Jacomo Art Collection- No. 02 and No. 09

My acquaintance with Jacomo perfumes has been limited to Silences, the 1978 wonderful mean and green creature. I wasn't aware the brand still existed outside the realms of questionable online retailers until I saw the new Art Collection trio at Henri Bendel.

The Jacomo Art Collection claims to bring "an intimate conversation between fragrance and artist presented as fragrant museum painted with paintings and compositions". Basically, three artists, Cecilia Carlstedt, Daniel Egneus and Stina Persson were invited to paint the boxes of these three perfumes and express the olfactory experience through their visual art. Did they succeed? I'm not sure. We experience scent in different ways. when I review a fragrance I often search for an image- a painting or a photo that embody my feelings. Sometimes, especially with vintage perfumes, the original ad is enough. Other times I comb through dozens of images and websites until I find the right one. Would I have chosen the specific paintings created for the Art Collection? Maybe. Maybe not.

No. 02 is the fun one. It moves quickly from sharp bergamot to new leather to play-doh with a hint of old bubblegum. I don't know how to wear it except in an ironic way, though if I were still teaching I might have chosen No. 02 for the first day of school. My students, especially the younger ones, would have enjoyed it. I actually like this fragrance up until the super synthetic vanilla becomes cloying and makes me question whatever it was I had for my last meal. It passes eventually, and the drydown, as faint as it might be, is quite delicious.


No. 09 is juicy and fruity. It opens up with sweet lemonade, a hint of berry and continues into a heart that is all orange. Musk is not listed but I'd bet money it's there- both the kind I smell and another one to which I'm mostly anosmic. As far as I can smell, 09 stops shortly after the mango note finally appears (it's pretty mellow and stays close to the skin), and the real base notes (allegedly vanilla, cinnamon and sandalwood) are nothing but a faraway rumour. The perfume isn't overly sweet and would  make a cheerful summer scent for fruit lovers.

Bottom line: Not my thing but likable and better than a lot of what's out there.

Jacomo Art Collection perfumes are available in 50ml and 100ml bottles. I got my samples of No. 02 and N0. 09 at Henri Bendel.

Top image: jacomo.com, second photo: stinapersson.com, orange 1950s fashion: myvintagevogue.com