Smart
Andrea Maack (2010)

Smart, like Sharp, opens with a lively jasmine note on a clean, transparent surface of powdery white musks, delicate and frosty, with also vanilla and some earthy-herbal nuances, perhaps some incense too (Iso E) and a light note of aldehydes. All is sharp, restrained, at the same time airy and rarefied, but also "materic", dusty and hard like concrete. The concept is quite the same behind other Maack's scents, a minimal, "white-grey" composition, abstract but with a specific density. And as the other ones I've tested from this line so far, it quite nails it: it's smart, well-played, interesting and not dull at all. The rendition of grey-whiteness is brilliant and powerful, an aseptic, clean, surgical "nowhere" with a palpable organic vibe. You feel like sitting in a completely white room surrounded by an invisible breeze of flowers – but the atmosphere is so abstract and alienating, that perhaps the flowers exist only in your fantasy and memories. It then slowly gets more dry and grey, opening up a subtle safraleine note (rubbery, synthetic leather), then turning back on a balsamic-floral breeze. A "skin-scent" indeed, but with a "detectable" and elegant sillage. Charming – and as the name goes, smart.

8/10

Smart is a well crafted unpretentious talky musk with floral subtle nuances (an heady jasmine, neroli and a powdery violet in particular). The aroma is pleasant, childish and candid, flowing down in to a really comforting and diaphanous soapiness conjuring a cleansed baby skin. I detect soft amber and talky woods more than balmy vanilla on the skin. The sweetness is controlled, never loud. This is the Andrea Maack's creation (among those tested) which impressed me far less due to its lack of originality, abstractionism and exsperimentalism (which is typical about the further creation of the line). The juice conjures me a bunch of more famous fragrances around, going from Givenchy Pi to Voyage d'Hermes, passing through Phul-Nana Grossmith, Ambre et Vanilla E.Coudray and O.P.S.O Dalila. For the rest the aroma is beautiful, balanced and ethereal though unoriginal and un-innovative for sure. Nothing bad can anyway be sensibly said about this honest juice.

I can't really say what Smart smells like - it smells like nothing in particular, just soft and sweet and powdery-creamy. It's smells pink, a pale warm pink, almost apricot, like face powder or a peach pink angora sweater. Very vaguely floral, with a sprinkle of cinnamon - not a pronounced cinnamon smell (there's no cinnamon listed among the notes and actual cinnamon notes tend to turn sharp and sour on my skin) but the warm feeling of cinnamon. That spicy-powdery warmth is really the best thing about this fragrance.

Candle smoke, woods, rubber and spice: a thin copy of Annick Menardo's Bulgari Black, minus the depth and complexity.