Notturno
Meo Fusciuni (2012)

Just when I was beginning to routinely expect interesting things from the Meo Fusciuni line along comes this dog (with the necessary apologies to our canine companions). Spirito was a fougère with descended gonads; Narcotico, a kohl-eyed patchouli seduction that had me parting with hard cash for a bottle. But, alas, Notturno is the greasy-haired, uninvited guest drinking up all the booze and boring rigid anyone who gets within their radius.
A frowsy, veiny-nosed thing that reeks first of cheap fruity rum and then of stale leather and licorice, Notturno is a perfume I gladly choose not to remember.

This has a strange opening with the scent of ink (somewhat like Encre Noire) and wine combined. The drydown smells weird like honey and glue together with leather. Longevity isn't that great. Overall not impressed.

3/5

This is lousy. The perfumer is using the notorious rum ether – a distinctive, immediately recognizable raw material that's rich and boozy but dissipates in (I'm not kidding) 30 seconds. For as lovely as that material smells, it's worthless in perfume and is clearly intended for use in flavoring. Anyhow, once Notturno's rum has burned off, you're left with a ghastly charred caramel that's slammed against something licorice-like to produce “ink.” It is inky (think glossy magazine smell), but it's the olfactory equivalent of a thousand paper cuts.

Notturno opens with a waxy/glue feel of vetiver, quite peculiar and "ink-y" in fact, sticky and tar-like, black but with some nice, aromatic nuances, mostly floral and fresh/fruity, and with an incense vibe – the usual Iso E breeze, on a cozy cashmeran woody base which then evolves on a more dry path. On my skin it feels quite much delicate and elusive, I had to reapply to feel it a bit more clearly and boldly. To be honest, although I appreciate the gracefulness and the meditative, cozy nocturnal vibe – not in a gloomy or decadent manner, more simply a chilling and quiet night out – I am really not impressed, there is too much of a conventional feel. It's basically a light woody/incense/aromatic vetiver scent like many others (and although I don't know the price for this, being a niche scent I assume it's probably overpriced for the quality).

6/10

interesting incense/rose combo..sillage and duration moderate!

What an unusual fragrance this is. First of all it doesn't smell dark or of blackness or bold tarry masculine notes, or leather or incense of some sort which is what I thought by the name. Notturno does smell like the damp, quickly declining cool night air smells you might encounter as you walk through a moonlit garden that is retiring quickly away from the warmth of the daylight. This is the smell of night air, that comes alive in the shadows of moon and starlight after most reasonable people are asleep.

The notes as listed by the company are: Rum accord, Pineapple, Ink, Leather accord, Clove, Birch leaves, Amber, Musk, Incense, Cedarwood. The opening is well described as rum, pinneapple and ink because if I hadn't read this I would have thought it was some incredibly mixed up chemical cleanrer of some type. In a way the opening has similar contrasts to the Byredo fragrance M/Mink which I am very familiar with. A very sharp dark ink scent that lays upon a pleasant cool verdant woods is a quick summary of it.

The cool birch cedar base reminds me of Fueguia 1833's Pulperia fragrance. In fact this scent smells similar to that one except for the inky opening, which I am appreciating now very much. The rum aspect of the opening disappears quickly and leaves the honesty of this black ink scent drawn upon glossy clay coated pure white paper. Expensive paper that smells cool and chalky, if you held it up to your nose. The combination of birch, incense and cedar is a very clean base note against the dry cleanliness of the inky top nootes. This combination is very relaxing and with a little prompting from the name Notturno, I am relaxed as a midnight stroll under the stars.

When I first sniffed the scent I didn't like the bitter contrasts, but as it wears on it is a very pleasant and relaxing fragrance. The contrasts start to disappear and only cool pleasantness remains. It is certainly unusual and I like this uniqueness which might be a perfect spring natural fragrance, if it weren't so costly!