Another Altaia fragrance from the travel package… this time Ombú, whatever that is supposed to mean. Well, let's look it up, and what do we find: hmm… that's Spanish for Ombu tree. Also known as dioecious kermesberry. Although both names really don’t mean anything to me…
It belongs to the tropical trees and therefore does not form annual rings. Its trunk is soft and can be pierced with simple knives. Since the crown of the tree is very lush, it consequently provides a lot of shade and is referred to as Bella Sombra in South American countries, which translates to "Beautiful Shade." However, I think that any shady spot can be really nice on brutally hot days :D
The Scent:
The fragrance primarily starts with pink pepper, which smells sweet and spicy at the same time. Just a few minutes later, you can smell the herbaceous sage, and you also have the feeling of detecting green notes (far) in the background.
Towards the base, the scent remains sweet-spicy (although the spiciness seems rather weak), and a woody note from cedarwood comes into play. The amber further contributes to the sweetness of the fragrance, although it still doesn’t come off as overly sweet. Additionally, the scent becomes softer and more balsamic over time. All in all, quite nice and pleasant.
The Sillage and Longevity:
The sillage is rather weak and will only be noticeable up close, and even then only for a short time, as the scent quickly becomes even weaker.
I found the longevity to be just average, around seven to eight hours.
*The Bottle:
The bottle is rectangular, somewhat thick, and a bit plain. The square white label is also rather simple. The dark cap is trapezoidal. It’s nicely done, but there are prettier bottles out there.
The scent has actually turned out quite nice. It smells pleasant and also natural. However, two things must be mentioned as points of criticism, although one of them isn’t really a criticism at all. The scent lacks a distinctive recognition factor and smells like many other (pleasant-smelling) fragrances. I don’t really count this as a criticism since many fragrances today are quite similar, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to create something entirely new that can be recognized by its… well, scent.
What I would criticize more is the projection, as the scent seemed a bit too weak for me, which I find unfortunate since it smells quite nice. Thus, Ombú remains just a lovely daytime and office scent in spring and summer that may occasionally smell nice under your nose but is unlikely to catch anyone else's attention (and therefore won’t disturb anyone).
So it’s worth a try.
Hmm, fortunately, it’s not so brutally hot right now, so one isn’t desperately searching for shade. It’s strange, when it gets cooler, everyone wishes for the blazing sun back, but when the sun is too strong, everyone wants it cooler again… one can’t understand people :D
Benzoin
Cedar
Sage
Pink pepper
Vegetal amber
Yatagan
Paprica
MichH
Mantus
Sommer2014
Robbenbingo
Gürteltier
Waldvogel
DaveGahan101
ParfumAholic
