Vaporocindro
January Scent Project (2017)

Starts off a spicy woods fragrance with floral/black currant notes like Givenchy Insense. There is an amber note about halfway through. Dries down to a middle-of-the-road synthetic woods note. Disappointing.

This starts out pretty fine. I dig the lilac, green leaves, and apple, although a little more apple would have been better. The top moves into the middle notes smoothly, with the spicy smokiness of turmeric and pepper. I can't quite discern any narcissus note individually. Perhaps it's smashed into everything else. The base begins to show towards, the end of the middle. The mahogany, cumin, coffee notes made me smile. The oud sort of erased that smile. I don't think the oud and sandalwood belong here. When all that is left is the base, this becomes just ordinary IMO. Yet another "artistic" scent from this house so I'll give it 3 stars. It isn't one I would wear often.

All of the January fragrances are interesting and unique. Vaporocindro opens with a floral statement possibly with narcissus and lilac and with brown spices and musk on the side. The florals later withdraw and the stage is set for a musky/spicy dry down.

It is unique and quite beautiful and rather long lasting. Unisex.

Lilac and Apple opens with a bloom, kinda like Baruti's Melkmeisje. I next expected either a green fir and/or a move to sweetened Amber. Nope. I suppose that the sliver of Narcisse is what bends this to a leathery vegetalic accord. Remarkable, is, a very true, backdrop of Turmeric with it's bouquet of dusty Dryness, that leads my nose to a Bone parched and Aromatic Oud. An offer of buttery Sandal smooths the palate. Cumin? Black Pepper? Ambergris?
Perhaps a touch,to just mildly season. It dries down to a gentle, spicy, contemplative Wood.
There is such a wonderful blending, to create an unique overall accord, so very interesting, balanced, and pleasing, to my palate.
Lovely.

Like its three house siblings, Vaporocindro is utterly unlike anything else I've ever smelled. Each stage of development is so pronounced, and so different from its predecessor, that it makes for quite a rollercoaster of a ride.

The lilac and green apple are prominent co-stars, but only in the opening 20 minutes. You'd think that would make for a juicy start, but it's surprisingly dry, and I liked it a lot. I was scared about the narcissus in the heart because that's a headachey floral for me, but between the turmeric and black pepper, that stage is more about the spice than the daffodil, and has a more herbal/medicinal effect than floral. (It smells more of raw turmeric tubers than of the dry powdered spice.) And by 'medicinal' I don't mean anything negative, but more like something soothing that would smell 'good for you', in the way that chamomile or horehound does.

It takes about two hours for the drydown to kick in, and it's a far gentler affair than those bold listed notes would imply. The cumin and coffee make a surprisingly pleasant, almost cozy combination (nothing armpitty here), and personally I don't detect oud. It's woody, yes, but nothing like those Everlasting Gobstopper Woody Aromachemicals that are so ubiquitous nowadays, and it has the good grace to just gently fade away after 7 or 8 hours instead of staggering on forever like the norlimbanol/ambroxan monsters.

Like all the January scents I've tried, it's very creative and interesting in its development. I'm still deciding whether it's wearable for me, and I do think I might prefer to smell it on a male.

One other thing: I usually detest market-speak like "flower vapor", but in this case that phrase seems apt. The florals here (lilac, narcissus) actually are vaporous, the way that a bouquet might scent a steamy room as opposed to mashing your nose into the the heart of a flower. A result, I suspect, of masterful blending.