Profumi del Forte – Versilia Vintage Ambra Mediterranea

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Kafkaesque

Versilia Vintage Ambra Mediterranea is a study of ambergris or grey amber by Bertrand Duchaufour, and a scent that is meant to have a luminosity evocative of the “calm deep Mediterranean.” Not for me. It is also a scent that some people think is one of the best ambers around. Again, not for me. Not by any means.

Source: Profumi del Forte

Profumi Del Forte was founded in 2007 by Enzo Torre. According to the company’s website, he was “inspired by the timeless style of the Versilia seaside resort,” which explains the “Versilia” in the title of some of the fragrances. In 2009, the company released Versilia Vintage Ambra Mediterranea (hereinafter just “Ambra Mediterranea”), which Profumi Del Forte describes as follows:

The elegance of grey amber and the serenity of orange. The sweetness of ylang-ylang, the warmth of cedar wood. Gentle luminous notes, which evoke atmospheres of a calm deep Mediterranean.

[Notes:] Orange, coriander, ylang-ylang, jasmine, grey amber, benzoin from Siam, tolu balsam, incense, cedar wood, patchouli, vanilla, white musk

Source: fovipa.com

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Unum Lavs: Popes & Sunday Mass

Posted on June 1, 2015 by Kafkaesque

An olfactory “hymn to the Spirit” lies at the heart of Lavs, a fragrance that wants you to get in touch with your spiritual side, and to feel uplifted and purified with the beauty of church incense. Lavs is a creation of Unum, an Italian perfume house founded in 2013 by Filippo Sorcinelli who is also the nose behind its three fragrances.

Source: Unum at http://eshop.lavs.it/

What is truly fascinating about Unum is that its original mission seems to have been liturgical garments or priestly robes, and its e-shop has a coolest gallery of the most elaborate Catholic robes I’ve seen outside of my television. From what I’ve read, Unum actually creates vestments for Pope Benedict and Pope Francis XVI, which has to be the most unique background to any perfume house around. Regular readers know my passion for history, so this alone caught my attention, but it was the even more interesting story behind the actual Lavs fragrance that made me want to try it. Apparently, it was originally a room spray used to scent the two popes’ ecclesiastic robes! You can read all the cool details at Alfarom‘s review for Lavs on his Nero Profumo blog site (which I’ll be quoting later on), but, suffice it say, there probably isn’t a single incense fragrance in the world today which comes with papal approval except for this one.

Pope Francis. Photo by matrixpictures.co.uk via The Daily Mail. (Photo lightly cropped by me.)

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Tola Anbar & The Gulbadan Experience

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Kafkaesque

Source: Fragrantica

Tola (sometimes written as “Tola Perfumes“) is a new fragrance house from Dubai founded in 2013 by Dhaher bin Dhaher. He is the nose behind its creations, a self-taught perfumer who grew up around perfumes and whose story is told in a detailed Fragrantica editorial about the line. If you’re curious about the meaning of the word “tola,” it refers to an ancient Indian measurement unit which predates the metric system. All the fragrances are available in either eau de parfum or extrait form, but I have focused on the more accessible eau de parfum concentration. In an earlier post, I looked at Misqaal and Masha. Today, it’s time for Anbar and Gulbadan.

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Carner Barcelona Tardes

Posted on June 15, 2014 by Kafkaesque

Source: Roullier-White,

Tardes would like you to take a stroll, starting with an after-dinner, liqueured cocktail involving Calvados and drunken roses steeping in a wooden vat, through a geranium patch in a forest, before ending up in a pillow cloud of fragrant heliotrope and sweet tonka vanilla.

It’s a lovely journey, compliments of the Spanish niche perfume house of Carner Barcelona which was founded in 2009 by Sara Carner. According to Fragrantica, Tardes was created by Daniela (Roche) Andrier, and released in 2011. It is an eau de parfum which they categorized as a “floral woody musk.”

Carner Barcelona describes Tardes as a pure, serene fragrance that conveys the feel of a peaceful stroll through wheat fields on a late summer’s afternoon:

A tribute to the peace and harmony of a late summer afternoon; a fragrance that is pure, serene and enveloping.

A peaceful stroll through the wheat fields and almond trees as the light of a summer day wanes and the warmth of the air caresses your skin… Admiring the beauty of the sun as it starts dipping behind the rolling hills and bunches of wild roses and geraniums color the dimming countryside. Continue reading →