Agar de Noir Areej Le Doré 2020

I have traveled quite a bit on my now four-year journey; by now, I know them all. Louis, Annette, Tom, French, Germans, Brits, Turks, Arabs....
Exploring the world of perfume and testing new scents always brings the pursuit of perfection, the illusion of which is inherent in its nature. Or does it really exist...?
Since I was 16, my thirst for ever-greater ecstasy of the senses has never been sufficiently quenched by the aforementioned.
Despite this, I have dedicated myself to the world of perfume, and it has become the main component of my life. Not only do I see my career in it, but also, in a certain sense, a home.
During my teenage years, I developed problems feeling and expressing emotions. Especially words are, in the face of the overwhelming power of emotions, often just incomplete, deformed, stunted shells dripping with nihilism, whose content can in no way express a storm of feelings even remotely. Leaving aside the honesty of the same.

To express my emotional world, I need my senses.
Music. Smell.
For me, a scent is not just a luxury item or a way to feel good, but a way to make myself heard.
Quiet. Without words.

To take the next step in my olfactory journey, I ventured into the artisan realm and ordered Musk Lave and Agar de Noir - blind - Yes, I know I’m a complete idiot.
I have been buying blind since my early days and will always keep it that way; the element of surprise and the experience of the bottle give me a little thrill. With samples, I somehow feel diminished.
What can I say, the step was more of a leap. Like a small child in rubber boots over the muddy puddle. *Splash*
Areej le Doré is different from anything I have smelled so far; it had to be, as the skipped muddy puddle only appears in its murky brown color.
Agar de Noir was the next step. The evolution from perfume enthusiast to understanding "perfume".
When you first hold your nose over it, you flinch slightly and have to remove it from the scent strip immediately - incredulous, in the face of what you just perceived.
When I first olfactorily examined the deep brown spot, I smiled. “Wow.” “Wait, what?” “Wow.” “Incredible.” “No, what?” If someone had watched me from the outside at that moment, they would probably think I had been told I was selected for Hogwarts.
I was incredulous and had to set the strip aside for a moment to process. Concentration was needed.
After 2 hours, I dared to approach the perfume again and examined it more critically this time.

It starts slightly piercing - cardamom explosion, cocoa, oud, flowers, dark syrup, aromas of coffee make their way through the sticky molasses.
Resins drip.
Union under a black sky. Burning smoke, a jungle suffering. Inferno.
A violet in a purple robe. Born in the ash rain.

Russian Adam has achieved what few can; he has evoked feelings in me with his creation, yes, even torn a smile from me and allowed me to savor it like an omakase menu. And that, without ever having spoken a word to me. For that, I am very grateful, and I will continue to enjoy his brand in the future.
Is it the perfection already mentioned? Certainly not, as perfection is, as already hinted, unattainable for humans. However, it comes closest to it so far, which is why this experience leads me to rate a scent with a 10 for the first time in 4 years.

It should be noted, however, that I do not wish to criticize the perception of scent, the expectations of a perfume, or its use with my review in any way.
Even a simple office scent certainly has its right to exist.
However, I believe that precisely this triggering of emotions and the critical engagement with the scent on the emotional consciousness level should be the goal of a perfumer, but also of a "sniffer." Because: the creative creation and experience and the ensuing emotional response are the highest wealth of the spirit.
In this sense, "Cogito ergo sum"