Maison Issey Miyake adds a Parfum concentration to its marine range. The bottle goes from white to deep brown, and the formula brings saffron and amber in against seaweed. It remains to be seen what “more intense” means, as the Maison gives no concentrate percentage.
On paper, the project fits in one sentence: take a marine water and bring it closer to rock. Perfumer Quentin Bisch, who signs the composition, describes, according to the Maison, a desire to deepen the contrast. The marine facets gain definition. The amber gains depth and texture. The point of contact between the two worlds should be felt.
The “sea” part takes up the range’s signature: a saline accord, laminaria seaweed extract, oakmoss, watery notes. The “earth” part is new. A saffron accord, whose leathery facet transforms the salty signature, occupies its heart. Patchouli structures the whole, and an amber accord extends its staying power. The relationship between these two sides is the point of the concentration.
The bottle says the same thing, in its own way. Tokujin Yoshioka, who had designed the range’s bottle, takes it up again in “smoked” black salt: glossy black cap, brown gradient glass, deep brown matte-finish box, silver lettering, a texture evoking salt crystals. The campaign, signed by Marcus Tomlinson, extends the process of the previous one. The British director and photographer visualises sound there through cymatics. Grains of salt vibrate to the rhythm of saffron and dark woods, with flashes of red, and the passage from white salt to black salt serves as a symbol of intensity.
This is the point to remember. In this range, concentration is told by colour before it is measured: white for the Eau de Toilette, a gradient for the Eau de Parfum, brown for the Parfum. It is coherent and legible. But the Maison describes this version as more intense, more concentrated and more vibrant “to date” without giving any measure: no concentrate percentage, no indication of staying power. The absence of proof does not allow us to say the promise is false. It allows us to say it is not established.
The environmental commitments are announced with their scope, which is rarer. A formula made in France, declared vegan, composed of 92% natural ingredients including oakmoss, with a recycled ingredient from patchouli leaves. The alcohol is of natural origin and French production. The glass contains 20% recycled material, cap excluded. The box incorporates 10% recycled seaweed of natural origin. All these figures remain declarative: neither the certifier of the vegan label nor the standard used to calculate the 92% is indicated.
Ultimately, Le Sel d’Issey Parfum is an object coherent in its design and in its announced composition. Its intensity remains to be tested on skin, and it is this that will decide whether the bottle’s brown keeps its promise.
Announced materials: glass with 20% recycled material (cap excluded); box with 10% recycled seaweed of natural origin; formula with 92% natural ingredients, with a recycled ingredient from patchouli. Data declared by the Maison.
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