Prologue

Le Gemme is Bulgari’s exclusive luxury collection of fragrances (after all, you’re not anyone without an exclusive collection these days) and it takes inspiration from precious gemstones. I find the idea of the collection incredibly evocative and more often than not, the fragrances have a strong link to the colours, textures and emotions associated with the stones they are inspired by. Falkar, the latest masculine in the collection (composed by legend Jacques Cavallier) is an example of this cohesion, using oud, incense and saffron to capture the dappled irridesence of the Falcon’s Eye of Brazil. For me, and the story I envisaged, Falkar was a fragrance of stark contrasts…

Scent Story

Cool air streams along the agile body of the falcon as it takes flight. The breeze rushes through its feathers, ruffling the silver and blue plumage like hairs standing on end. With this movement there is a coolness – a bitter breeze that ducks, dives and darts in an angular murmuration that is unpredictable and captivating. This whirlwind of motion whips up the scents of herbs, of twigs, of juniper berries and mint, creating a refreshing rush of oxygen that evokes a sense of awakening.

But where does this journey take us? Is it a migration across the ocean, from West to East? Or is it dance through the tree tops of a lush forest?  The answer is neither of these things – this is a swooping epic set in the middle of the desert, where the sand becomes as endless and unforgiving as the ocean. The ground smokes, it is the colour of clay – a powder as the surface to a great, raging fire that spans for miles, carrying up into the air the scent of barren birch trees and white hot embers. Smoke, salt, heat and glass.

A lone figure stands in the desert. From head to toe they wear black, cloaking themselves from sight and casting an imposing shadow, like a towering column of obsidian. They are shrouded in leather – dark, unyielding and cooked in the sun. The silhouettes of these two figures – the nomad and the bird of prey – merge in the shadow of the sun, steaming in the heat and creating the starkest of contrasts, of the most vivid of oranges and the deepest of blacks, of the brightest abundance of colour and the starkest absence of it.

Epilogue

A luxurious, opulent and hairy-chested take on oud and leather smoke, La Gemme Falkar is available in 100ml Eau de Parfum for £223.

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Disclaimer

Images are my own. Sample sent by BVLGARI for consideration. I was not paid for this article, nor did BVLGARI have any say in the content.