Adi ale Van

[Shadowartisttxl]

Anyone have any thoughts about all of the beautiful releases coming from this house from Romania? Founded in 2021 by artist Adi ale Van, in limited series and yet they already have 11 or so fragrances! All with handcrafted bottles and juice from a wide variety of beautiful artisanal perfumers: Jimmy Bodin, Flavius Calaj, Anne-Sophie Behaghel, Camille Chemardin, Giovanni Festa, Elia Chiche and David-Lev Jipa-Slivinschi.

 

[hednic]

First time hearing of it.

 

[Dr B1414]

I was curious about the house myself, as you said, the presentation is quite unique. I tried 2 of them in Budapest, two which I believed would be more up my alley, but they smelled quite unexceptional really. Pretty generic compositions. I have sampled hundreds, so nowadays, I can tell if something is going to be promising or not from the very first sniff. Of course, it's hard to be truly original nowadays, and maybe I've come to expect too much from all the new houses and noses that are coming up, but still, I want to be hooked. They didn't do it for me. As I said, only tried two, but I will not test any others, as the two were really not that interesting.

 

[Shadowartisttxl]

I was curious about the house myself, as you said, the presentation is quite unique. I tried 2 of them in Budapest, two which I believed would be more up my alley, but they smelled quite unexceptional really. Pretty generic compositions. I have sampled hundreds, so nowadays, I can tell if something is going to be promising or not from the very first sniff. Of course, it's hard to be truly original nowadays, and maybe I've come to expect too much from all the new houses and noses that are coming up, but still, I want to be hooked. They didn't do it for me. As I said, only tried two, but I will not test any others, as the two were really not that interesting.

Which two did you try?

 

[Dr B1414]

Which two did you try?

UMBRE and I honestly can't recall the other one. I'd say DILEMA.

 

[Dr B1414]

To me, none of those noses' work really stood out, so perhaps I just came to appreciate a certain kind of aesthetics. That being said, Bodin's latest release, Find Me in the Dark part II is sensational, one of my best buys and discoveries this year. Feels like a cross between Slumberhouse and Prin. I absolutely adore that one. The presentation is also very nice.

 

[Shadowartisttxl]

Well... Not much was being said online about his work, and despite his bottles being, in my estimation, some of the very best I have ever seen, I'm very interested in a lot of the ideas the house is exploring, so I thought why not.
Here are some quick initial thoughts.

Generally: very interesting work, somewhat in the same wheelhouse as Mendittorosa.

Hai Hui Flower Power Extrait: This doesn't really have much to do with flowers. Actually, this is a really interesting fragrance that smells like if someone was making artisanal paper from vetiver. I like this one quite a bit.
Saints Tears - Extrait of Forgiveness: this one to me is kind of a high-pitched resinous oakmoss. Whereas if you come across a rare ingredient like Oakmoss Resinoid, you will notice that it is very resinous while also coming across fairly heavy, I would call Saints Tears like the Eau de Toilette version of that, despite lasting all day and projecting very nicely.
Urma Vie - Extrait de Ceaslov: I don't quite yet know what to say about this one. It smells somewhat like it looks. I wouldn't necessarily call it incensy, but it's almost like a dark experimental aldehydic fragrance of some unknown aldehyde. I really like this one quite a bit. Also, I think this is the best bottle I have ever seen in my life.
Perseide - Elixir of Stars: This is very interesting to me. Almost like if someone took Tubereuse Criminelle, turned that into a compost, and re-imagined the overall scent as a plastic flower arrangement that has been sitting said compost for quite some time. I really like this one at points, but it is also very experimental to me, so sometimes it gets a bit much.
Dilema: a SUPER nice resinous leather fragrance. It smells like it says it does: leather, myrrh, licorice, saffron, papyrus... Kind of smells like if you mixed both Raw Gold and Eau Coeur by Thomas de Monaco together. It shape shifts a bit, and is overall pretty great.
.U.M.B.R.E.: To me this is actually a pretty damn good coffee scent, which is pretty hard to do imho. It smells maybe like a caramel latte that got burnt. Not like the espresso was burnt, but the whole damn thing was somehow burnt. I generally don't like coffee scents as they tend to become too abstract and fail to really smell like coffee to me, and I usually don't like gourmand fragrances as sweet and sticky usually brings with it a headache, but this is actually fairly well balanced!
Journey of Life - Extrait of Dreams: This one rules. It's maybe the most bizarre of the group as far as I can tell currently. It's a cocoa, castoreum, herbal affair that ultimately smells like something Prin might have made. Maybe the best way to describe it is if a really dark and dank beast was rolling around in cocoa powder. Or maybe, at points it smells like some kind of machine oil made from cocoa? Very odd. Either way, my favorite from the line so far.
Soul Tattoo - outlaw's elixir: This smells somewhat like a pleasing designer fragrance in the vein of La Nuit de l'Homme. It's woody, spicy, and herbal without being too sharp in any which direction, and being generally pleasant.

 

[Toskovat']

Well... Not much was being said online about his work, and despite his bottles being, in my estimation, some of the very best I have ever seen, I'm very interested in a lot of the ideas the house is exploring, so I thought why not.
Here are some quick initial thoughts.

Generally: very interesting work, somewhat in the same wheelhouse as Mendittorosa.

Hai Hui Flower Power Extrait: This doesn't really have much to do with flowers. Actually, this is a really interesting fragrance that smells like if someone was making artisanal paper from vetiver. I like this one quite a bit.
Saints Tears - Extrait of Forgiveness: this one to me is kind of a high-pitched resinous oakmoss. Whereas if you come across a rare ingredient like Oakmoss Resinoid, you will notice that it is very resinous while also coming across fairly heavy, I would call Saints Tears like the Eau de Toilette version of that, despite lasting all day and projecting very nicely.
Urma Vie - Extrait de Ceaslov: I don't quite yet know what to say about this one. It smells somewhat like it looks. I wouldn't necessarily call it incensy, but it's almost like a dark experimental aldehydic fragrance of some unknown aldehyde. I really like this one quite a bit. Also, I think this is the best bottle I have ever seen in my life.
Perseide - Elixir of Stars: This is very interesting to me. Almost like if someone took Tubereuse Criminelle, turned that into a compost, and re-imagined the overall scent as a plastic flower arrangement that has been sitting said compost for quite some time. I really like this one at points, but it is also very experimental to me, so sometimes it gets a bit much.
Dilema: a SUPER nice resinous leather fragrance. It smells like it says it does: leather, myrrh, licorice, saffron, papyrus... Kind of smells like if you mixed both Raw Gold and Eau Coeur by Thomas de Monaco together. It shape shifts a bit, and is overall pretty great.
.U.M.B.R.E.: To me this is actually a pretty damn good coffee scent, which is pretty hard to do imho. It smells maybe like a caramel latte that got burnt. Not like the espresso was burnt, but the whole damn thing was somehow burnt. I generally don't like coffee scents as they tend to become too abstract and fail to really smell like coffee to me, and I usually don't like gourmand fragrances as sweet and sticky usually brings with it a headache, but this is actually fairly well balanced!
Journey of Life - Extrait of Dreams: This one rules. It's maybe the most bizarre of the group as far as I can tell currently. It's a cocoa, castoreum, herbal affair that ultimately smells like something Prin might have made. Maybe the best way to describe it is if a really dark and dank beast was rolling around in cocoa powder. Or maybe, at points it smells like some kind of machine oil made from cocoa? Very odd. Either way, my favorite from the line so far.
Soul Tattoo - outlaw's elixir: This smells somewhat like a pleasing designer fragrance in the vein of La Nuit de l'Homme. It's woody, spicy, and herbal without being too sharp in any which direction, and being generally pleasant.

I've got 5 more to give full wearings to, and I'll update y'all as I wear them.

Hi there,
I am the nose behind Soul Tatto and I am glad you liked it. That comprison was flattering!

If I can help discuss anything about it, I am here

 

[Shadowartisttxl]

Hi there,
I am the nose behind Soul Tatto and I am glad you liked it. That comprison was flattering!

If I can help discuss anything about it, I am here

Well hey there, glad you liked it! I am super interested in your house as well! Have them on the list to sample soon

 

[Shadowartisttxl]

So after a couple of wears of each of the full bottles, there are three that I just wanted to comment on today.
Urma Vie - Extrait de Ceaslov: I still don't know what to say about the first couple hours of this fragrance. I've worn it a few different times, and even the people around me have trouble discerning what the smell is about. It is fairly abstract - at some times metallic, other times salty, other times like ancient worn out leather. But, it's very interesting to follow during this time. I still think it feels like an unknown aldehyde for a while - it has that oily, but kind of sterile feel to it for a while. Later on, the incense itself does come out! It's quite an interesting thing. I really like this one a lot.
Journey of Life - Extrait of Dreams: This is still one of my favorites - still saying this is something like gasoline made out of cocoa. Strong castoreum vibes. All around amazing.
Soul Tattoo - outlaw's elixir: This one continues to really warm up to me. It's like a creamy, woody, spicy affair that just keeps getting better. One of those scents that straddles the line between the intense appeal of designer fragrances, and the slight edgy territory of the milk and camphor notes. It isn't by any means an edgy fragrance - it's incredibly safe and crowd pleasing, but it has just a little bit more freedom to fully express itself.

 

[Shadowartisttxl]

Smelling the upcoming Gruia today, and it's back to more of what I love from AAV: dark, earthy, mysteriousness.
It's a soil/lavender/cypriol/resin fragrance that smells like a if you were able to tan a very dark leather made from lavender and earth.
Foggy, leathery lavender.