Leo Crabtree’s BeauFort London brand offers an exclusively British perfumery, driven by curiosity and inspired by the sea.
Musician and writer, his lifelong passion for fragrances and his fascination with the darkest elements of British history are the driving force behind the collection.
Born into a family of artists, psychologists and sailors, Crabtree’s first home was a ship on the River Thames. “The sea, its traditions, superstitions and way of life are rooted in me. The name ‘BeauFort London‘ (derived from the 1805 wind force scale*) represents a kind of frame within which we can understand ourselves: The wind is constant, long-lasting, but ultimately changing. It can be extremely placid and pleasant and spontaneously destructive.
BeauFort currently consists of 6 fragrances. Each of them is very interesting and radically different from the fragrances found in the world of Niche Perfumery. You can like it or not, but none of BeauFort’s references will leave you indifferent. On the contrary….
In today’s post we are going to talk about his reference “Tonnerre“.
“Tonnerre” is a French term that means thunder in English. The name Tonnerre of the BeauFort company refers to the Battle of Trafalgar took place on October 21, 1805 in El Cabo de Trafalgar is a cape located in Los Caños de Meca, within the municipality of Barbate (Cadiz, Spain). The famous battle of Trafalgar, the French-Spanish squadron, was defeated by the English team led by Admiral Nelson. The fragrance imagines moments within the Battle of Trafalgar.
Tonnerre 1805 imagines moments within the battle of Trafagar itself. Powerful chords of smoke, gunpowder, blood and brandy combine with the dew of the sea and a penetrating citrus note. The fragrance is uniquely bold in its composition, but ultimately refined, provocative and unique…
In the Western world, Tonnerre is considered a winter/night perfume. In the Middle East however, there is no distinction between a summer and a winter perfume because generally they have a very warm/hot climate all year round. Cultures like those of the Middle East, no matter how hot it gets, use Oud and, as one knows, Oud is very dense and extremely strong. Oud is part of their history/culture and is present in their daily lives 365 days a year.
As we have observed in recent years, Oud has become very popular in the West. We presently live in a globalized world where the interchange between cultures is continuous. For this reason, in today’s world, one can say there is more room for adopting new “rules” when it comes to choosing a type of perfume and when to wear it. Considering this fact, we have chosen to publish a post in summer on a perfume that would generally be considered a winter/night perfume. We often forget that the world of perfumes, like many other life topics, is an entirely subjective matter.
Olfactory Pyramid:
Top notes: lime, gunpowder, smoke.
Heart notes: blood, brandy, seawater.
Base notes: amber, balsamic fir, cedar.