MOONMILK

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Eau de Parfum This wonderfully titled perfume has its origins in spelunking, more commonly known as caving. 'At night, the moon shines into the cave so brightly the light itself se ems to take form, like a mist. It gathers in the ceiling and makes the limestone stalactites glitter and gleam, dripping tears of white liquid into puddles on the rock floor that never dries. Moonmilk.' These words from Conrad Gessner, a Swiss 16th century scientific polymath displayed his passion for spelunking in an article entitled In 1555 he published his narrative Descriptio Montis Fracti sive Montis Pilati about an excursion to the Gnepfstein mountain in the Emmental Alpine region. It was there he experienced for the first time the eerie opaque white exudation of limestone precipitate that coated walls and dripped like luminous celestial milk. Moonmilk, in many ways reflects the sensual gawky nudity of American photographer Ryan McGinley, one of the most celebrated chroniclers of the alternative lifestyles. McGinley actually published a collection of photographs entitled Moonmillk, with his trademark angular beautiful folk set inside a spectacular cave system. Boy and Girl flesh glows, echoing the moonmilk that fascinated Gessner. The perfume is a composed mood of granular milkiness, like cold weather barely dissolved in a suspension of black tea, piquant lime, spice-painted flowers and creamy Mysore sandalwood. The steady, softness of the drydown conjures up the hypnotic drip of limestone whiteness, the damp chalkiness of it filling the subterranean air. The geological nuances of Moonmilk are unique. It is rare to find a scent that translates its inspirations quite so persuasively and with such a sigh of nuanced awe. The use of black tea is deviceful, a tannic touch of swirling milky beverage enhanced by green cardamom and black pepper, hints of creamy lily of the valley and enough mandarin to prevent the perfume from magnolia blandness. Moonmilk is beautiful and flickering, befitting the glow of its namesake in the atramental stillness of caves decorated with stalactites and stalagmites, roofs hung with droplets of dissolved stone. Composition: Black Tea, Lime Cardamom, Lily-of-the-Valley, Mandarin, Black Pepper Mysore Sandalwood inci list: alcohol denat., parfum, aqua, hydroxycitronellal, linalool, limonene, citral, geraniol, farnesol Show more