Byredo Pulp: Fabulous Fruity Fun
If there was an award for the fragrance with the biggest discrepancy between the look of the bottle and the smell of the juice, I’d nominate Byredo Pulp. Byredo’s design is minimal, monochrome and achingly stylish, bordering on austere. Pulp is none of these things. It’s bold, bright and a bit vulgar.
Pulp is a divisive fragrance – not only is it loud, it’s also a fruity scent (the term ‘juice’* is particularly appropriate here), something that most serious perfume fans view with deep suspicion. I belong to those who love it and it’s one of my top choices when I need energy or cheering up. Despite the image above, it isn’t really a citrus scent: lemons and bananas just happened to be the only fruits I had at home and a banana would have been an even worse option. I would be hard-pressed to say which fruit Pulp would be more appropriate, though.
As the entirely fitting name suggests, it just smells like juicy and very ripe fruit pulp to me. The notes listed (among others) are blackcurrant, apple and fig, but I’m not really able to pick any of these out, with the possible exception of blackcurrant. Sometimes I think I smell rhubarb. The overall effect to my nose is a bit more tropical than the ingredients suggest (the tiare effect?), an abstract burst of fruitiness that is both tart and sweet. Because of this balance, the sweetness doesn’t really bother me. The woody-green bottom notes also help to keep things away from the lollipop territory.
Pulp’s high-quality trashiness is unique, the only comparable perfume I can think of is Neela Vermeire’s Bombay Bling! – a fun mango fragrance on a sophisticated woody-spicy base. While the mainstream perfume world is full of fruity scents, I haven’t smelled anything similar – although I admit my knowledge in this area is limited.
If you’re one of those people who likes the smell of Pulp, but is not able to wear it, I recommend getting the shower gel. It’s like washing yourself with a little fruity sun and the bathroom will smell amazing for hours.
*’Juice’ is what perfume aficionados call the actual liquid.
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I want to try the soap!
I’ve not tried the soap, but considering that both the shower gel and candle (Caroussel) are lovely, I think it would work very well. Can you buy it where you are? I want the soap now, too 🙂
if I take a trip to the city I can definitely buy it (and I very well might ….so many soaps on my to buy list after reading your fantastic soap post!) It sounds like a very appropriate scent for a soap!
and just to clarify and to respond to your comment of yesterday (I feel more comfortable doing it here if that is OK) I wasn’t questioning the prices of the SSS perfumes but rather the cost of shipping which, given that I am also in the States, seems incredibly high. Other very small one woman and one man operations offer less expensive or completely free shipping, so I am not sure as to why it is so high for SSS. It actually stopped me in my tracks for placing an order a few weeks ago….I was going to get a 1oz bottle of Lieu de Rieves but then when the shipping popped up at $13 I removed it from the cart…had I bought two bottles the shipping would have been the same but I did not want two bottles….I agree that the small companies cannot afford to give the perfumes to us for free…but I have to say that some one man operations are incredibly generous and for this they will have my business for a very long time….case in point…I bought three full bottles for three individuals for Christmas presents to be mailed to the recipients from Dame Perfumery….when all three gifts were still missing in action thanks to the US Postal Service on December 22, Mr. Dame personally called me on my phone to let me know that he was express shipping three more bottles to the recipients even though I told him we should just wait to see if the packages eventually show up….on December 23rd the recipients received their missing packages and on December 24th the express packages arrived….Mr. Dame told me to tell them to keep the extra bottles- gratis (even though I was intent on paying for the extras)…..and this is why I love this company ……along with the fact that he creates some BEAUTIFUL perfumes at extraordinary prices and is incredibly generous with his samples (I usually get 5-6 in each package) and free shipping!!!!
Keep me posted on your soap adventures! I’m curious to know what you think of Pulp, it’s not for everybody.
And yes, I do realise that you were talking about shipping and of course, it makes perfect sense to prefer brands that offer good terms that suit you. My point was that small businesses are still businesses and need to make a profit, and the circumstances are different. I don’t know these specific cases, but let’s say that there are two tiny businesses and one person can work from home, while the other needs to rent a space. This means the first one has some flexibility when it comes to other costs (and can, for example, subsidise shipping), while the other has not. Then there are different pricing strategies: some brands include the aggregate shipping costs in the price of the products and offer free or cheaper shipping, others do not. Free international shipping means in the end of the day that people who live closer pay a proportionally larger sum than customers overseas, etc. There are many different variables like that and when your business is small, you feel every single penny that goes out. The background of brands can vary, too. I know some small business owners who don’t have to earn money and of course can be more relaxed on the commercial front as a result, while if you need to feed four kids from your income alone, it’s different. That’s why I’m not so quick to judge. My experience is that generally, indie perfumers tend to be very generous (including Laurie, who sent many free samples when she shipped my stuff to Tallinn, but others too).
In any case, Dame Perfumery has been on my list for a long time and your descriptions of the soliflores sound wonderful. I need to get my act together at some point, but ordering from the US is always a hassle, no matter the cost of shipping 🙂
I am experiencing The Anubis Effect. All I can think of is shreds of fleshy pulp spewing out of a bottle. Not appealing. Okay, I’ll snap out of it and try this one. I might even have a sample floating in The Sample Sea. 🙂
It may not be your kind of thing, but still worth trying, I think. Every niche company seems to be doing an oud and an amber and what have you, but a good fruity scent is hard to find.
http://export.dameperfumery.com/pages/international-export
In case you are interested…the New Musk oil and the Soliflore roll ons can be shipped to Belgium and the international shipping is free!!!!
Go Jeffrey!!!
LOL! Curious, have you tried any of the Dames? I have now sampled his ENTIRE collection and have purchased nine full bottles as gifts for family and friends and sixteen travel sprays for myself and my girls!
I have! I discovered him back in 2013 when he did a giveaway of Grand Cuir on Kafkaesque. I haven’t yet tried the soliflores but I’m sure I’ll get to them. 🙂
Wow! Talk about generous! He gave away almost 80 3ml travel sprays in the giveaway! The company had a different name and a different direction…more geared towards replications of vintage is what it looks like….the current offerings from Dame Perfumery (new name) might be slightly different to your nose 🙂
Yes, I’ve tried a lot of the Dame Perfumery ones as well. The only ones I haven’t gotten to are the BFMV, Dark Horse, New Musk and the soliflores. Which now adds up to quite a lot!
One daughter has a full bottle of BFMV , another daughter has a full bottle of Dark Horse (and my parents have one FB of Dark Horse and two FBs of BFMV) and I have the travel size of the Musk OIl…. I also really like his Leather Man on me and on my son (we share that one 🙂 !!!)
Wow, I had a long day at work yesterday and missed all the fun here 🙂