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Thursday, December 20, 2007

Perfume Review: Bond No 9 Andy Warhol Silver Factory

By Marina

I am not going to talk about the inspiration behind Silver Factory and will not analyze the ways in which particular notes make the scent fit the name. Because if you are in a mood to do so and if you look at things at a certain angle, you can convince yourself of anything at all. If you were previously unfamiliar with Pink Sugar and were told that it was called Silver Factory, would it not make just as much sense as a Warhol-inspired scent as Bond No 9's incensey-balsamic creation? Now take, say, Fracas, and look at it at the same Warhol-esque angle and tell me if that wouldn't fit just as well.

It is my humble opinion that Silver Factory is Bond No 9's most exciting creation yet, more interesting even than Chinatown (and created by the same talented young perfumer, Aurelian Guichard). It is complex and quirky but does not cross the line into the land of strange for strangeness's sake. It is rich (all that amber!), but not overwhelming. Incense-heavy, but not churchy. Sweet but not syrupy. I could go on. What is so captivating about it is that the qualities that make it outre - the very prominent incense note, which, paired with the sinful lushness of amber and the candied, almost edible floral accord, smells irreverent if not blasphemous rather that typically soulful and holy - is also what makes it so incredibly comforting. That's right, Silver Factory is a comfort scent for me. The resinous sweetness and the dark lushness of incense are enveloping, warm and wonderfully soothing. It is a scent-kaleidoscope, scent-chameleon, its numerous facets ensuring that those who want it to be masculine, will perceive it as such, and those who are looking for a feminine woody oriental fragrance, will also be delighted. Those who want to smell Warhol references, will intuit them in its decadent luxuriousness and pleasant oddness. And those who, like me, are (always!) on a hunt for a new great comfort scent will find it there too.

Silver Factory is available at Beautycafe, $230.0 for 100ml.

Image sourse, allposters.com.

28 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

ummm...

not again!!!

this is tabu... !

this is a "sultra ylang" rinse over a bad perm (with the solution yet clinging)... i'm so NOT impressed at the mass swooning here... reminds me of when the entire world loved that movie "rocky"... or worse... ET

9:52 PM EST  
Blogger Marina said...

the dweller,
Aww, I love ET :-)

9:53 PM EST  
Blogger elle said...

Fracas as Silver Factory - now that is one fascinating idea.
You're so right about it being an irreverent incense. I love that about it. As I've said, it just makes me happy. Another new release that I think is well worth the price - quite a rare feeling for me these days. But *why* are they all bunched up at the very end of the year when I've got other expenses? I am lighting candles that I don't fall in love w/ any of the Diors.

9:58 PM EST  
Blogger Marina said...

L,
Exactly. It's like nothing (good) was going on all year, and suddenly, amidst the Holiday Expenses Season, they start bombarding us with FBW stuff. Ugh. :-)

10:00 PM EST  
Blogger chayaruchama said...

SO well put !
It is as wonderful as you say- an utter delight.

10:15 PM EST  
Blogger Marina said...

I,
Definitely a delight, and totally unexpected, to me.

10:28 PM EST  
Blogger Kelley said...

M, I was really hoping that this was one house that I was going to be able to avoid, forever. I haven't liked any...ANY of their releases at all. However, I am thinking of sampling this one.

11:05 PM EST  
Blogger tmp00 said...

(chuckling)

You know, I've never seen ET? Or Rocky for that matter?

I am going to have to scare up tabu...

11:52 PM EST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I now have the Rocky theme tune running thru my head and I'm imagining Sly Stallone hanging out at the Factory, and maybe making a surprise appearance in 'The Couch'.

Must. Sniff. This.

11:53 PM EST  
Blogger lilybp said...

I feel deprived. It just doesn't do it for me. Must be my skin (as we discovered in our experiment, ours is quite diff.)--I will try again, though. On the plus side, I finally got to try the Doves (which I know you don't like) and I really enjoyed Enslaved.

6:47 AM EST  
Blogger Marina said...

Kelley,
Oh, but you will like this one, sorry! :-)

6:48 AM EST  
Blogger Marina said...

Tom,
I have seen them AND I like AWSF. Imagine! :-)

6:48 AM EST  
Blogger Marina said...

Lee,
Too scary an image! :-)

6:49 AM EST  
Blogger Marina said...

J,
I don't dislike them. They just didn't do it for me. I should re-test yet again.

6:50 AM EST  
Blogger priscilla said...

M, I found this one rather cold, but also oddly comforting, the way taking a walk on a cold winter day can somehow make one feel cozy and that all is right with the world. I declare this is my favorite Bond, but for me the price is prohibitive. If they were offering it at their usual price point, I might very well have been able to talk myself into buying it as my "Christmas present."

Wonderful review, as always. :-)

9:37 AM EST  
Blogger Unknown said...

Yeah, we have all turned into a little herd of lemmings on this one, but darn it, it really is good!

I wonder if maybe I like it more because it wasn't what I expected from Bond? I like some Bonds, bordering on love for Nuits de Noho, New Haarlem and West Broadway, but that's as far as I can get, but this one just smelled so... NOT BOND. So it's quirky, but very wearable, like a Bond/CdG Love Child who turned out prettier than either parent?

Comfort is a good word for it.

10:12 AM EST  
Blogger Beth Schreibman Gehring said...

I just love this one. It reminds me of my childhood....I was one of the flower children, my sister was a full blown hippie and the house was always redolent of incense and other exotics. When Andy Warhol came along, my very bohemian family (3/4 of them are painters) embraced him completely. I loved (and still do) the pop culture of the late 60s,70,s and early 80,s....it was interesting then in a way that could never be reinvented. Silver Factory comes pretty darned close for me though. And Marina, by the way Warhol would have loved your review and your abstract way of looking at his work!I really enjoyed reading it!

10:20 AM EST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

OK, now with both of you on a SF tear I have no choice but to try it. An amber rich, gender ambiguous scent could be utterly fab. I will go, I will sniff.

I will not watch ET or Rocky again, however. And now I have an image of a wigged Warhol silhouette riding a bicycle against a moonlit sky. No no no no no ....

12:10 PM EST  
Blogger marchlion said...

And another winner! The love for this is looking fairly universal :-) I never would have guessed it.

An aside to Lilybp -- did I read you right yesterday on Tom's review? Did you spray the thing? Spraying seems to make a world of difference.

2:42 PM EST  
Blogger Ducks said...

Incense and amber... this sounds better and better.

Heh, Dweller! I used to wear Tabu when I was a teenager and wanted to be Oh So Different And Mysterious (with drugstore scents). It makes me gag now.

I love incense and sometimes like it better than others (as in, Crazylibellule and the Poppies Encens Mystic and I do not agree). I wonder how I will react to this one.

3:44 PM EST  
Blogger Marina said...

P,
I declare this one my favorite Bond too :-)

8:48 PM EST  
Blogger Marina said...

Patty,
I agree, this is not Bond as we know them :-)

8:54 PM EST  
Blogger Marina said...

Beth,
Thank you! You are so kind to say that.

9:00 PM EST  
Blogger Marina said...

M,
"And now I have an image of a wigged Warhol silhouette riding a bicycle against a moonlit sky. " HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

9:01 PM EST  
Blogger Marina said...

March,
I guess it puts us all in a state of you know what. :-)

9:02 PM EST  
Blogger Marina said...

L,
How do you feel about Messe de Minuit? Just wondering.

9:03 PM EST  
Blogger marchlion said...

Lord, I almost put that word into my comment...

9:04 PM EST  
Blogger Marina said...

Tee hee :-)

9:10 PM EST  

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