Anna Zworykina

I have never been fond of all-natural perfumery, for two reasons: 1- Constraints in art are fruitful only if they channel creativity to give results pleasing to the senses, e.g. rhyme, modal harmony etc. The all-natural constraint is not productive: no all-natural perfume has ever been as good as the best natural-aromachemical ones*. 2- My definition of Nature includes Organic Chemistry and all who sail in her. This said, I find Anna Zworykina‘ fragrances very impressive indeed, and largely immune from the mushiness of most natural perfumery. Wisely, she seems to stick to classical forms and puts her skill into making them work optimally. Verdigris, for example, is a resplendent, stonking chypre. You can clearly smell the superb bergamot, cistus and oakmoss singing in harmony. Young Cossack (in Russia Cossacks have a more positive reputation than abroad) is a lovely animalic hay-tonka accord that would make a wonderful masculine, with or without sabre and horse. Her Cuir de Russie is the most eccentric of that name I remember smelling, very floral and less smoky than the usual fare, with a strange and beautiful sweet-green drydown. In the end, empirical evidence prevails: these are perfumes that even a fan of synthetics like me would love to wear.