“The Sexiest Scent on the Planet. Ever. (IMHO)” is quite a name for a fragrance, and a tall order to boot, subjective humble opinions notwithstanding. I personally don’t share the sentiment described in the title, but “The Sexiest Scent” (as I shall call it here for reasons of simplicity and speed) from 4160 Tuesdays is not a bad perfume, and has some enjoyable aspects. I can’t say the same for 4160 Tuesday’s other vanilla scent, The Dark Heart of Old Havana, which I shall cover in a different review. Continue reading
Category Archives: Woody Fragrances
O’Driù Leva & Its Biblical Challenge
Leva via Luckyscent.
An intersection of the ancient past and the modern present lies at the heart of Leva, a fragrance from the Italian niche house of O’Driù (henceforth spelled without the accent as plain “O’Driu”). It is an eau de parfum that was originally released in 2011 as part of The Genesis Collection, and is meant to represent Eve to Ladamo‘s Adam. To that end, it cleverly uses ingredients that go back thousands of years in history, including spikenard which the Bible says is the fragrant oil that Mary used to anoint Jesus’ feet. Leva is a challenging fragrance on my skin, particularly in the beginning, and I’m afraid I wasn’t up to the task.
French marigold or tagetes patula via Wikipedia.
Leva is an eau de parfum created by Angelo Orazio Pregoni. O’Driu has no description for Leva on its website at this time, but the press release file that I was sent provides the following notes:
Grapefruit, turmeric, lemongrass, jasmine, tagete [marigold], vetiver, jatamansi [spikenard], basil, lavender, ylang-ylang, vanilla, benzoin, tonka bean, and pepper. Continue reading
O’Driù Ladamo: Mother Earth
Source: Facebook page of Amazing Landscapes, Nature, Animals and Places
Close your eyes and imagine a landscape of burnt umber, red, green, and black where the ground is made of earthy patchouli and tobacco, the rivers run dark with burnt resins, green shrubs of vetiver and galbanum grow around sinewy trees made of black licorice, and the sky hangs heavy in a haze of terracotta red dust and amber. In the far distance, near marshes of wet, mushy amber, there is an ancient monastery. Its library is filled with ancient parchment paper made from pressed herbs and covered with the dust of ages. In its kitchens, the monks cook with dried fenugreek and curried immortelle, their aroma carrying on the wind to the rugged landscape outside. That is the world of Ladamo which takes the most organic aspects of Mother Earth, and puts it in a perfume bottle.
Tom Ford Costa Azzurra (Neroli Portofino Collection)
Source: Tom Ford Press Release PDF
Tom Ford has added Costa Azzurra and Mandarino de Amalfi as two new, summer fragrances to join his extremely popular Neroli Portofino. The trio now comprise The Neroli Portofino Collection, but are also part of the higher priced Private Blend line. Both fragrances will be released in early July, and are not yet available in most stores. Yesterday, I took a look at Mandarino de Amalfi. Today is Costa Azzura‘s turn.
Costa Azzurra is an eau de parfum created by Yann Vasnier, and described in the Tom Ford press release as follows:
COSTA AZZURRA evokes the fragrant and sun-baked landscape of coastal and island Mediterranean woods, where pines and oaks mingle with wild-growing herbs and salty water. Continue reading