Parfums MDCI Les Indes Galantes

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Kafkaesque

Les Indes Galantes in the basic tasseled bottle. Source: Luckyscent.

I had such hopes for this one. Les Indes Galantes, the latest fragrance from Parfums MDCI, seemed like such a promising scent based on early reviews, the brand’s focus on quality and luxury, the fragrance’s note list, and the perfumer who created it. Yet, it turned out to be the latest in a trend I’ve experienced repeatedly over the last few months, a trend that is starting to make me feel like a crash test dummy. Again and again, my initial excitement or anticipation over a fragrance ends up crashing head-long into the wall of a very different reality. I know I’m not the easiest person to please, perfume-wise, and I know a number of bloggers felt 2015 wasn’t a great year for new releases, but the repeated crashes into that wall of reality and disappointment are starting to take a toll on me.

Most of the time, it’s the inevitable result of marketing hyperbole but, in the case of Parfums MDCI, it wasn’t completely foolish or irrational to have some hope, particularly since this is the same company that made the superb Chypre Palatin and a number of other things that the niche world really admires. But wearing Les Indes Galantes was a completely different experience than the brand aesthetic, note list, perfumer, and early rave reviews had led me to anticipate. I was genuinely surprised and disappointed at how things turned out. While wearing it, the words “Oh dear” rang through my mind again and again. Part of it is my fault or issue because I hadn’t realised it was meant to be quite so gourmand a fragrance as it turned out to be. The real source of my dismay, however, was the fact that I couldn’t rid myself of thoughts of inexpensive Bath & Body Works products, inexpensive holiday candles, and a rather traumatizing fragrance from Profumum Roma. I have no doubt that hardcore gourmand fiends and Theorema lovers will adore Les Indes Galantes, but I don’t know about everyone else.

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Kilian Royal Leather

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Kafkaesque

Royal Leather. Source: Harvey Nichols.

Royal Leather, the latest fragrance from By Kilian, was a surprise. I thought it was actually interesting, and that’s not a word I think I’ve ever used for a Kilian fragrance. It’s a brand that, in all honesty, does little for me as a general rule because its signature seems to be mere smoothness and refinement rather than originality or bold character. But Royal Leather doesn’t follow the usual Kilian pattern of taking a typical, conventional bouquet and simply making it smoother than things from other brands. It’s bolder than many of its siblings and a little more interesting in its composition as well because it forgoes the usual Russian style of endlessly smoky, tarry birch leather and adds a few quirky twists, like juxtaposing hawthorn with heliotrope. Admittedly, the end result still resembles a smoother form of one or two fragrances from other perfume houses, but those scents are outliers from the typical leathers I encounter. And, I have to say, Royal Leather has a killer drydown.

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Al-Kimiya Kemi Tempest Attar & Layla

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Kafkaesque

Al Kimiya logo via Essenza Nobile.

Al-Kimiya is the latest brand from Sergio Momo, the founder of Xerjoff, Casamorati, and Sospiro. In America, Luckyscent calls it Kemi, but that seems to be the exception to the rule. “Al-Kimiya” means “alchemy” in Arabic, and the house launched in 2014 with eight fragrances, each bearing a name derived from alchemical or Arabic traditions. (As a side note, “Al-Kimiya” is also the name of an unrelated collection from Parfums d’Orsay.) Out of Al-Kimiya or Kemi’s eight fragrances, four are eau de parfums, two are parfums, and two are attars or concentrated perfume oils (CPOs). Tempest is one of the attars, while Layla is one of the eau de parfums. I’ll take a look at each in turn.

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D.S. & Durga – HYLNDS – Spirit of the Glen

Posted on January 31, 2016 by Kafkaesque

Photo by Tauheed Ahmad Nawaz at his blog, Travel Trip Journey. (Direct website link embedded within).

Glenlivet and the distilled spirit of the Scottish Highlands are the inspiration behind Spirit of the Glen, an evocative fragrance from the American indie brand, D.S. & Durga. It’s part of a trio that comprise the HYLNDS Collection, and I thought that the concepts behind both the fragrance and the Collection itself to be fascinating. Really, I loved them, so I hope you’ll forgive a brief digression into the details.

The Glenlivet 18 via liquorama.net

According to the copy quoted on First in Fragrance, the HYLNDS Collection “seeks to recall the myth infused lands of Northern Europe. Tracing legends from antiquity, the Iron and Viking Age, HYLNDS fragrances are made with an in depth research into historical documents, aromatic analysis of real places, and the artistic creation of the Celtic, Norse, Manx, and Anglo peoples.” The story behind Spirit of the Glen may be even cooler, at least for a scotch drinker. Luckyscent says it arose out of an actual collaboration between perfumer David Moltz and Glenlivet “to craft a fragrance worthy of their flagship 18-year aged whisky.” As he explains on DS & Durga, to bottle the scent of their famous Speyside single malt, The Glenlivet 18, he went so far as to use accords “from all aspects of whisky production” right down to “charred bourbon barrel” and touches of “sherry cask.”

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