Milonga

Milonga: The Inspiration Behind The Name

Milonga, the precursor to Tango. Milongas were and are still played in dive bars in the old, suburban neighborhoods of mysterious Buenos Aires. A Milonga is a type of lively dance unique to Argentina. 

Called "antros" by the locals, many dive bars play tango and milongas for local patrons and the occasional tourists that manage to find them. 

For the Milonga candle, I aimed to recreate the scents that greet you as you enter a Milonga dive bar: the aroma of leather stools, waxed floors, and tobacco, blending with men's aftershave, women's lipstick, and alcohol. These create an intoxicating, sensual concoction that wafts through the room, impregnating clothes and skin.

From Inspiration To The Reality Of A Functional Luxury Home Fragrance

Of course, one thing is to get inspired by the ambiance of a dive bar, and another is to create a pleasant fragrance that will also be functional, as is the case with a luxury candle. 

The smell of alcohol can be represented in different ways. Red or white wine accords differ significantly from those of cognac, gin, or bourbon. I chose to work with a whiskey/ bourbon accord to represent alcohol in this blend; the mix of oakwood, smoke, caramel, and spice aspects of a whiskey accord lends itself to harmony with the other elements in the inspiration: the terpene aspect of a waxed floor, the warm connotation of leather, the mossy notes of aftershave, and the powdery elements of lipstick. 

Because this is luxury, and the Milonga fragrance was assigned to be a luxury candle, I worked with noble materials, including genuine frankincense essential oil from India, genuine cadé oil from Spain, and genuine sandalwood essential oil from Australia, sourced from our partners at Quintis, to build the backbone of the formula. A whiskey accord crafted with whiskey, maple lactones, and green cognac essential oil from Romania adds a fizzy sparkle. Glorious real Ylang-Ylang from the island of Nosy-Bé in Madagascar, combined with violet and raspberry, creates the illusion of lipstick. Finally, a leather accord is achieved using various materials, such as tobacco and quinolines. 

Why The Materials Matter In Luxury Home Fragrance

Generally speaking, not many materials are required to convey a feeling when constructing an inspirational message in a fragrance formula. However, the complexity of the formula doesn't lie solely in the inspiration; various factors also influence it. It helps to have a specific target, in this case, "the smell of a bar late at night." In luxury home fragrance, where fragrance must be functional, meaning a candle is expected to diffuse throughout a room, it is essential to work with materials that not only provide diffusion but also convey inspiration.

For RHR Luxury, the selection of materials matters—pun intended—because I create luxury products for the home that are expected to perform to a luxury standard. 

Milonga is a leather and incense luxury candle that delivers a powerful fragrance and diffusion, as well as a daring play between all genders. 

RHR