I bought the Bortnikoff discovery set very early on in my sniffing journey about two years ago. I remember at the time being sort of frustrated, feeling as though all 15 of the samples smelled too similar to each other and too foreign to appreciate. I assumed at the time this was due to me having basically no experience with anything containing predominately natural ingredients and figured if I kept the empty bottles than in time I'd be able to appreciate the faint whispers left in them as my nose developed. (I was correct, still smell them on occasion)
I purchased the set because I wanted to experience authentic agarwood. One by one, I spritzed the samples onto my skin, and one by one the feeling of frustration grew as I felt I had no idea what I was smelling. That would've been fine, if I actually liked any of them. Everything just seemed too dark or too novel to actually inspire me to want to wear them. Zemfira was the second one I tested. I remember being impressed by the rose in it. I'd smelled many rose accords, but this was my first time smelling something with a large amount of real rose oil. While it's very pleasant, I'm a man and I can't go around smelling like a bouqet of roses, so I thought.
As I tested many of the others over the next week or so, not feeling much of anything from them, I pried the cap off the Zemfira bottle and poured what was left, maybe 1.5ml or so, down my arm and laid down, just for the hell of it. It opens with a very bright, citric, slightly peppery blast of rose. Sharp, oddly fruity, almost overwhelming rose. As the hours went by, I kept going back to see if I could finally detect this "oud" stuff. Around the 3-4 hour mark, nothing is left of the rose. There's a strange, smokey smell lingering. "That must be it" I thought. Dmitri describes the character of the oud in this as "smouldering". As the hours further pass, this smouldering, smokiness takes on a fermented accord. The smell continues to linger on my skin for 18+ hours.
I wound up buying a 15ml decant on fragnanimous which I only have a couple sprays left of. If I had any wits about me, I would've bought the full bottle of it he was selling for $260. I'm pretty anxious about new versions of this not smelling exactly like what I've become accustomed to, as this has really become one of my top 3 favorites I've encountered. I will say though, it's still sort of awkward when someone in public asks me if I'm wearing "perfume", as in, women's fragrance. Oh well!!!
