It seems plain to me that certain noses have an aptitude for certain styles and notes. When it comes to narrative-in-scent, it is apparent Ellena and Duchaufour are particularly regarded for their poetic style.

Duchaufour, along with Ellena, is not only able to demonstrate potent transparency, but able to effectively situate smell into place marked with great breadth. Ellena captures this namely in his Jardin series, and is effective in merging clean, almost aerial styles with a solidness of concept and idea. This follows principally with Duchaufour’s works, and yet Duchaufour is able to deliver texturally richer and more intriguing creations. While Ellena creates 2-D sketches, Duchaufour moulds and shapes, transforming a sketch and moving it into the third dimension.

© 2017 Liam Sardea

Dzongkha is perfumery’s equivalent of a wave, with a long and gentle persistence and a motif observed at multiple stages. It is marked by a meditative hum with an atmospheric presence; inside and out, with both a closeness and a far-reaching breath all at once.

Dzongkha is perhaps Duchaufour’s most immersive work, existing amongst similar geographic greats as Timbuktu and Traversee du Bosphore. Dzongkha is firmly a Himalayan fantasy, captured with an entire presence. It is not one part that comprises the Himalayan narrative, but a larger, grander idea consisting of the composition as a whole. The cool presence of iris in combination with the soft mellow burning hum of carrot seed in my mind create the image of a fine mist cut with piercing mountain tops – a rapturous calm.

Spices amongst green-flecked vetiver, cool cardamom and brisk tea leaves add to this, moving the scent into the gentle smouldering of a wooden fire, whilst a rounded incense and the blunt sweetness of lychee adds a considerate weight throughout the entire fragrance without ever reading as heavy or stifling. Together, what is captured is a meditative quiet, an olfactory representation of serene isolation.

It is first and foremost (if I had to quantify it) this effect of seamlessness, in which all notes blur into one collective smell and move as an interesting wave on the skin that turns scent into masterpieces; from simple smells to artistic fragrances. But Dzongkha takes it one step further, more so than Timbuktu, in that it is a demure creature. Rather than it being the near-encroaching loudspeaker that is Timbuktu (in a good way), or the gluttonous yet balanced clean sweetness of Traversee du Bosphore, or even the sticky splendor of Or du Serail, Dzongkha is an internal scent, expressing that through shyness without losing expressiveness nor clarity of its idea. In other words, it is entirely and wonderfully spirited and graceful. Wonderful stuff.

A fragrance for the soul.

Subjective rating: 4.5/5

Objective rating: 5/5