Some fragrances are vividly opaque like Baroque masters' thinned on turpentine; some have the eerily matte luminosity and luxurious old-world austerity that comes from gold leaf and egg tempera on Byzantine basilicas and Fayum mummy portraits. Others seem primed with Gesso primer, an indeterminate ambiance that alludes to an undercoat for the development of other ideas on top; while some are thi...