenstein at a friends house I appreciate but don't covet. Too much responsibility, and homeowners insurance payments. I tell myself that I don't want to be weighted down by expensive things and expensive upkeep. What I have is fine. Then I come across something like Petite Mort™. Petite Mort™ is the creation of four: Marc Atlan, who had worked with Helmut Lang, Tom Ford and Comme des Garçons (amongst others) was the engine of the project. Bertrand Duchaufour & Art et Perfume worked with him to create the actual scent. Verreries Pochet, one of the oldest luxury glassmakers in France executed the stunning bottle. Killian Hennessy was a "facilitator". Certainly those names promise a lot. They deliver. Petite Mort™ lists no notes, and I'm not going to try to dissect it. It is intensely animalic, but not in an overt way. It has a crystalline aspect to it that seems skin-like, but like someone else's, a nicer, more pampered skin. It smells sexy, but not of sex. Trying to discern notes actually does it a disservice; it's like trying to deconstruct a Manet to find out how he got the effect of the water lilies. I'm likely not good enough to guess all of it and I'm wasting all that time I could be spending just revelling it. Petite Mort™ is $1000 for 10ML. Longtime readers of this blog know that I usually balk at pricey scents. Smelling this on me as I drove home from the event at ScentBar where I was allowed to sample it (and meet the handsome and charming Mr. Atlan) I said aloud "I'd consider selling a kidney to get some of this" Available at petitemortperfumes.com and Luckyscent. Limited to 100 bottles, none of which will be coming to live with me.