Sammarco Bond-T: The Promised Land Beckons

Posted on April 26, 2016 by Kafkaesque

We all have a promised land in perfumery, one where we gambol and cavort with our favourite olfactory notes, all combined in such a way that the pleasure, comfort, and joy amounts to a sense of a perfect fit, ease, or even the feeling of being “home.” There are many promised lands, each falling within a different genre, each so difficult to find that it’s as though we’re searching for the Holy Grail. (At this point, I’m convinced that my personal Vanilla Valhalla does not exist.) The difficulty stems from the perfection that is implicitly involved in such a magical creation, the coalescence of personal, subjective factors to form one perfect bouquet like no other.

Source: wallpaperup.com

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UNUM Ennui Noir (+ Symphonie Passion)

Posted on April 23, 2016 by Kafkaesque

Source: zby.ly.com

Close your eyes, and imagine yourself in a field in Provence. Fresh lavender stretches out in an aromatic purple expanse as far as the eye can see. Slashes of white are interspersed throughout, heliotrope whose delicate blooms launch a powerful cascade of vanilla, marzipan, fresh anise, and powdered meringue. Running through the heart of field is a river of vanilla, silky and creamy, coiling its way around the purple and white flowers to create the scent of lavender ice-cream dusted with meringue and anise. The earth below them is made of patchouli, its spiciness complemented by something a little extra that smells of cinnamon, cloves, and chili-pepper. All around, encircling the field like a dark wall, is a forest filled with myrtle, wafting its unique aromas of spicy herbs, fruity sap, herbal flowers, and green woods. Cedar grows there, too, along with green vetiver that first smells mineralized, mossy, and minty, and then, later, smoky and woody.

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Orlov Paris Orlov & Flame of Gold

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Kafkaesque

In the second part of my look at Orlov Paris‘ debut collection, I thought we’d look at Dominique Ropion‘s woody oriental parfum, Flame of Gold, and the floral, Orlov. The latter was not a success on my skin, so let’s start there.

ORLOV:

Orlov’s Orlov via Luckyscent.

According to Luckyscent, Orlov’s namesake fragrance is built around:

Bergamot, jasmine, tuberose, orange blossom, vanilla, white musk

Orlov opens on my skin with clean, fresh, green-white flowers drizzled with crisp bergamot, sweet vanilla, and lemony musk. The flowers are faceless at first but rapidly turn into gauzy, non-indolic, syrupy orange blossoms. Within moments, their bright, sweet juices swirl around the lemony accords, making me think of a fruit salad, but in a good way. It’s a fresh, almost summery brightness that takes the edge off any acidity from the various lemony notes. But what really captures my attention is the vanilla accord. It rapidly takes on a very custardy quality that is appealing and works well with the bright fruit.

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Orlov Paris Star of The Season & Cross of Asia

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Kafkaesque

The Star of the Season diamond. Souce: am-diamonds.com

The Star of the Season diamond. Source: am-diamonds.com

The most famous gems in the world are the inspiration behind a relatively new perfume house, Orlov Paris, and its debut collection. Unlike many other brands that use jewels as marketing hyperbole, the link here is a personal and logical one. As Orlov’s website explains, its founder, Ruth Séry, comes from a family that has been in the diamond business for generations, and she herself seems to be both a diamond cutter and diamond dealer in Antwerp.

But she is also a perfume lover, and, when she learnt that all her favourite fragrances were made by the same man, she “told herself that if ever she founded her own fragrance house, she would work with Dominique Ropion. No one else would do.” He agreed to create five fragrances for her, each inspired by a different legendary gem, like the 100.10-carat “Star of the Season” or the 29-carat canary-yellow diamond called “Flame of Gold,” once owned by the Hollywood star, Greer Garson. All five are pure parfums (extrait de parfums), and were released in the fall of 2015.

Orlov fragrances. Photo source: Fragrantica.

Today, I’ll look at two of the five fragrances, Star of the Season and Cross of Gold, with Orlov and Flame of Gold to follow in the next post. In order to keep this review at a manageable length, I won’t provide the company’s official description for each scent in full as I usually do, merely the relevant portions regarding to the note list. I also won’t quote comparative reviews, but I will give you the general gist of people’s opinions on Fragrantica and a link for you to read their comments in full if you’re interested. So, let’s begin.

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