Launched in 2012 by Olfactive Studio, the small French niche line that uses photographs by contemporary artists to inspire fragrances, Lumière Blanche has gotten rapturous reviews since it was launched and deservedly so.

Lumière Blanche was inspired by a photograph of people on a beach in Sicily by Massimo Vitali.  

The photograph comes from his Beach Series and has been doctored so that the beach landscape is all in shades of white. People in bathing suits seem to frolic on a landscape of white sea and shore giving it a feeling that’s more snow and cold than sand and heat.

Enough about the photo – it’s the fragrance I’m really interested in.

It opens fresh, green and bitter from cool cardamom, it’s cool aspect heightened by a note licoricey note of anise from star anise. Soon spicy cinnamon warms them creating a play of warm off cool. As it blooms, iris and almond milk emerge making it floral, creamy and with a gentle sweetness. There’s a whiff of peach here too. It’s right about here that I realized Lumière Blanche was made for skin – smelling it isn’t enough, I want to feel it. Cashemere wood at the heart leads the way to cedarwood – is this where the hint of camphor comes from? - and soft sandalwood at the base, sweetened by tonka bean and wrapped in rich white musk.

At the drydown Lumière Blanche is warm, in contrast to the cool opening, milky and woody and surprisingly luminous. It is white light. Beautifully balanced and nuanced, it’s an original work of art that comes alive on skin – a gorgeous fragrance for men or women that is a pleasure to wear.

Taking the concept further, the juice is tinted opaque white – a suggestion of what is in the bottle and a nod to Massimo Vitali’s photograph

Notes: cardamom, star anise, cinnamon, iris, almond milk, cashmere wood, cedarwood, sandalwood, tonka bean, and white musks.

Type: EdP

Parfumeur: Sidonie Lancesseur