Neon Graffiti
Jazmin Saraï (2014)

The radiant city streets

Neon Graffiti is a vibrant and bombastic jasmine fragrance enlivened with bright and juicy citrus notes and dense mango that are bolstered by cedarwood and a polished touch that keeps it from veering into tropical territory. It manages to be uplifting but with heft. It has excellent projection, wafting up from my wrist whenever I move it. It's not my style as it really does read as neon coloured. It's bright and brash, though never harsh or grating.

Small niche houses like 4160 Tuesdays, DS & Durga, or Kerosene can tend to smell a little raw, rough, or off-kilter. These are not necessarily negative qualities, and the name Neon Graffiti suggests it's offering something similar. In actuality, it smells surprizingly careful and considered.

Based on a Déclaration style cardamom, and the Terre d'Hermès accord of mineral and grapefruit, Neon Graffiti takes the two Ellena styles and revs them up into incense and concrete overdrive.

To get inspiration for Neon Graffiti, Dana El Masri says she fed the drum and bass 'urban jungle' sound of Sunshowers by M.I.A into her synesthesic brain. What came out the perfumery end was like she had sprayed a lime green and shit brown tag on the Osmothèque.

Nice rebellion! Except almost nobody noticed ... Perhaps it washed off overnight. El Masri qualifies as a Disrupter because she did this a good couple of years before Peau d'Ailleurs' more studied milkshake and concrete vision of Urban Alienation.

Once again, perfumery is out of synch with fine art. Street Art, (the art world's posh name for graffiti) was all the rage years ago and now it has returned to being just vandalism, whereas the theme of decorated concrete has only recently emerged in the perfumosphere.

As well as the cold concrete backdrop of the Menardo & Starck, there's also an earthiness - a spicy warmth in Neon Graffiti which makes it more accessible. The warm end of the spectrum makes it more wearable, but not by much - because it builds to an intensity which threatens to unbalance the composition.

Neon Graffiti goes ahead and imposes its vision, regardless of accessibility, and it is one powerful vision. And then, with the final trick that El Masri gleaned from Ellena, it fades away in next to no time.

Not exactly the Writing on the Wall, but this is evidently a woman to watch.

The opening is a beautiful blend of grapefruit, moderated by light incense, and a blast of green, most likely from the wet ivy accord. In the mid, the Indian Jasmine shines through, along with sunflower leaves and a hint of mango. There is also a floral element that becomes more prominent near the drydown. This fragrance captures the essence of a Devonian garden, with its cedarwood and incense drydown that conveys the feeling of humidity trapped within an indoor greenhouse.

While I sometimes wish it projected further, this is a scent that feels made for oneself. The sillage and smell are amazing, and it smells natural to my nose. As a niche fragrance from a Canadian house, it is a very interesting unisex fragrance, and I think people should definitely try a sample. The samples come in a unique cassette case decorated with alcohol ink.

Re-review (2022): I returned to my sample of this fragrance, and it belongs in my top 10 fragrances of all time. I finally bought a full bottle, but I do wish they made a 100ml version because I love this fragrance so much. I'm happy to support Canadian businesses, and Dana el Masri is a talented perfumer.