S-Perfume Sloth
Even when he was a puppy, my dog loved to sun bathe. He especially loves it when we go to my parents’ house, where he can stretch out and cook himself on their noonday-facing wooden porch. I’ve never quite gotten the idea behind the phrase “lazy as a dog.” When dogs lie in the sun, they’re always so committed to their relaxation. It’s not some activity they idly wander into; the act of a nap itself is a destination. This is Theirry Wasser’s creation Sloth.
S-Perfume Sloth is but one of “Seven Deadly Sins” from Sacre Nobi’s olfactory installation, a project consisting of seven different perfumers’ visions of the various vices. (Information about the installation can be located online.)
Despite an expectation that all these “Deadly Sins” might potentially exhibit some fragrantly surreal Hieronymous Bosch-like end panel warning, this scent seems to be lapping up the languid pleasure of “slothfulness.” One could argue the fragrance views sloth with irreverency. But then, I’ve always been fond of irreverency, and as an irreligious person I’ve never had a strong emotional connection to the concept of sin, anyhow.
Upon first spray, I am met with what smells like a splash of citrusy cologne, which burns off rapidly. A suggestion of a board still heated after piping hot loafs of bread have been removed forms itself in my mind. And then a crazy quilt of other perfumes pops into my head: I smell remnant pieces from the sillage of Helmut Lang parfum, Weil Zibeline, and Czech and Speake No. 88, all which are seemingly cross-stitched together by minute strokes of an orange-y note. But the lasting impression is one of sun baked wood. The longer the fragrance dwells on my skin, the more it dries out, until I am nearly convinced a piece of hot beach driftwood, long washed ashore and moistureless, has been affixed to my skin.
I perceive all this, and yet somehow am left with the mental image of sleeping dogs. Just soaking up the sun, and absorbing the reflected warmth from the deck wood, they’re content to lie there without thoughts of doing anything else. Because after all, they’re already busy.
Nobi did not set out to release any of the Sins for distribution. However, he notes “when Chandler Burr came to smell my art scents last summer, he was outraged that all my art scents were not accessible after the exhibitions. His point was that the scents should be available not necessarily for wearing them but for experiencing them.”
Sloth’s staying power isn’t great, but then, it wasn’t really developed as a scent that needs to stick to the skin. I’d guesstimate that I get two, maybe three, hours out it.
Of the various S-Perfumes I’ve tried, Sloth ranks as one I consider to have the most broad appeal for wear. Well, at least amongst perfume enthusiasts like myself, that is. It is one of two Sins currently available now for sampling only: Click here. According to Nobi, “the 15ml bottles will be available online late January or early February to those who have ordered the samples (in other words one has to try a sample first to order the full size product).”
Top image of Fred when he was about a year old. Second image is a detail of Dog Painting 46 by David Hockney. You can find my thoughts, some positive and some not so positive, on other S-Perfumes by clicking here.