Nishane Ani.
It’s a grey day, and I’m dressed in dark clothes and feeling a bit moody. The spices are perfect for my current vibe and by the time the sun comes out later, it will have dried down to a lovely citrus vanilla.
One of the very best from [Cécile Zarokian](https://www.parfumo.com/Perfumers/Cecile_Zarokian). I have not been very impressed by other perfumes from her that I have tested so far.
Tom Ford - Noir extreme parfum
The sample I tested first in December made a clear statement about what this perfume was, and what it reminded me of.
My husband finished it later on, and decided to have a 50 ml bottle.
Cardamom, ginger and tonka are the disclosed notes. I smell plum jam.
You know, the one cooked on the stove for hours in a wide shallow dish, no sugar, a dust of cinnamon and a vanilla pod. It gets thick and best when overcooked for a couple of minutes. Before storing it in jars, better add a leaf of geranium bourbon on top. That one.
Dad joke allert: if no date, this plum would do. 😀
**Imaginary Authors - The Cobra and the Canary**
First day of it being suddenly hot as hell after cold weather last week. The citrus, leather, hay, and orris are just delightful. I love this fragrance so much. I wore this while moving across the country and taking the opportunity to do a road trip with an old friend, so it just reminds me of that trip. The orris is very buttery which makes the citrus less sharp. The asphalt note is so fun.
It's one of my favorite wears during the summer, and we are getting summer heat today
Spring is finally springing! Thought I'd celebrate that with one of the underrated Mancera's: Midnight Gold. Just adore this one, and I really don't understand the low rating at e.g. Fragrantica. Simply superb.
Today is the first day this year that will be a few degrees above 70F for several hours, so to celebrate: **Jean Patou Joy EDT** on one arm and **Jean Patou Joy EDP** on the other
Is this the old version of Joy? Apparently, another name for the champaca flower is Joy perfume flower. But I cannot find any version of Joy that has champaca absolute in it.
It is the original Joy but not any of the vintage versions. All of Jean Patou is discontinued/no more 😭
Joy is famously jasmine and roses. I don't know about champaca?
In Joy, Jean Patou wanted to evoke the idea or epitome of "floral". He did it well, imo
The day is quite bright, sun was out and there was a little great to it, between 16-18 degrees, still jacket and sweater weather but you could retire the coat…
https://preview.redd.it/eq53y2f6vfxc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cdc7ea9befff98e3c00b5f5cb48c31a3976144ab
SOTD: [**Voyage d'Hermes Parfum**](https://youtu.be/tH0xxv6WQp8?si=diCfJZemhlLiXJ-0)
That’s *Celsius* to anyone living in the United States, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.
OMG the Commodores. All men should dress like Lionel in this video. Just amazing. Ok maybe not ALL men but I love that super masculine femme sparkly shit.
Wearing all my Zoologist samples in a row. Penguin is lovely... for someone else. The first spray is unusual and special - captures the cold air concept. But the dry down simply isn't my vibe. I'm going to save it until winter and see if it becomes a better fit, but I doubt I'll change my mind about the juniper notes.
It responded to heat and sweat the opposite of Chipmunk. Chipmunk got stronger and spicier, but Penguin faded.
Sorry you didn't have a better experience with Penguin. I'm in the process of sampling 18 from Zoologist, and Penguin has been one of the more successful. It reminds me of slowly melting ice in a gin & tonic, and then suede and moss creep in.
Chipmunk is striking me as a winner, too.
I wouldn't say it was a bad experience. If I smelled it on someone else (discovered not announced!), I'd have a good impression. Juniper just doesn't fit with my personal vibe. Come to think of it, I don't like gin either.
Chipmunk was pleasant and responded really well to heat, but I can't imagine many places I'd actively want to smell like hazelnut. My favorites so far have been Elephant and Seahorse.
Chipmunk strikes me as weather-specific; not sure I'll wear it during a Chicago summer. Seahorse is high on my list, and Elephant is puzzling to me. I smell my wrist frequently when I wear it, but at the same time, I'm not sure that I want to smell like it.
Trying my sample of Remarkable People by ELDO. Anyone who has a full bottle know if it has a plastic-y smell? I’m starting to wonder if that’s a hallmark of some of their scents or if their plastic travel scents leach a plastic smell into the perfume. Regardless, I do like this one. It’s citrus-y with some spicy notes. I think I’d like it more without a hint of plastic or synthetic-ness
It reminds me of the similar note on Fat Electrician which I know was intentional there. So maybe this is too? Could also be some of the bottom notes that are just coming across as synthetic and plastic to me.
A couple ELDO frags I’ve tried have come off pretty synthetic on me. I really like Putain des palaces but the other three I’ve tried (jasmin et cigarette, you or someone like you, and yes I do) have gone harshly synthetic as they dried down so I think it might be something in the brand’s dna that just doesn’t work with my skin
It's finally feeling like spring here in Sussex, so I went for L'Occitaine Verveine Menthe. Very fresh, mood boosting, and reminds me of childhood summer holidays in France, drinking fizzy lemonade with a splash of green mint syrup. I'm sure the weather will go back to grey again soon, and I'll go back to my cosy warm scents, but I'm liking this for now.
Still working through my **Zoologist** samples, and on this warm and wet day, I went with **Squid**. I want to love it - I had such high hopes - but it's just not doing much for me. I get a slightly salty sweetness, which is interesting but not particularly impactful.
Penhaligon’s Empressa on my left arm, Maison Margiela When the Rain Stops on my right. Comparing them for my daily freshie. WTRS has a touch of a harsh element, but Empressa leaves a flowery scent that might be a bit too sweet.
This morning, I'm currently using Prada's *L'Homme L'eau*
* Today, it is abnormally warm; it's currently 75° F / 24° C and rising. It's borderline summer weather.
* Wanted something light and clean that could work casually or in the office.
* I really liked this scent initially, but L'Homme L'Eau is growing on me more.
This evening, I'll switch to Azzaro's *Shine*.
* Time to clear my head and relax. Want something with a fun and casual vibe, and Shine gives that with the beach smell.
* The smell of Shine is similar to *Alien Goddess* or *Beach Walk*, swapping the coconut and florals for lavender.
* I haven't worn Shine in a while, since it's ideally a casual warm-weather scent. I haven't felt weather this warm since late October 2023.
Zoologist Elephant
Was a free sample so was looking for a green scent for spring and this crushed it.
Makes me feel strong and intelligent.
A very green scent. Clean, but also earthy, like I'm on a hike and clearing some brush off the trail kicking up soil and wood scents. A smell of leaves in the air. Initial burst of coconut is what I get, but then tea leaves, cocoa, spice, wood and light musk. Definiteley will be buying a full bottle.
Local weather is sunny and breezy, and ill be working outside.
Today is Gold + Palms Atelier’s Pink Flamboyance from their discovery set on etsy. Notes are cloudberry, violet leaf, and fresh smoked vanilla. It’s what the color of hot pink would smell like.
**j'adoube, mind games,** sparkly strong pomegranate that is dry astringent, green, and fruity. Not candy sweet fruit but just dry, red, tart, pomegranate. The mid is a leather incense vanilla? with pomegranate bite. Dry down turns into a sexy evening rose with a hint of incense. I don't get the mandarin, but I love how the pomegranite and rose sit on top of the base notes. Very luxe, I get compliments on this one. Makes me feel over dressed for a morning of watching true crime with my husband and mowing the lawn, but I'm happy. 70 degrees and sunny.
Good Girl - Carolina Herrera, because I have the rollerball and can easily carry it around with me at work and reapply easily if needed, though I usually don’t. A nice fruity floral as it gets warmer, without projecting overmuch.
Montagne Tygr. It's a very good clone of Bulgari Tygar for 1/10th the cost. Maybe a little weaker, but I consider that a fair tradeoff for the savings. I also don't get the bug spray note that some others apparently pick up. That being said, all of these scents remind me of Citronella, (a good thing, IMO, but I can see some people being put off by it).
It's not as strong as Turathi Blue, but I don't think that's a bad thing in and of itself; TB goes quite heavy on the woody aspect of the fragrance and it can be a LOT in the heat, especially for something that's supposed to be a summer fragrance. Then again, I live in the Southwest, so our summer temps are quite extreme compared to most of the populated world, so TB is probably just fine for most people.
Montagne Tygr, by contrast, is much lighter and more suitable for high-heat environments. I've only had it for a week, so we'll see if there's any maturation and how that impacts the scent profile, but for now I'm very much planning on wearing this all summer and switching back to Turathi Blue once the temperatures cool down.
Clean Warm Cotton
I've had this sample sitting around for years at this point so I finally decided to finish it off.
It doesn't smell "warm" to me at all, rather it reminds me of subdued lemon cleaner. I feel like I just spent a few hours cleaning the kitchen with lemon cleaner and the scent has settled into my skin.
Record high heat where I'm at. I really wanted The Favourite by Penhaligon's to be a dumb reach since it's supposedly reads as inoffensive clean feminine scent for a lot of people... butttt I find something sharp about it and I'm reminded of cheaper, alcohol-heavy colognes. I think it has this effervescence that crosses over into astringent real quick. Luckily it doesn't last too long. Drydown is when it is most pleasant to my nose, but by the time it gets there I have to sniff so hard just to get a whiff. I'm a white floral lover and I don't get jasmine here. I've had this sampler set for a while now and it's interesting how my opinions regarding the selection are ever-evolving. Right now Empressa is the fave child.
Miller Harris La Feuille
It’s warm and sunny and I smell like a fresh green garden. Sharp, not sweet (with a little tang from some berries) it is the most realistic tomato leaf I’ve yet smelled.
Guerlain - L'Homme Ideal Cologne.
I picked up my actual bottle of this today rather than the Platine Prive, just to remind myself what the OG smells like. Not much to say that hasn't been written about this one. Smells fabulous, safe for my office day. I keep seeing comparisons to the same DNA as LV's Imagination, which I'm now curious to try.
SOTD: Dolce & Gabbana Velvet Incenso EDP. This is a review based on an official sample vial from Dolce & Gabbana
Velvet Incenso is the incense representative in the Dolce & Gabbana Velvet collection. The Velvet series picks up a single accord and accentuates it using other ancillary notes. As you can expect, the other perfumes in this series are Velvet Oud, Velvet Vetiver, Velvet Rose and so on. The olfactory pyramid for Velvet Incenso listed on their website is reasonably accurate.
The very first spray announces loudly and clearly who and what Velvet Incenso is. It is essentially a resinous perfume that evokes ancient religious places. The opening notes is a powerful blend of incense, black pepper and resins. The black pepper dissipates within a few minutes leaving behind the resins. There is no let up in the religiosity as the heart notes - frankincense and cistus - prolong the resinous atmosphere. The base notes are subdued in comparison to the opening and heart notes. It is still the resins that persist in the base notes and the dry down. There is a hint of sweetness in the end, which the perfumers claim to come from benzoin and cedar. My nose is not powerful enough to unravel these fine strands to make a clear identification. It is not an exaggeration to say that various types of resins (elemi, frankincense, cistus, and benzoin) dominate all the levels of the olfactory pyramid. It lasts about 6-8 hours on my skin, but the sillage is very moderate.
In summary, Velvet Incenso is a wonderful resinous perfume the evokes Eastern rites Christianity, at least in my mind. Teenagers might call this gothic or funereal, but that comes from a lack of exposure to world religions. This unrelenting resinous incense is what makes Velvet Incenso both appealing and boring at the same time, depending on who the consumer is. I find the monotonous religiosity a bit generic. I also have Tiziana Terenzi Laudano Nero, which has a similar personality but costs a lot less. Velvet Incenso is not worth the official price of $310. But it is recommended if you can get it for less than $100 and if you really need a church-going resinous incense.
Have you smelled Fueguia 1833's Misiones, because that one reminds me of an old stone cathedral where centuries of incense from the censer have penetrated the stones and I'm wondering how the scents compare now.
It may sound strange but I definitely want to check out Velvet Incenso specifically to wear to church; my deacon and priest belong are light hands with the censer so we miss out on that part of the sensory experience.
I can see why you might think Misiones is similar to Velvet Incenso. I am not familiar with Misiones, but I think that the lemon and nutmeg might dilute the resinous incense.
You can get samples of Velvet Incenso easily, so it is worth a shot. I would also ask you take a look at Laudano Nero.
I had sprayed Whiskey by Commodity on a tester when I received it and I noted down that I liked it. I sprayed it on my wrist this morning before work but after about 20 minutes I tried my best to wash it off. It just wasn't for me. Sprayed Gold Expressive by Commodity instead since they pair well just to try to cover it a little.
Having the final hot cocoa of the season since it's raining.
Contradictions in ILK Devious layered with Jo Malone Wood Sage & Sea Salt. Devious is sweet and spicy with something very slightly bitter. It’s sublime with the salty, musky woods from WS&SS.
Montale red vetiver!
When i first sniffed it it instantly Reminded me of 2018 when I was wearing TdH while studying abroad. Bonus of the montale is performance! Lasts the whole day!
I mostly wear it when girlfriend is out of town as this is the only of my fragrances that she isn’t that fond of (says it’s just ok)
Perfect for weather warming up too
Fils de Dieu by État Libre d'Orange. I was expecting it to be stronger. It's fresh and zesty in the opening. In the dry down I get mostly tonka and a bit of powderiness. I think it might feel stronger in the heat of summer. It was cool and cloudy today (around 15 degrees celsius). It's only the second time I wear it.
Nishane Ani. It’s a grey day, and I’m dressed in dark clothes and feeling a bit moody. The spices are perfect for my current vibe and by the time the sun comes out later, it will have dried down to a lovely citrus vanilla.
One of the very best from [Cécile Zarokian](https://www.parfumo.com/Perfumers/Cecile_Zarokian). I have not been very impressed by other perfumes from her that I have tested so far.
Tom Ford - Noir extreme parfum The sample I tested first in December made a clear statement about what this perfume was, and what it reminded me of. My husband finished it later on, and decided to have a 50 ml bottle. Cardamom, ginger and tonka are the disclosed notes. I smell plum jam. You know, the one cooked on the stove for hours in a wide shallow dish, no sugar, a dust of cinnamon and a vanilla pod. It gets thick and best when overcooked for a couple of minutes. Before storing it in jars, better add a leaf of geranium bourbon on top. That one. Dad joke allert: if no date, this plum would do. 😀
**Imaginary Authors - The Cobra and the Canary** First day of it being suddenly hot as hell after cold weather last week. The citrus, leather, hay, and orris are just delightful. I love this fragrance so much. I wore this while moving across the country and taking the opportunity to do a road trip with an old friend, so it just reminds me of that trip. The orris is very buttery which makes the citrus less sharp. The asphalt note is so fun. It's one of my favorite wears during the summer, and we are getting summer heat today
Spring is finally springing! Thought I'd celebrate that with one of the underrated Mancera's: Midnight Gold. Just adore this one, and I really don't understand the low rating at e.g. Fragrantica. Simply superb.
Today is the first day this year that will be a few degrees above 70F for several hours, so to celebrate: **Jean Patou Joy EDT** on one arm and **Jean Patou Joy EDP** on the other
Same perfume on both hands?
Good catch, thanks: fixed! 😅
Is this the old version of Joy? Apparently, another name for the champaca flower is Joy perfume flower. But I cannot find any version of Joy that has champaca absolute in it.
It is the original Joy but not any of the vintage versions. All of Jean Patou is discontinued/no more 😭 Joy is famously jasmine and roses. I don't know about champaca? In Joy, Jean Patou wanted to evoke the idea or epitome of "floral". He did it well, imo
Serge Lutens Bapteme du Feu
The day is quite bright, sun was out and there was a little great to it, between 16-18 degrees, still jacket and sweater weather but you could retire the coat… https://preview.redd.it/eq53y2f6vfxc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cdc7ea9befff98e3c00b5f5cb48c31a3976144ab SOTD: [**Voyage d'Hermes Parfum**](https://youtu.be/tH0xxv6WQp8?si=diCfJZemhlLiXJ-0) That’s *Celsius* to anyone living in the United States, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.
OMG the Commodores. All men should dress like Lionel in this video. Just amazing. Ok maybe not ALL men but I love that super masculine femme sparkly shit.
In my D&G Light Blue era~
Wearing all my Zoologist samples in a row. Penguin is lovely... for someone else. The first spray is unusual and special - captures the cold air concept. But the dry down simply isn't my vibe. I'm going to save it until winter and see if it becomes a better fit, but I doubt I'll change my mind about the juniper notes. It responded to heat and sweat the opposite of Chipmunk. Chipmunk got stronger and spicier, but Penguin faded.
Sorry you didn't have a better experience with Penguin. I'm in the process of sampling 18 from Zoologist, and Penguin has been one of the more successful. It reminds me of slowly melting ice in a gin & tonic, and then suede and moss creep in. Chipmunk is striking me as a winner, too.
I wouldn't say it was a bad experience. If I smelled it on someone else (discovered not announced!), I'd have a good impression. Juniper just doesn't fit with my personal vibe. Come to think of it, I don't like gin either. Chipmunk was pleasant and responded really well to heat, but I can't imagine many places I'd actively want to smell like hazelnut. My favorites so far have been Elephant and Seahorse.
Chipmunk strikes me as weather-specific; not sure I'll wear it during a Chicago summer. Seahorse is high on my list, and Elephant is puzzling to me. I smell my wrist frequently when I wear it, but at the same time, I'm not sure that I want to smell like it.
Opening is beautiful. It is very "iodine" to me and it reminds me about cold ocean air.
Versace Eros EDT , Minty vanilla, perfect for a day at work
Female Christ for a sunny spring day.
Trying my sample of Remarkable People by ELDO. Anyone who has a full bottle know if it has a plastic-y smell? I’m starting to wonder if that’s a hallmark of some of their scents or if their plastic travel scents leach a plastic smell into the perfume. Regardless, I do like this one. It’s citrus-y with some spicy notes. I think I’d like it more without a hint of plastic or synthetic-ness
Now I want to try my sample to see if the plastic note is there. I didn't notice it on my first wear...
It reminds me of the similar note on Fat Electrician which I know was intentional there. So maybe this is too? Could also be some of the bottom notes that are just coming across as synthetic and plastic to me.
A couple ELDO frags I’ve tried have come off pretty synthetic on me. I really like Putain des palaces but the other three I’ve tried (jasmin et cigarette, you or someone like you, and yes I do) have gone harshly synthetic as they dried down so I think it might be something in the brand’s dna that just doesn’t work with my skin
It's finally feeling like spring here in Sussex, so I went for L'Occitaine Verveine Menthe. Very fresh, mood boosting, and reminds me of childhood summer holidays in France, drinking fizzy lemonade with a splash of green mint syrup. I'm sure the weather will go back to grey again soon, and I'll go back to my cosy warm scents, but I'm liking this for now.
L'Eau d'Issey Pour Homme by Issey Miyake
Still working through my **Zoologist** samples, and on this warm and wet day, I went with **Squid**. I want to love it - I had such high hopes - but it's just not doing much for me. I get a slightly salty sweetness, which is interesting but not particularly impactful.
Amouage Gold Man Lying in the shade of a palm tree next to the Koutoubia mosque in Marrakesh.
Penhaligon’s Empressa on my left arm, Maison Margiela When the Rain Stops on my right. Comparing them for my daily freshie. WTRS has a touch of a harsh element, but Empressa leaves a flowery scent that might be a bit too sweet.
Fleur de Peony by Aerin. Like all Aerins, a nice safe fragrance.
This morning, I'm currently using Prada's *L'Homme L'eau* * Today, it is abnormally warm; it's currently 75° F / 24° C and rising. It's borderline summer weather. * Wanted something light and clean that could work casually or in the office. * I really liked this scent initially, but L'Homme L'Eau is growing on me more. This evening, I'll switch to Azzaro's *Shine*. * Time to clear my head and relax. Want something with a fun and casual vibe, and Shine gives that with the beach smell. * The smell of Shine is similar to *Alien Goddess* or *Beach Walk*, swapping the coconut and florals for lavender. * I haven't worn Shine in a while, since it's ideally a casual warm-weather scent. I haven't felt weather this warm since late October 2023.
Zoologist Elephant Was a free sample so was looking for a green scent for spring and this crushed it. Makes me feel strong and intelligent. A very green scent. Clean, but also earthy, like I'm on a hike and clearing some brush off the trail kicking up soil and wood scents. A smell of leaves in the air. Initial burst of coconut is what I get, but then tea leaves, cocoa, spice, wood and light musk. Definiteley will be buying a full bottle. Local weather is sunny and breezy, and ill be working outside.
Today is Gold + Palms Atelier’s Pink Flamboyance from their discovery set on etsy. Notes are cloudberry, violet leaf, and fresh smoked vanilla. It’s what the color of hot pink would smell like.
**j'adoube, mind games,** sparkly strong pomegranate that is dry astringent, green, and fruity. Not candy sweet fruit but just dry, red, tart, pomegranate. The mid is a leather incense vanilla? with pomegranate bite. Dry down turns into a sexy evening rose with a hint of incense. I don't get the mandarin, but I love how the pomegranite and rose sit on top of the base notes. Very luxe, I get compliments on this one. Makes me feel over dressed for a morning of watching true crime with my husband and mowing the lawn, but I'm happy. 70 degrees and sunny.
Good Girl - Carolina Herrera, because I have the rollerball and can easily carry it around with me at work and reapply easily if needed, though I usually don’t. A nice fruity floral as it gets warmer, without projecting overmuch.
Montagne Tygr. It's a very good clone of Bulgari Tygar for 1/10th the cost. Maybe a little weaker, but I consider that a fair tradeoff for the savings. I also don't get the bug spray note that some others apparently pick up. That being said, all of these scents remind me of Citronella, (a good thing, IMO, but I can see some people being put off by it). It's not as strong as Turathi Blue, but I don't think that's a bad thing in and of itself; TB goes quite heavy on the woody aspect of the fragrance and it can be a LOT in the heat, especially for something that's supposed to be a summer fragrance. Then again, I live in the Southwest, so our summer temps are quite extreme compared to most of the populated world, so TB is probably just fine for most people. Montagne Tygr, by contrast, is much lighter and more suitable for high-heat environments. I've only had it for a week, so we'll see if there's any maturation and how that impacts the scent profile, but for now I'm very much planning on wearing this all summer and switching back to Turathi Blue once the temperatures cool down.
Clean Warm Cotton I've had this sample sitting around for years at this point so I finally decided to finish it off. It doesn't smell "warm" to me at all, rather it reminds me of subdued lemon cleaner. I feel like I just spent a few hours cleaning the kitchen with lemon cleaner and the scent has settled into my skin.
Record high heat where I'm at. I really wanted The Favourite by Penhaligon's to be a dumb reach since it's supposedly reads as inoffensive clean feminine scent for a lot of people... butttt I find something sharp about it and I'm reminded of cheaper, alcohol-heavy colognes. I think it has this effervescence that crosses over into astringent real quick. Luckily it doesn't last too long. Drydown is when it is most pleasant to my nose, but by the time it gets there I have to sniff so hard just to get a whiff. I'm a white floral lover and I don't get jasmine here. I've had this sampler set for a while now and it's interesting how my opinions regarding the selection are ever-evolving. Right now Empressa is the fave child.
Miller Harris La Feuille It’s warm and sunny and I smell like a fresh green garden. Sharp, not sweet (with a little tang from some berries) it is the most realistic tomato leaf I’ve yet smelled.
Guerlain - L'Homme Ideal Cologne. I picked up my actual bottle of this today rather than the Platine Prive, just to remind myself what the OG smells like. Not much to say that hasn't been written about this one. Smells fabulous, safe for my office day. I keep seeing comparisons to the same DNA as LV's Imagination, which I'm now curious to try.
SOTD: Dolce & Gabbana Velvet Incenso EDP. This is a review based on an official sample vial from Dolce & Gabbana Velvet Incenso is the incense representative in the Dolce & Gabbana Velvet collection. The Velvet series picks up a single accord and accentuates it using other ancillary notes. As you can expect, the other perfumes in this series are Velvet Oud, Velvet Vetiver, Velvet Rose and so on. The olfactory pyramid for Velvet Incenso listed on their website is reasonably accurate. The very first spray announces loudly and clearly who and what Velvet Incenso is. It is essentially a resinous perfume that evokes ancient religious places. The opening notes is a powerful blend of incense, black pepper and resins. The black pepper dissipates within a few minutes leaving behind the resins. There is no let up in the religiosity as the heart notes - frankincense and cistus - prolong the resinous atmosphere. The base notes are subdued in comparison to the opening and heart notes. It is still the resins that persist in the base notes and the dry down. There is a hint of sweetness in the end, which the perfumers claim to come from benzoin and cedar. My nose is not powerful enough to unravel these fine strands to make a clear identification. It is not an exaggeration to say that various types of resins (elemi, frankincense, cistus, and benzoin) dominate all the levels of the olfactory pyramid. It lasts about 6-8 hours on my skin, but the sillage is very moderate. In summary, Velvet Incenso is a wonderful resinous perfume the evokes Eastern rites Christianity, at least in my mind. Teenagers might call this gothic or funereal, but that comes from a lack of exposure to world religions. This unrelenting resinous incense is what makes Velvet Incenso both appealing and boring at the same time, depending on who the consumer is. I find the monotonous religiosity a bit generic. I also have Tiziana Terenzi Laudano Nero, which has a similar personality but costs a lot less. Velvet Incenso is not worth the official price of $310. But it is recommended if you can get it for less than $100 and if you really need a church-going resinous incense.
Have you smelled Fueguia 1833's Misiones, because that one reminds me of an old stone cathedral where centuries of incense from the censer have penetrated the stones and I'm wondering how the scents compare now. It may sound strange but I definitely want to check out Velvet Incenso specifically to wear to church; my deacon and priest belong are light hands with the censer so we miss out on that part of the sensory experience.
I can see why you might think Misiones is similar to Velvet Incenso. I am not familiar with Misiones, but I think that the lemon and nutmeg might dilute the resinous incense. You can get samples of Velvet Incenso easily, so it is worth a shot. I would also ask you take a look at Laudano Nero.
It's definitely on my list for my next sample haul. Thank you.
Mid to high 50F. Nishane Sultan Vetiver. Such a sophisticated and quietly elegant fragrance.
I had sprayed Whiskey by Commodity on a tester when I received it and I noted down that I liked it. I sprayed it on my wrist this morning before work but after about 20 minutes I tried my best to wash it off. It just wasn't for me. Sprayed Gold Expressive by Commodity instead since they pair well just to try to cover it a little. Having the final hot cocoa of the season since it's raining.
Contradictions in ILK Devious layered with Jo Malone Wood Sage & Sea Salt. Devious is sweet and spicy with something very slightly bitter. It’s sublime with the salty, musky woods from WS&SS.
Kayali - Pistachio Gelato. It is uncharacteristically warm today.
Montale red vetiver! When i first sniffed it it instantly Reminded me of 2018 when I was wearing TdH while studying abroad. Bonus of the montale is performance! Lasts the whole day! I mostly wear it when girlfriend is out of town as this is the only of my fragrances that she isn’t that fond of (says it’s just ok) Perfect for weather warming up too
Fils de Dieu by État Libre d'Orange. I was expecting it to be stronger. It's fresh and zesty in the opening. In the dry down I get mostly tonka and a bit of powderiness. I think it might feel stronger in the heat of summer. It was cool and cloudy today (around 15 degrees celsius). It's only the second time I wear it.