It’s odd how good memories attach themselves to bad smells. For me, years of trashy holidays to trashy holiday resorts have indelibly linked the smell of sub-standard drainage infrastructure to top-notch fun. So when Summer rolls round and I get a whiff of sewage, I get a little bump of nostalgia. Sick, but true.
I remember, when I was about 8, I’d go and stay with my cousins in France in the Summer holidays. Oddly, the scent I recall from those times is a very specific French-cheese, overripe fruit smell – not unpleasant. Bruised peaches – sticky, homely and comforting.
With its aesthetic roots in decomposition and wriggling worminess, I expected to get something similar from Les Fleurs du Dechet / I Am Trash – an overripe, fruity, earthy scent, deep and interesting. I was ready for it.
But what’s grown out of the months of anticipation is something more unexpected.
On first spray there’s a spray of fresh green apple peel, as if the fruit’s being cut up right in front of you. Within seconds, the apple turns to a vibrant, dripping juicy mango. And while you’re getting your head around that, it changes again to a supersweet pineapple. It’s quite the ride around the fruit salad.
Over the next half hour, things calm down a bit, and we take a slower, more measured step – floral notes begin to appear, blending smoothly with soft strawberry tones. This perfume’s nice. It’s EASY. It might even be a crowd-pleaser.
But then, like a weed pushing up, Les Fleurs du Dechet / I Am Trash grows out of the benign and becomes something wilder and untamed. To call it a dry-down feels wrong, because it gets richer and riper; the fruit turns, growing ever-sweeter, greener and fermenting. It takes time, but it rots as it blossoms.
And then, just as things were getting interesting, it fades into a pretty skin scent.
I’m confused. I don’t know if I’m disappointed or enchanted.
There’s incredible artistry in the opening. How can a scent be designed to spin through so many distinctive fruits in seconds? And the way that freshness gives way so fast to more luscious, mulchy tones is remarkable; just as in Ogilvy’s time-lapse video, we experience decay in hyper-speed.
And then it all just…disappears.
Maybe that’s the point.
You can try and buy I Am Trash / Les Fleurs du Dechet at Bloom Perfumery in Covent Garden. 50ml EDP for £82, 100ml for £115.
Upcycled and zero-waste notes:
Akigalawood
Apple
Atlas Cedar
Iso-E-Super
Rose Absolute
Sandalore
Nose Dives 