Peau de Soie
Starck (2016)

Seeming at first gossamer, Dominique Ropion's abstract Peau de Soie seems an essay in deconstruction more than any of his other compositions. It starts of quite demure, powdery, almost oblique, but then there is mysterious shade of raw, animalic woods, a duality of alive-clean and dirty-decay, beautifully rendered and perhaps easily misunderstood by the nose that is trying to "make sense" of the fragrance.

Over time, it's vaguely violet-like musky "your skin but better" and what seems to be a fractionated patchouli Clearwood that lingers on the skin.

Peau de Soie is not an easy scent. It’s a floral - but venomous, bitter, and abstract.
And like modern art or avante-garde classical music, you have to work at it. There’s little you can name here : peach maybe, mandarin at the start?, dry - like iris, musky... There’s a feeling like rough silk, but that’s more of a texture than a smell.
Eventually, it resolves into something vaguely like hyacinth and mimosa, but that’s about as figurative as it gets. And then, over time, it loses some edge and gets drier and more textured – in the conventional way of things.
But this is not conventional perfume.
It is like a modern feminine; synthetic slices of fruit, flowers and woods etc. but here the synthetic route isn’t pursued for cheapness, it’s done for aesthetic reasons - and it's taken to extremes.
There are actually no fruits or flowers in Peau de Soie, just abstractions; which makes it difficult to get your head around. The nearest thing might be a hair salon product, pleasant but neutral. But Peau de Soie is anything but neutral. As I said, a little sweet and fruity at the start but venomous and bitter most of the time.
It seems to be more than just modern; not exactly postmodern but hypermodern, ahead of its time. And like all things ahead of their time it’s easily misunderstood, which would explain why I found it for small money in a discount store. Peau de Soie must be too difficult for the casual wearer and it seems to have been a flop. Which is suprising because it's quite similar to Narciso for Her but the quality is much much better, and the theme much more engaging. Maybe the problem with Peau de Soie was, it was ahead of it's time - by minus 13 years.

Soapy, woody and powdery, with a bit of amber. There is nothing to dislike in peau de soie, and the name suits it well. An instant favorite that attracts compliments from the loved ones.

Unisex, in my opinion. Slightly sweet, wood notes. A dark musky smell. Powder notes border on masculine. Not make-up like, at all. Has a soapy accord. There are white flowers in here somewhere. It is a "safe" fragrance for public use.

Hours later on the skin, I smell cashmere wood.