ARC

Due to (lack of) timing and ability to get a hold of Mallo perfumes, I have not been able to hold that well to my strong guideline of experiencing a brand in chronological release order. I tried ARA, another fougere, before getting to ARC and I approached the latter with the quiet back-of-the-mind thought that there was very little possibility of ARC being better than ARA. I was mostly wrong; it is better, but in the way that there is more than one degree of perfection. Antonio Lasheras is proving himself a modern master of the fougere. Wearing ARA is the equivalent of reading someone's private love letter, in this case Lasheras's poetic missive to his home of Aragon in Spain, where each note is handled with extraordinary care and grace like one would describe an attribute of their beloved in a letter. ARC is not a love letter, it is an out of body experience. Should we hold to the historical perception of what a fougere is - a fern in a forest; citruses at the top with florals and/or herbs and mossy and earthy notes to follow - and a perfume to suit that experience, then ARC is a fern filled forest in a parallel universe. Or in an afterlife. Or at least trapesing through a fern filled forest on acid. It distorts reality and the perception of the senses. Every note is vividly saturated, sparkling, glowing, and alive. A radiant yellow pine resin opens the perfume, flanked by cool and green herbs of rosemary, thyme, and a gorgeous basil note that are positively mouthwatering and smell of aromatic mountain air, crisp and clean. Slowly peeking out is an indolic and highly citrusy jasmine that isn't readily identifiable as white floral thanks to a heaping dose of oily and soapy lavender. The citrus facet is likely an overlapping effect of the pine because of the lemony, zesty-rindy, oily resinous, and piquant presentation. It is one of the brightest and most vivid pine notes I’ve ever smelled. It sparkles and glows like it's been cast by pixie dust. What is this place? A magical forest? Another dimension? Am I tripping? - Did someone slip something into my morning coffee? The mossy woody dry down is just as verdant as it is meditative. There is a palpable energy to it. The benzoin lacks any vanillics and is full-on woody resinous, gently undulating directly underneath the moss. In a relatively short period of the dry down a soft note of leathery and animalic styrax wafts about; it is plush and naturalistic - a well bathed animal that can talk in strange tongues. The moss is vivid green, neon even. Its dampness doesn't smell of liquid, but of solids, and its leaves have the texture of running your fingers over sand instead of smooth foliage - like you're feeling the pixie dust of their constitution. The brand calls ARC "ethereal" and they could not be more correct about that. While most fougeres present themselves as quiet and naturalistic with a bit of a dandy character, ARC elevates the fougere structure and its naturalism past quiet and dandy, and into realms that our noses typically do not find existing in modern perfumery. There is something fantastical and otherworldly about ARC, but in its richness and complex choral timbres of herbs and greens, citruses and yellows, woods and browns, florals and whites, mosses and beiges of highly concentrated natural materials it never smells illegible, crowded, soupy, or heavy. It is as clear as a bell from a mountain chapel, as bright as the sun shining on that mountain side, and as lightweight and crisp as the cool air blowing through. It is one of the most evocative, and very likely one of the best fougeres I have smelled in years. Stunning work.

It has been a huge challenge for me to write this review. I have been thinking about what to say ever since I received my bottle. The headline should read: Get this ASAP. It is a limited edition fragrance that was created by Antonio Lasheras and Rajesh Balkrishnan. I 've sampled several Malo fragrances and own Arc and WAM. I own all of Rajesh’s creations because I believe he is a perfectionist who has the ability to blend some very rare natural notes into long lasting and wide ranging journeys that are among the best in the world. Arc stands out as one of the top 3 fragrances Rajesh has created. If forced to say which one is currently #1, I would pick this one. Why? Well, to be honest, I had several fragrances in mind when I read the notes of Arc. I thought it might echo one of my favorites, Bloodline by Hans Hedley because it contains strong pine notes. However, Bloodline follows a traditional unfolding that doesn’t evolve much. Arc has one of the longest and unexpected journeys of any fragrances I have tested or own. It’s been created to invoke a “calming and spiritual journey” as the creators themselves describe it. I couldn’t agree more. It is unique, at least it is to me out of the many hundreds of fragrances I own or have sampled. In the past couple of weeks I have been trying a lot of the fragrances I own that might be somewhat similar. It does not echo any of Rajesh’s fragrances. It is sui generis. At the same time, it is a fougere, of which there are hundreds if not thousands on the market. I tested fragrances like Houbligant’s Fougere Royal and found no overlap except for the lavender. Much the same could be said about Roja’s Scandal or Ford’s Beau de Jour. I quite like all three of these, but they don’t have a spiritual quality. I can’t be sure if it the quality and the natural notes or the way they are blended that makes it so unique. I would say it’s both. The notes themselves are not like Rajesh’s Prim creation, Haxan, which lists 39 notes. Arc has 9 and yet it feel richly evocative because it is the quality of the notes that is exceptional. I was also surprised about how this fragrance lasts more than 12 hours on my skin. This is exceptionally rare for me as I have dry skin. It is not a beast in terms of silage. it is moderate to strong. This can be worn in any season, night or day, for women or men. I do not overspray, but I have had two people ask me what it was. The first was in a crowded space: “someone smells good” and the other one on one. Normally I don’t get compliments, so this was a bit of a surprise. I enjoyed telling them about this scent as it does have a magical aura. Those who want something special to give or receive this Holiday season, I would urge you to consider this heavenly gem.

This smells like a meditative walk in a forest high atop a mountain top. It's green, herbal, refreshing, but also earthy grounded and woody. It has a lavander herbal quality which is incredibly calming, but not in that lavender essential oil kind of way. I know every time I see lavender in a notes list I get a little nervous the perfume will veer into smelling like an essential oil. But Arc smells smells like actual lavender. Just as if you are walking through the woods and stumble onto a patch of naturally growing lavender. This perfume expertly balances green, woody, earthy, this cool ozonic quality, herbal aromatics, mossy fernlike nuances, and a warmth that emerges more so later in the drydown. This is the image that comes to mind when wearing Arc. You have had a stressful week at work so you drive out to the mountains to get away from it all for a weekend and decompress. You grab your camping gear and venture off alone to walk in the mountainous forest. As you are walking all your thoughts melt away and you just exist; taking in the splendors from both your sight and what you smell. You smell green lush ferns, tall trees; both alive and fell, so you get a warm woodiness as well as a cool damp woodiness. You also take in the scent of the wet earth covered in moss. The cool crisp mountain air ozonic and so fresh it's almost metallic. You can also smell pine needles and a sparse growth of lavender. As your journey progresses the sun begins to go down and you build your camp. This symbolizes the drydown of Arc. As you light your campfire and wrap yourself in a blanket you take in the warmth as it casts a glow on all the scents you smelled earlier. Making everything smell more subdued, rounded, and inviting as if the forest is rocking you to sleep. After spending a day without your thoughts and just existing in utter tranquility your eyes slowly close. That is what I imagine when smelling Arc. If gives you a feeling of serenity cast in a woodsy setting. It's meditative calming and smells extremely natural. The fragrance smells of high quality ingredients and is blended immaculately. I would highly recommend this to anyone searching for a high quality fougere or a foresty scent. This is definitely one of the best in my opinion.

Arc by Mallo Parfums. I can see the hype, honestly; a good shortly-spanned "accurate" fougere representation with a dollup of his ambergris, pine and benzoin DNA, alongside a slight peachy oud facet at the back. The peachy, almost c14 aroma arises due to the aleppo pine used). With body heat, it evolves around the herbal tone of Aramis Edc(pre 1980), aromatic facets of rosemary with candied(imaginary) grey ambergris tonalities. If you ask me, this would lie within my top 10 fougeres, tho behind the 5 favourites. Due to the authenticity in genre, the initial shifts will remind you of original versions of Azzaro pour homme(<1980), Houbigant fougere royale(<1942) and the base of YSL Pour homme(<1992), tho despite the "natural overdose" here; the later vintages share an intrinsic superiority which is far ahead of Arc, which by far is due to the non-tenacious properties of the past relics. I feel like a more enjoyable base could've been seen with an attenuated longevity. The longevity on skin reaches the 10hr mark on me, despite the initial 2hr enjoyment; the far drydown looses the fougere tones with balsamic→coumarin takeover, which hints at materials like methyl ionone, irones and various resinoids. The ambergris and the pine does wonders here, extending it's airy-zesty sweetness further on amidst the sticky materials. Perhaps the finest modern fougeres currently available(tho in limited batch), and the closest to the very roots with the Houbigant(c1884), Gerard A. and Raymond C fougere initiations with fougere. However, I would've appreciated less ambergris and benzoin which muffles out the lighter, greener materials; swaying away from the core fougere title. However, considering the current fallatic market of longevity dependency, I do understand the sacrifice in balance for a base heavy perfume here. Had to keep it brief due to the current hectic nature of life. Scores for the numerical people: Uniqueness in profile- 7/10 Quality- 10/10 Blending- 7.5/10 Pricing- 5/10 (7.5) Longevity- 10/10 Projection- 9/10 Performance- 9.5/10 (9.5) Rounded score = 8.5/10

The Sermon on the Mountain " In the light of Vedanta". Anyone who goes to the Mallo side will see a Mountain as a portrait of ARC. This book came to mind because it interestingly combines European and Indian culture. It reflects an Indian scholar's view of the Sermon on the Mountain. Two cultures came together to create the scent. A should stand for Antonio and R therefore for Rajesh. ARC describes the latter as his seventh perfume, which brings us back to the number of completions. Rajesh is likely to have had a great influence on the composition and ingredients, as quite a few come from his homeland “India”. Now to the perfume itself. The scent starts off brutal! (40%) .... Brutal herbs! I can well understand the association of the previous speakers with regard to sauna infusion. Slowly a sweetness is added, lavender - jasmine - benzoin. The herbs reach far in and the scent remains powerful. Little by little it becomes sweeter and fresher. In the drydown it almost seems like a lemon spice cake, which is probably due to the Cypriol becoming stronger. I was a bit overwhelmed by the scent at first, but now I think it's great! In the sense that it is a real fougere and I usually don't have much interest in the subject. The scent seems very natural and is anything but ordinary. What makes it so special is the fusion of the two perfumers. Rajesh, who very consciously selected the ingredients of his homeland and specified the theme, and Antonio, who skilfully weighed and woven them together. There is a lot of love behind this fragrance and you can smell it. "One day in harvest time HE invited us and His other friends to go on a trip to the mountains. The earth smelled; she wore all her jewels like a king's daughter at her wedding. And heaven was her bridegroom When we reached a hill, HE stopped in a laurel grove and said: Rest here, relax your mind and open your hearts because I have a lot to say to you. We lay down on the grass, surrounded by the summer flowers that grew on it, and HE sat in our midst." Khalil Gibran