Vero Kern: Onda

Onda is an unusual fragrance that juxtaposes the dry greenness of vetiver with a no-holds-barred animal and spice-laden base. I have never come across anything quite like it, although the base did remind me of the late dry down of Amouage Gold for men. Onda is startling at first, although this could in part be due to the absence of customary floral and citrus notes that deflect the nose away from the potentially disturbing character of naked animalic essences, which are most often used to lend weight and depth to a fragrance. Even leather, which is often a prominent note, is usually tempered to make it more palatable. In this case the more "difficult" notes are placed directly in the spotlight.

Over a soft sweet note of decay, there is a pungent brutal smell that packs the punch of raw civet, conjuring up images of some savage animal. With the untamed and stark smoky tar and leather, the notes are so vivid I can't help but imagine the crackle of burning wood and the roar of animals. However, this is not just a depiction of a fire in the Colosseum. There is a real sense of presence, like I am in the company of a living thing.

In the absence of anything resembling a floral heart, ginger blooms in its place, giving a glowing radiance, from which the vetiver emerges, and its greenness adds a sharp new dimension to the picture, although at times it seems like the base has become a natural extension of the vetiver note itself -a testament to the clever choice of materials and masterful blending. 

A fragrance is of course much more than a collection of notes, and the most important thing is the overall effect, and while it might seem that Onda is an attempt to recreate the last days of Sodom and Gomorrah -and it certainly has a decadent side- the fragrance has a soft, dark, and luxurious radiance. In a sense I also consider it like the missing link to an evolutionary branch of perfumery that lost out to the abstract perfumes of the Twentieth Century. It's as if Vero Kern went back to literal depictions of nature, but brought perfumery through the Brutalist era instead of Impressionism. She has not shied away from revelling in subject matter that some might find a little "difficult", but finds beauty in areas where most people wouldn't look.