Act 1 Scent 1: Do Tell Immortelle

How I dealt with the impermenance of life

Offering my own meaning of letting go and moving on, I turned to my scent discovery of Immortelle and the journey through the imagery tranquility of Étretat, France.

Everything is impermanent, no matter how sweet or difficult.

    — yung pueblo, Lighter

I struggle with the word “forever”. From adolencese to adulthood, my understanding of forever has evolved into a completely different meaning. Through the trials and tribulations, I now see it as somewhat of an empty fairytale.

Then I came across the Helichrysum flower (aka Immortelle). It signifies everlasting. Found among the Mediterranean landscape, it stays vibrant yellow long after it’s been picked from the ground, bringing credibility to the merit of immortality.

Honey-based scent balancing the smokiness of hay and tobacco, and highlighting the underlying sweetness of caramel and licorice. A warmness that suits the subtle changes in the autumn season from decay to release. An aromatic sensation that remains fragrantly mesmerizing.

Glimpse of bread crumbs sprinkled along our journey to remind us the impossible is possible. Knowing there is still comfort discovered in a scent even with the life lessons of moving on. A moment to pause and ponder how forever can possibly exist.

Étretat is becoming more and more amazing...it's superb and I rage at my inability to express it all better. You'd need to use both hands and cover hundreds of canvases.

— Claude Monet, Monet’s Letters

Continuing to make sense of the idea of impermanence, I wanted to experience what Monet saw when he painted the majestic cliffs of Étretat countless times. His exploration of the dynamic nature of light and color is the idea behind impressionist art. What you see is not static; therefore, those fleeing moments do not remain forever.

My internal compass manifested this year-long trek to the beautiful costal landscape of Étretat in the Normandy area. From dawn to dusk, I felt my emotions evolve as the spectrum of twilight played different notes reflecting the serenity of time and space. Color, light, and sound were in harmonic symphony.

I now understood why Monet frequent Étretat in the winter. The ever changing hues of the sky and brushes of the tide seem to freeze time. He possibly wanted to capture these moments in his paintings in search of that feeling of stillness. Redefining the word “forever” as a moment of peacefulness that can remain inside of us, for our own existence and…

…for our own eternity.