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måndag 19 oktober 2015

Olivier Durbano - Prométhée

Picture: The legend of Prométhée
Photo: PR Olivier Durbano (c)
Prométhée is the 2014 addition to the Olivier Durbano collection. With Prométhée Olivier, according to what is written around the background to the fragrace, want to enter a new path for his fragrances. Many of the earlier ones are focused around different incense themes, with Prométhée he wants to do something new.

Prométhée starts with a masculine colognenote dominated by the characteristic citrus note of a classical cologne. This stage lasts only for a short while, soon step by step peppery, herbal and soft spicy notes appears. Then a slight animalic note appears, giving the herbal notes a rounder and softer shape. In this stage, Prométhée reminds me of Miller Harris L'Air de Rien  but less sweet and musky than the latter.
This stage is followed by a quirky passage that lasts for a while. A metallic note appears and something starts to grow until it smells almost like fresh blood. This is a bit upsetting and disturbing for ones peace of mind but it doesn't smells bad at all. I get a similar, but lighter painted, metallic-bloody experience in Parfumerie Générale Harmatan Noir. As the metallic-bloody accord steps back,  Prométhée gets spicier and darker, with resins smoothening the dominating herbal theme. An effect that reminds me of the smell of mulled wine appears and Prométhée is from now a fragrance that triggers a contemplating mood. Later a tart and dry earthy-vegetal accord appears, reminding me of the smell of crispy autumn leaves on the frosty ground a cold late autumnday. There is also a hint of pink pepper present but it doesn't dominate, just adds some sparkle. Vetiver also brighten the base with a woody, green slight citric element. The herbal aspect of Prométhée reminds me of Parfum d'Empire Corsica Furiosa even if that one evokes the image of a hot mediterrian summerday with burned herbal/grassy notes but also greener, lighter, playing in the higher octaves of the notescale. 
Picture: Prométhée
Photo: PR Olivier Durbano (c)
Present over the dry down from the middle to the end of Prométhée there is a cold, rounded accord whith a mineral wibe, I think it's a interpretation of myrrh. This cold stone accord are present in many of the earlier Durbanos and it has a similar apperance as in Prométhée in one of my favorites from the house, Lapis Philosophorum. To me Prométhée is not a depature from the Olivier Durbano style, it's still the same but this time without a dominating incense. Promethèe is a difficult and demanding fragrance which highlights different aspects in different wearings. Therefore it's intriguing and challenging to wear in the same way as Lapis Philosophorum.

Promethée to me is the perfect autumn fragrance, it captures the mood and colors of late autumn. It could be worn both for work and casual but one have to be careful when applying, this is strong stuff. Sillage is medium and longevity for more than a day. It's a unisexfragrance leaning slight to the masculine side.

Rating: 4

Notes: Fennel, pink pepper, nutmeg, myrtle, labdanum, lily, narcissus, sage, styrax, incense, ambergris, cedar, musk, vetiver

Thanks to Fragrance & Art for the sample to try 

måndag 24 augusti 2015

Eau d'Italie - Acqua Decima

Picture: Acqua Decima, the color of the bottle
describes the juice perfectly.
Photo: PR Eau d'Italie (c)
Acqua Decima is the perfect summerfragrance from Eau d'Italie , dreated by Alberto Morillas. Acqua Decima was launched already 2013 and is the only Ed'I I havn't tested. Until now. The review of the new Morn to Dusk will follow later as vanilla goes well in the autumn.

Acqua Decima is said in the PR to be inspired by the scented notes which could be smelled along The Path of the Gods a mountain walk that links the Amalfi coast with the Bay of Sorrento, through cliffs in the wilderness over a glimmering blue sea. The gold of lemons and mandarins, the warmth of Neroli, the fresh coolness of petitgrain, enlivened by zesty notes of mint leaves.

Acqua Decima starts with a distinctive citrus accord, the mandarine must be the bitter version as there is almost no sweetness in the fragrance, it is of a herbal kind. Soon mint tunes in and takes the centerstage.It's not the chemical thoothpaste mint, this one is fresh and herbal. I can also smell something similar to tomatoleaves and for some moments I smell a modern version of Sisley Eau de Campagne. The herbal, minty accord, is wrapped in the citrusnotes which plays the supporting part after the very first accord.  The fragrance goes on very green, dry and quite linear. The basenotes are light woody green, constituting as the calm background to the sparkling, Sharp, just cutted greenery in the earlier stages. Overall Acqua Decima is edgy and contemporary in style, a member of the new colognes which are not as traditional in structure as the old citrus, light herbal ones. Despite classified as unisex, Acqua Decima to me is quite masculine, it's sharp and has no smothness or sweetness at all. Therefore I can't rate it after my wearing and have to rely on Mr Parfumistas judgement. Some of the other Eau d'Italies have the herbal, outdoorsy, sharpness also, I'm thinking of the original Eau de Italie and Magnolia Romana (worn by me in late spring/summer) both of them have more flowery components which creates a bit smoother, more feminine aura. When Mr Parfumista wears Acqua Decima he also detect a note similar to a lavander in the herbal accord. Overall he find it to be a well constructed fragrance, easy to wear and a fragrance that many people could like. Despite that he founds Acqua Decima a fragrance of much at it's own, there are some similarities to antoher fragrances but not so many. Mr Parfumista smells a hint from the classic cologne Bowling Green from Geoffrey Beene.
Aqua Decima is a genuine daytimefragrance for summer. The sillage is medium and the longevity for almost a day.

Rating: 4

Notes: Lemon, mandarin orange, mint, neroli, petitgrain, white wood, vetiver

måndag 17 november 2014

By Kilian - Smoke for the Soul

Picture: Kilian himself personify
his new line - Addicted State of Mind
Smoke for the Soul
Photo: PR By Kilian (c)
Smoke for the Soul is one of three fragrances that constitutes the start of a new By Kilian subline called "The addicted state of mind.  Smoke for the Soule is created by perfumer Fabrice Pellegrin.

Smoke for the Soul starts cold and slight mentholic, probably from the eucalyptus, soon a bitter citric note appears,  followed by a note close to dry, unsweet liquorice. After a while the smoke appears, a smoke similar to the smell of a forest fire. When the smoke subsides, the cold green mentholic accord comes forward again, accompanied by a natural smelling cardamon note. There is also something that smells similar to wet tobaccoleaves glimpsing in the background. The overall structure is sharp, woody, cold spicy/herbal.
Picture: Smoke for the Soul
Photo: PR By Kilian (c)

Overall Smoke for the Soul is a weird perfume. At first it's easy to be confused and condemn it as a high-end but easy going fragrance, likable for most people. But soon I become aware of my mistake, Smoke of the Soule is alternately repulsive and likeable, feels alternately refreshing and depressing. It has something familiar but overall it's a strange composition. It's lighter and more fleeting than some other fragrances with "drug" elements such as Nasomatto Black Afgano ticker, a bit sweeter and fullbodied compared with SftS and Parfumerie Generale Cozë also sweeter,denser and more spicy/herbal. When the fresher sides of SftS shines through, there is something (the chilly herbal quality) in the overall apperance that reminds med of
De Bachmakow from The Different Company.

Smoke for the Soul is suitable (in small doses) for daytime wear but not in too warm or too cold temperatures, perhaps autumn and spring is the best seasons for this fragrance. Overnight longevity and sillage is close. It's classified as unisex and I agree with that, it's totally genderless.

Not my favorite By Kilian but as always with the Kilians a wellcrafted, high quality fragrance that at least creates a reaction, which is not common among the current releases.

Rating: 4

Notes: Eucalyptus, grapefruit, tobacco, mate, birch, cashmirwood, cannabis, cardamom

lördag 20 juli 2013

Fragrance(s) of the week (29) 2013 - Green &herbal

Here we are in the middle of the summer.Almost every year I have started long for the dark orientals of the autumn & winter by now but this year I'm more in tune whith the season and like to wear herbal and green perfumes such as:
 My SOTD Reverie au Jardin a bit neglected and forgotten Tauer.Green incense  lavandel herbal dry beauty, the always so wearable Cologne Friction from Parfums Nicolai, the salty, musky galbanum of Balmain Vent Vert (I appreciate the new version more and more) and the cotton clean galbanum of Coton Egyptien from Phaedon. Overall I like the unsweet and natural in style fragrances at the moment but theses preferences will probably change soon...

onsdag 31 oktober 2012

Ramón Monegal – Dry Wood

Picture: Satureja Subspicata, Royal Botanic Garden Édinburgh
Photo by Peter Weis, (cc) Wikimedia Commons, some rights reserved

Dry Wood is a dark green, mossy, herbal, woody fragrance from Ramón Monegal. It’s a very potent creation and just two tiny spritzes are almost too much. But very light applied, Dry Wood offers an unusual experience and even if containing the usual cedary, peppery notes of contemporary woody perfumers gendered at the masculine side, Dry Wood highlights the note in a different way, somehow better blended.

Dry Wood starts with a blast of dark greenery over a woody backgound. Some full and rounded citrusnotes glimmering through and gives the introduction a spakle, just like the ray of light is shining through the treetops in a dense fir and pine forest a sunny autumnday. Dry Wood is really very dry and masculine in it’s charcter but anyway somehow wearable by a woman. In the heartnotes Dry Wood becomes rounder and almost soapy in style, like a green, herbal, mossy soap. When the fragrance dried down a little bit further, a slight almost liqueur-like note appears and lasts for quite a whlie. This is the only hint of something on the edge to sweetness in Dry Wood, the rest is non-sweet. In the basenotes, Dry Wood gets sharper again, woodier, with peppery elements but well embedded in the woody, mossy, herbal, dark green facets. The greeness is like that of the undergrowth in a swedish fir and pineforest during the autumn, moss, coniferus, humic, dry- and moisty grass, heather and hebal plants. An interesting ingredient in Dry Wood is satureja(savory), an herbal plant related to thyme and rosemary, which in Sweden is used to speice aquavit with, I havn’t seen that note used in perfume before, but I can smell some thymerelated notes in the blend.

As mentioned above, Dry Wood has the neutronbomb power in sillage and strength, in the same division as Montale Aoud Musk and Carner Barcelona Cuirs even if it smells differently. I have read opinions that reviwers think Dry Wood is onedimensional, but to my nose it is not, if (now I’m repeating myself again) applied very sparingly. Because a “normal” application of  4-5 spritzes almost ruins Dry Wood, the ingredients gets messy. I experienced this when Mr Parfumista tested Dry Wood, by mistake applying too much. Sillage is huge and the longevity for several days if not taken a sauna to sweat it out.

I think admiers of the bold herbal and mossy fragrances of the 80s and of contemporary fragranceas as Amoauge Opus V and Montale Wild Oud could appreciate Dry Wood. Even if not smelling the same, they conveys the same impression.

Rating: 3+ (a good fragrance but too masculine to me)
Rating: 5*)

*)Update February 2017: Dry Wood is a hidden gem which deserves a better rating. One have to see through the masculine a bit colognelike topnotes and wait for the rest, ie when Dry Wood unfolds in its intriguing dry fresh woody aromatic layers.

Notes: Citron, bay leaf, pepper, moss, sandalwood, cedar, cashmeran, amber, woody notes, satureja

fredag 1 juni 2012

Maria Candida Gentile – Barry Lyndon

Barry Lyndon is another beautiful fragrance in the complex and characterful Maria Candida Gentile spirit. But this time in a fragrance family that may not represent the typical dark and suggestive MCG style as Sideris and Cinabre beeing reviewed earlier this week.

Picture; Calluna Vulgaris (heather)
Prof. Dr. Otto Wilhelm Thomé, Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz,
 1885, Gera, Germany

Barry Lyndon is an aromatic-herbal-light leathery fragrance that perfectly suits the 18th century irish adventurer, Barry Lyndon who has lend his name to this creation. I get images from a fox hunt an early autumn morning in the English countyside. The nature waking up, the chilly and crisp greenery, the smell from the leather in the saddles and and well-polished  ridingboots. Another image I get from Barry Lyndon is an Alpenwiese, a meadow in the alps a sunny day with it’s grass, heather and herbal plants.

To me Barry Lyndon starts with a dry and light almost dusty leathernote. Shortly it transfers to the pleasent “dust on a just ligthed bulb” note. Then the herbals gets more distinct I smell thyme and fresh minty notes but also an almost honeyed roundness, probably from the heather. As Barry Lyndon reaches the basenotes there is an almost suede-like note, combined accompanied with vanillic touches. There is also a fresh earty feeling present in the basenotes. A fragrance that comes to my mind when wearing Barry Lyndon is Maître Parfumeur et Gantier Eau de Camelia Chinois but that one is much less herbal.

Despite of beeing aromatic-herbal, Barry Lyndon is a full bodied fragrance, thick and complex in its contruction. It’s not thin, transparent and fleeting. As in the other MCG fragrances I have tried, much is going on during the whole dry down and Barry Lyndon doesn’t let it’s wearer rest. Unisex in style, leaning at bit to the masculine side. Proper for summer, this one will last also during the hot summerdays, and to the office.

Rating: 4

Notes: Aromatic herbs, artemisia, arnica, heather, leather, vetiver, vanilla

Later on I will certainly come back to review more from Maria Candida Gentile
as I highly appreciate this line.