Vetiver Lorenzo Villoresi

Desirability: Full bottle

Source: Fragrantica

I'm in trouble. This is the 4th fragrance I've tried from the Vintage Collection of Lorenzo Villoresi and I like/love them all. I would like to add at this point that if you are adverse to large doses of cumin, please bear in mind that Vetiver from the Vintage Collection has copious amounts of cumin. Not quite a cumin bomb like Rubj but there's no hiding the cumin in Vetiver. 

For the first time I would say that a scent really does smell partly like an Indian curry and partly like a sweatshop. That's how Vetiver started on me. Lots of aromatic spices and the glacial galbanum making up a mixture that is a combination of- bitter, green, invigorating, metallic (celery is one of my most hated vegetables for its metallic aftertaste and smell!) and the....cumin with its sweaty/BO effect that has always been so appealing to me. A whole lot of notes that are potent and competitive beings and Vetiver could have been a jarring disaster but it's not. Far from it. Everything blends beautifully and all the notes fall into place like a choreographed dance, smooth and seamless. It gets rather dry and dusty in the later stage and befits its name Vetiver better than the spices and galbanum did at the beginning but the green bitterness and the spices remain and contribute to the arid climate that makes Vetiver smell like it were part of an Old Western movie. 

Vetiver is softer than I like my scents to be, I have to sniff myself closely to detect the scent trail but it does have a decent longevity. A definite like which would have been a love if the projection had been stronger. 

Rosae Mundi is my Valentine!

Desirability: Full bottle

Source: pinterest.com

A living rose.

A decant of Rosae Mundi and some others from the Profumum Roma line came just in time for me to celebrate Valentine's day my way- perfumed, with a good book and Serge purring at my feet. 

Rosae Mundi. Rose of the world. For a detailed and interesting write-up on the history of this phrase, read here. 

I don't know if Rosae Mundi is the Rose of the world but it definitely smells like the Rose of the earth or rather Rose and the Earth for that is what I smell in equal parts. Roses and earth-dirt, plants, animals, basically all that lives and breathes. The roses are the first to be noticed, huge blooms of perfumed roses that are a little powdery, a little tartly green and a little sweet. Don't write off the perfume as just another rose soliflore, that's just the beginning. 

Rosae Mundi moves out from behind the white picket fences into the real world and gets gritty. Dry, dusty and the smell of the earth after the rain has passed and under the tropical sun, steam practically rises from the cooled ground. That smell. Not just one smell but a smell that is complex and made up of the scent of many others, the watered soil, the plants-their roots, leaves and flowers, the soaring trees above, maybe even the worms and caterpillars. The roses are still blooming but the earth and its living things take the centre stage in this later part of Rosae Mundi. The scent stays this way for the rest of its long lifetime, it is there until you scrub it off with a good amount of soap and arm power. 

Source: pinterest.com

THE ROSE OF THE WORLD

by: William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

Who dreamed that beauty passes like a dream?

For these red lips, with all their mournful pride,

Mournful that no new wonder may betide,

Troy passed away in one high funeral gleam,

And Usna's children died.

 

We and the labouring world are passing by:

Amid men's souls, that waver and give place

Like the pale waters in their wintry race,

Under the passing stars, foam of the sky,

Lives on this lonely face.

 

Bow down, archangels, in your dim abode:

Before you were, or any hearts to beat,

Weary and kind one lingered by His seat;

He made the world to be a grassy road

Before her wandering feet.

Source: mrt.com.mk

1876 Histoires de Parfums

Source: Fragrantica

Spicy. Woody. Floral. Powdery. 

In 1876 the spices and powdery are the most prominent on me with the rose and woody notes playing supporting roles in this complex and interesting creation. 

In 1876 the spicy notes are contributed by caraway, cinnamon and carnation which also provides the powdery aspect of it.1876 gives off a vintage air as if stepping back into time or opening an antique chest that had not been opened for the past century and would be more fitting amongst rich brocades and plush velvets rather than the stark white modernity of my office. Once past the strong spicy opening, I pick out the sweet rose amongst other floral notes that I cannot tell apart but which lend some fresh air to the perfume. In the later stage the scent feels dry and dusty like being in the old and infrequently used section of an ancient library, with smoky and woody notes of sandalwood and vetiver adding to the air of mystery around 1876 like being in a hallowed place of worship filled with poor lighting, spirals of smoke and whispered prayer. Overall I find the effect similar to what opium smokers might have felt, a haziness creeps over and fogs out everything leaving behind a sense of serenity and security. 

Supposedly inspired by Mata Hari, 1876 is a unique and captivating scent that is worthy of its namesake. However I personally feel the scent is more snuggle-worthy than femme fatale but in any case I do like it and would probably enjoy it even more if the scent were on the "deeper" side instead of the current "lite" version. 

Testing Onda Voile d'Extrait and Eau de Parfum, Vero Profumo

Onda Voile d'Extrait has a smoky green effect whereas the EDP has a fresh fruity green scent, the passion fruit is evident straight away upon smelling the EDP, whereas it's more suggested behind the opening smoke screen (the vetiver?) of the Voile d'Extrait. 

The Voile d'Extrait has a huge helping of coriander, the lemony yet weirdly nutty smell of the seeds and green herbs (basil?) and grated fresh ginger, I almost feel like I am in the kitchen watching my mother prepare a meal for the family as these are ingredients used often in Asian cooking. I'll be honest and admit that the coriander is a bit too much here for my stomach today. I will try again on a different day when I'm not already taking the nausea-inducing Doxycycline. If there's such a thing as a green leathery musk, Onda Voile d'Extrait would be it. Interesting and original, definitely unisex but I personally will have to bow out as I can't breathe with Onda in my space.



Addendum: I enjoy this sprayed around me but not on me, the coriander gets too close for comfort.

Onda Eau de parfum smells of bright citruses, sweet passion fruit and cooking ingredients. The basil/herb note is here like it is in the Voile d'Extrait. The coriander is less voluble but very much present in the EDP. More breathable and less leathery than the Voile d'Extrait. The drydown smells sweet, green and mossy. Nice but not my cup of tea. I appreciate the beauty of a classic chypre but I much rather wear an oriental.

Lei, Mazzolari

I've had the pleasure of Lei's company for a number of times and can't decide yet if it will develop into a full relationship. 

I adore patchouli in all its various characters and Lei is chock-full of patchouli, sweet, earthy and dark. I don't smell chocolate or cacao but Lei smells like a chocolate brown to me, something in the spectrum of Serge Lutens' Chergui with its amber hues, not Lei's own pale gold liquid. 

Further contributions to the warm brown imagery, come from the labdanum and vetiver. The vetiver is smoky and woody, like how it smells in Le Labo's Vetyver 46. Labdanum is a multi-faceted gem and in Lei, it plays a role in the balmy quality of the scent, further introducing a leathery note that adds to the alluring glow of Lei. It truly is an oriental scent from the first sniff. 

Lei dries to a citrus-tinged, woody vanilla base, that's as snug as a bug and reminds me of the dry down of Guerlain's Shalimar. It is because of this similarity to Shalimar that makes me wonder if I need Lei in my life. Lei has a bitterness that is downplayed by its overall sweetness whereas Shalimar is a sublime, smoky vanilla without any bitterness. 

The scent projects well from my skin for the first four hours and subsequently remains as a skin scent for much longer.