Hi everyone. This is my first post on Basenotes, and it's been a long time coming! I've been a reader/researcher on these pages for close to ten years now, but only recently have made an account, and now finally mustered up the guts to write something...
I know this is a very old thread, but I felt it was the most suitable place for me to make my introduction, as Profumo's work has taken my perfume obsession to new heights (or is it depths?).
I don't know if I can say much more that hasn't already been said, on the many reviews and discussions of sample passes etc. And I have to say the confidence with which you seasoned reviewers pick apart notes and ingredients is quite intimidating! But I told Profumo I would make a post, and feel I should stick to my word (though I'm sure he's not too fussed either way!). I don't really know anyone IRL with whom I can get nerdy about perfume, and this community seems like a place that understands the 'power' (for want of a better word) that a really great fragrance can have over you. Hopefully my words can bring something new to the discussion
I'll dip my toe in by first stating my absolute loves from this house, some which seem to be pretty universally adored, and others which aren't so much:
Tabac - one of the most colourful, complex, intoxicating and multifaceted perfume journeys ever - to the basenoter above who said this should only be worn by a woman if she is also leather-bound in stilettos, I disagree! Tabac to me has too complicated a beauty to be categorised as masc/fem.
Rose des Bois - now this one I will state as a fem fragrance categorically! This is to me what I wish Amouage Lyric Woman was. The rose here is like plunging my face into a heavy, nodding old-fashioned, garden-grown rose, petals just a breeze's touch away from falling. It's jammy, deep red, and sweet but not in a cloying way. I don't get the cinnamon rush that other seem to be overwhelmed by, I get rose, rose and more rose, with the other players acting as support. Warm, juicy, creamy over time, and then finally so very cosy and romantic.
Cuoio dei Dolci - this one oozes sensuality to me. Delicious without a doubt, but there is something so sexy in there too, and while it may be the castoreum, I think it is not about it alone, but about the way it plays off the other notes. Other compositions which are castoreum-heavy don't have this effect on me haha. Weirdly, there is something here that reminds me of SL's Tubereuse Criminelle - and as far as I can see there are no shared notes! But dei Dolci wins by a long shot, only partly because it doesn't give me a headache.
Cuoio Tartaro - a work of art, put simply. I don't know by what wizardry Profumo does it, but I feel like I am surrounded by delicately perfumed leather - by that I mean leather with its own distinctive smell, that has also absorbed the beautiful fragrance of a wearer. It evolves so very beautifully, and morphs so frequently that I can't stop smelling myself whenever I wear it - I want to eat it sometimes. I went through a whole 5.5ml sample quickly, ordered another, and then instantly regretted and decided I needed a full bottle.
Aalacho no.1 - just beautiful. Much has already been said about this, but despite all the descriptions I was so surprised by what I personally smelled in my sample. There was much mention of greenness, but I don't really get any of that apart from the very brackeny opening. For/on me it quickly becomes quite warm, with some almost creamy note, and all in all makes me feel peaceful, meditative, and like being still. I am the very lucky owner of a mini bottle thanks to Profumo's great generosity.
Fiore di Lago - all I can see/feel/smell is gold. Warm, slightly sweet, liquid gold. Fresh and slightly tangy on the opening, then it melts down to gold. Sunlight, and warmth. Love it.
Other very honourable mentions that I really love but am not at the FBW obsessed point with yet:
Hindu Kush
Fior della Notte
Oak Moss
Sharif - this sample just arrived today and holy moly!
Grezzo d'eleganza - is that the Milano Caffe accord I smell? I looove this
Amber Chocolate
I have more to try still, and I have literally bought samples of nearly everything in the house!!
But there are a few that I was so disappointed to find did not agree with me, especially due to their widespread popularity, and this is one of the exciting and fascinating things about fragrance for me - how unique everyone's experience of it is! The weird ones for me were:
Palermo Don Corleone - gosh how I wanted to smell everything all the other reviewers were describing!! It sounded like everything I love, but no. All I get is my older sister's sweat when she has had one too many coffees. Not kidding, I get a similar note in my sweat when very stressed or caffeinated. On top of that, a savoury note that eluded me for an hour until I suddenly realised - brined green olives! I am perservering with it, because I am stubborn, so we'll see...
Aqua Santa - First off, I was so disappointed in my experience of this vs what others described! My nose was hit by very sharp, sour citrus, which dominated the whole wearing for me, for the first two wears. But on the third, suddenly I was picking up hints of incense, rose...I wonder if the maceration that occurs from the first opening of the sample is enough to make this much difference, or if it's my nose? I can't believe the change in my perception from one wear to the next!
Sensemilla - nope. Something in the interaction between the cacao and the greenness of the hemp makes me start to feel nauseous. And what's weird is I love hemp butter, 'hemp' cookies (ha), the smell of the leaf itself. But not in this sadly.
Mecca Balsam/Gringo/Chillum - these all have a similar problem for me, and it would be interesting to see if they have a shared ingredient or accord that is doing it. I feel I may be sensitive to ginger essential oil, as I love it but after a while, I start to feel sick and get a violent urge to get away from it... This is what happens with these three, they are simply mesmerising to begin with, Mecca and Gringo especially fascinate and beckon me to go deeper, and deeper, and then suddenly I am running away in the opposite direction, queasy. Such a shame (for me)
Ok, I just scrolled up and saw the wall of text!! Yikes, I hope that's not too much. I'll leave it there, and I hope to be able to nerd out some more soon, with anyone who is interested. I truly love perfume, and Profumo's work has only one main downside for me, and that is that it has more or less ruined synth/isolate-heavy perfumes for me. But more on that another time and/or place.
Hello, my name is Hcat and thanks for reading if you got this far!
Hey, I just d/l'd it from Amazon. I'd suggest getting it from there, since BN further compresses JPEGs that you upload to the board.
Bizarre! I think you and your lawyers should read it.
If it’s just a compendium of reviews, I might call my lawyer.
.
That’s why I bought it, but you might want to wait until I (or, better, the perfumer) weigh in. I don’t think it’s going to fly off the shelves in the meantime.
I like pirates out of line.
If it is well written and not embarassingly overpraising I shall recommend it to all my fans, friends and customers.
That’s exceedingly generous of you. I’ll think about how best to apply it while waiting for the book to arrive!
It is not generosity to give to those who deserve
Leonard Payne said:
FYI: I informed Kafkaesque of the existence and composition of the book.
He probably will by the end of the day.He probably doesn't know that K used to be a lawyer.
