ARA(GON)

I’ve never been to Aragon, but now I want to go. Lasheras’s tribute to the home of his brand is a love letter in a bottle. The fougere structure is a logical place to start, the medium for the love letter, since Aragon seems to be renowned for its fertile herb and shrub lands. To pick apart the perfume for a pyramid is a bit reductive and pointless, equivalent to walking into a vast herb garden and trying to pick apart the scents in the air. Ara(gon) wants to be experienced as a whole, not in parts or stages, and Lasheras does a masterful job of handling the materials to do just that. Everything is seamless and inseparable without feeling at all like a “kitchen sink” approach. The floral and artemisia opening is accented by beautiful and photorealistic herbs, but all other materials are at play as well. The only “clear” part of the perfume seems to be what, I guess, should be called the heart section where cumin, lavender, and resins from incense and cypress perform a heart-pattering waltz with each other. The cumin note is worth dedicating some time to. It’s one of the most beautiful cumin notes I have ever smelled. In the majority of perfumes cumin is quite a pushy, aggressive, and difficult note, providing a sweaty body odor and rough woods character. But Ara(gon) is a love letter, remember, and here the cumin smells kind. The well-judged accents of the lavender and resins seem to remove any pushy or aggressive tendencies, and the cumin comes across as soft, warm, and plush but still with conviction. It’s just divine. The softness and plushness usher in a very mossy base that is as verdant as it is meditative. What a stunning perfume. Truly, one of the best fougeres we’ve had in a very long time. With every wear I discover something new and wonderful, as if I’m wearing it for the first time. Ara(gon) encourages courtship, dedicated time to having yet another conversation to learn something about this special someone. Lasheras loves Aragon, and it shows.

"When I wear perfume, I’m wearing it for myself. As an act of divination, to set intentions for the day, to recall precious memories, evoke alter-egos, conjure ghosts." This quote from a Substack post by Audrey Rubinowitz aptly summarizes my relationship to perfume today. It no longer is predicated upon courtship, attention, or even a stylistic statement. Something like ARA is certainly not one I wear to fetch compliments. To reach a higher plane of consciousness, perhaps, but not for compliments. Perfumer Antonio Lasheras has composed ARA around an accord of sainfoin, also known as pipirigallo. This plant in the legume family (Fabaceae), grown for centuries in Europe and the Middle East for grazing in pastures, its use as hay and is often raised as a fertility-building crop. Fields of this plant with its pink flowers in bloom makes for a breathtaking view. I would love to say that the eminently agrestic nature of this fragrant plant is animated in ARA, but I have never been up close and personal with sainfoin. I can say, however, that this is a heavenly, even delirium-inducing wildflower and weed dreamscape. It is a rondelet of metaphysics, dedicated to all that grows in an organized chaos in open spaces, stems entangled, all a-buzz with six-legged, winged creatures, some graceful, others clumsy. There are herbs that smell bitter, others sweet, still more with a certain musty funk and fusty rank, but it all smells lovely and vividly real. It paints the meadow paradise that I only wish I could swim through if it were not for menacing deer ticks. Camphor and menthol fusing into coumarin and chypre moss. Ara is all unconventionally pretty, and resoundingly so. It makes me want to give up social media for a while and just read for hours in seclusion. I'm wearing it for myself.

Stunning work by the good Antonio. He opens immediately with the Pipirigallo (sainfoin), a flower typical of the highlands of northern Spain. To give you the idea, it looks like a jasmine (more grandiflorum than sambac) greenish but with yellowish and slightly creamy hues. Very typical and unique. When the flower fades, out come spicy green notes also typical of the area. Thyme, rosemary, cumin, basil and cypress. After several hours, the Oakmoss base emerges, giving it a more Chypre twist. Fantastic!

ARA is a stunning agrestic floral fragrance that balances herbal and bitter notes with a beautiful and sweet floral note courtesy of the pipirigallo. The opening has a bit of an absinthe tinge that pops in every now and again along with hints of spices over a gorgeous oakmoss base. Probably the best of Antonio's work, unique, but I can see some clear nods to his other scents like OTO, ARC and ORA.

First impressions: The first introduction is levander dominant, you can feel somehow that the plants are separated, upon time it will start to create one harmonious whole. Immediately ARC comes to my mind, maybe whole brand have this uniform style or it have Rajesh fougere signature im not completely sure cause its just my second test from their portfolio. It comes to my mind as female counterpart to ARC and i dont mean by that it smells feminine, its stays more in this kind of Mediterranean area, where ARC stars to heading more in to the mossy resinous dark forest, ARAgon is closer to the shore and gets whiffs of this herbal/floral “sunny” / “sea” freshness (soft jasmine comes to my mind) Maybe not exactly female counterpart but more younger brother of ARC? But my mind is keeping somehow this idea, that it will be nice for partners, ARC for man and ARA for woman, i know that it doesnt says too much about how does it smell, but when you look on ARC with more feminine touch you can be in a good direction what i mean. It have this kind of bitter backbone in first half, it somehow reminds me licquorice root, maybe the cumin is creating this impression on me, how it started to dry down, it gets more powdery almost musky feeling and more masculine nuances, this part im starting to prefer more. Overall its nice composition, not sure if definitely my type.

The opening to ARA has a quick blast of aromatics along with a unique beautiful white/pink floral (pink lotus/jasmine-esque), my first time trying Sainfoins/Pipirigallo which I believe he wild harvested. They are incredibly wonderful smelling! Dry down is a very lush lavender bouquet but with extra green elements. No one spice or aromatic overpowering another. Every note is well placed and well crafted. It is moderately long lived otherwise perfection!

What pisses me off is that there are !diots who think 200€+ for 30ml is "ok". You are the reason this industry is ruined. Keep supporting scams m0r0ns.