Crafted in Tears

for a Princess of Myth.

Pronounced. “OH-seh” or “OH-say”

as in “Oh say can you see....”

Douglas Hopkins, creator of prestige personal care products, in 1995 launched Åse, the company’s third royal fragrance and its first women’s perfume. The name is that of a beautiful princess, a Bergmanesque heroine of Scandinavian legend.

Åse was inspired by a rare discovery. While visiting the ancestral home of friends in Austria, Mr. Hopkins came upon a slender, gold-embellished volume in the castle's library. The three-hundred-year-old work was entitled "Le Parfumeur Francoise" [sic]. The French monarch of that time—Louis XIV, the Sun King—encouraged the arts and sciences to flourish in his Court at Versailles. His patronage specifically fostered the development of the art of perfumery. The book, a compendium of lost formulae and techniques, was published when this art was at its zenith. Its secrets provided a singular guiding voice ot of this glorious past, leading to pre-launch recognition of Åse as a fragrancing masterpiece; equilibrium in eighteen essential oils.

Interestingly, Hopkins' first royal scent, Prastara, was itself commissioned by Louis XIV in 1682, according to a manuscript discovered more than 40 years ago in the ancient Polish town of Lodz. And until now, Prastara--that popular classic for men--was the only known example of a formulation from the golden age of fragrance.

Flux is the scent of Åse: sophistication with a taunt of liberation; a cool refinement punctuated by undercurrents of sensuality so pervasive as to be uncontrollable. A rare fertile rose attar evokes provocatively redolent feminine warmth discreetly veiled by cool top notes of virgin gold spice. It is civilized self-confidence tempered by earthly obsession. Take care: removing the stopper of this delicate cordial yields no symmetry, no obvious answer; only a cloak of purpose. Balance and abandon are uneasily poised as a woman's pulse point is grazed by a trace of the essence.

The princess Åse, as Swedish legend tells, was the tiny baby daughter of a Viking warrior who cast the child upon the sea in a carefully fashioned wooden box rather than risk her capture by Mongol invaders. Åse survived and was ultimately discovered and adopted by the Norwegian King. She became a Princess of the Land, the brightest and most beautiful, of striking elegance, but tragically lost in personal sorrow. She was burdened by the mystery of her origin, locked in a grand, but unhappily bleak and echoless personal universe, always seeking her inner harmony.

This limited-edition, special order flask is hand fitted with a ground-glass stopper, filled, then sealed with thread-thin gold wire.

Utilitarian in form, yet delicate, graced with a slender neck, it reflects the Princess.

The price is $736 for the 6-milliliter (with flask and refill, totaling one ounce) “Extrait,” a French term no longer used to specify formulation of extremely high essential oil concentration.

This vial is hand sealed, tied and wrapped in a scintillating transparent soft mesh, a singular golden gauze woven in Bombay specifically for the fragrance.

It is boxed in the company's manner of twenty years, ecologically driven, sturdy, minimalist, rarely discarded.

A compact 10-milliliter (.3 ounce) spray perfume utilizing a new French micro-pump in a miniature “hip flask” custom shaped custom-shaped bottle is priced at $78. Åse Perfume Delicate, an 18% concentration, is offered in a 100-milliliter, glass-stoppered size, priced $365, with a spray cologne version, Åse Eau Delicate, in a 1.7 ounce, 50-milliliter frosted French glass hip flask, spray, $78. 
 

Product Summary

Translation. In Scandinavian myt

hology means “Princess”.

Fragrance Image. Spicy floral on warm velvet powder base. Extremely high lift in spray, a scintillating and pervasive diffusion. The flagship essence is-in technical French terms-an “extrait”; a category higher than perfume concnetration, over 30º%. Aspects of scent derived from 1699 French perfumer’s manual.

Background. Simple, generic packaging follows the myth of a Swedish warrior wrapping a baby in his gold royal cloak and placing her in a plain wooden box which he casts upon the sea for protection from certain death by invaders. She drifts to a shore in Norway where the old King discovers her. He adopts her as his daughter to become Princess of the land. It is the only fragrance of this decade inspired by an actual romance.

Fragrance Summary. Orange Flower, Peach, Plum, Cassis, Mint, Honeysuckle, Rose, Jasmine, Orchid, Tuberose, Vanilla, Cedarwood, Patchouli, Amber Sandalwood, Lily of the Valley, Vetiver, Musk, Oakmoss.