Paradise Lost Keiko Mecheri

Desirability: Full bottle

Source: Luckyscent.com

Yes I've thought some of the Keiko Mercheri fragrances that I've tried so far are worth buying full bottles of, but I've never really been compelled to go after a full bottle of any until now. Strangely enough, judging by the reactions of fragrant friends, I'm in the minority when it comes to liking Paradise Lost. 

I've heard negative comments ranging from too candy like to too floral like and both bewilder me as I don't smell sweets and yes obviously there are floral notes but Paradise Lost is far from just a floral perfume, on me at least. It starts off very sunny and bright with citruses loaded with greens and life, white floral blooms and sweet sandalwood conveying an image of the first part of its name "Paradise". However the rest is a slightly different tale and makes me think of the consequences after Adam and Eve were too greedy with the apple and got banished from Paradise. Paradise Lost develops into an pungent aroma with a strong smell of musky nether regions or the smell of decay or both mixed together. The white floral notes are still identifiable but the petals have lost their vigour and have begun to wilt quickly. The drydown is like a sweaty animalic musk and the residual perfume left by the faded flowers. Very interesting ride and not something I had anticipated when I first did a quick survey of the listed notes before ordering a sample to try. Perhaps the "Lost" part of the name is represented by the earthiness of the latter part of this fragrance's evolution, after the abrupt departure from its celestial beginnings. That's how I imagine it anyway.  

The projection and longevity are nothing to write home about but I've made peace with that by spraying heavily and frequently i.e. bring bottle around with you all day. I'm actually quite happy that I'm in the minority championing Paradise Lost, means more for me and less chance of smelling it on someone else! 

Civet Musk Mukhallat Sharif LaRoche

* Mukhallat means mixture, in perfumery it is taken to mean that it contains a mixture of different pure oils that makes up the perfume oil.

I will not lie. The opening made me wonder what a unwashed cat's bum might smell like ( I say cat because I have one but you could exchange it for any other animal you wish).  Thankfully I'm not one to shy away from smells of excretions or whatnot and in this case my faith paid off( my faith was firmly instilled after Sharif LaRoche's goddess of a Ambergris Taifi Rose turned my head away from demigods forever). 

Anyway. I'll politely describe the opening as bitter, black, pungent and oily. By the way this perfume oil is so strong, i smeared the littlest drop on my upper arm and it's as loud as a heavy metal concert from the front row. 

It gets comfortable after a few minutes and settles down on my skin, the bitterness is still there but a sweet dark muskiness has started blooming from my skin instead of the initial barnyard funk. It's still very much oily and pungent but there's something about it that's oddly attractive. I guess that's civet for you and why it's so sought after and pricey in perfumery and coffee alike. If you enjoy clean soapy musks or polite musks like Narciso Rodriguez's musks, this might not be to your liking. However, if you live for musks like Kiehl's original musk or Serge Lutens' Musc Koublai Khan, you must give this a try, that being said even MKK is lightweight compared to this. It's very much in the unisex department, although if you are strictly into light scents or polite scents, you might want to pass on this. 

The oil projects and persists for an almost obnoxiously long time, not forgetting that this is all from one itsy bitsy smear from the stick of a dab sample. The sample was kindly included along with three others with my purchase of 1 ml of Ambergris Taifi.