Splendida - Patchouli Tentation Bvlgari 2020

Thankfully I do not get any peach in this at all, to my nose there really isn’t any sweetness. There is a good amount of clean musk while the orris adds a fluffy powder but it isn’t suffocating or heavy at all. This fragrance feels like a big soft fluffy blanket, it envelopes you.

The patchouli in this is very clean, there is no chocolate or dirt here. I can feel the similarities between this and the Narciso White Cube, which is interesting because White is primarily cedar and gardenia, two notes nowhere to be found in this. They don’t smell the same, but they do feel the same. I can only assume it must be the musk.

Essentially this is a romantic patchouli dominated by powdery musk, a good starter patchouli for someone who thinks patchouli smells dirty. Performance is stellar with an easy 8 hour longevity and a sufficient scent cloud lingering about arms width with a soft musky trail.

I do find this terribly overwhelming in the summer heat though. Highly recommend for cold weather due to the amazing performance and it feeling so cozy during winter. In the summer heat it turns suffocating and heavy, nearly nauseating.

With the first spray of this fragrance, I had a déjà vu experience, it's... you know it from somewhere...!?
But of course, is it Narciso or not?

In fact, the scent is very similar in the opening and also in the further development, but there are a few small differences.
At first, I was very surprised that the only overlap in the fragrance pyramid is supposed to be musk, which astonishes me given this similarity.
Patchouli Tentation opens rather cool, but soon the white peach flashes subtly, taking away some of its initial severity.
Powdery and enveloping, the fragrance reveals its wonderful heart of iris on fluffy musk, and that is the part I like best about this scent.
I feel gently enveloped, delicately powdered and creamed, yet it is not an entirely sweet fragrance; patchouli sneaks up from the shadows on soft paws like a shy cat and grounds the scent.

But.......... the theme has partly missed the mark, as anyone expecting a darker patchouli scent based on the name will experience a moderate disappointment.
In my opinion, the theme is more about iris and musk; I even suspect some cedarwood in the background, even though it is not listed in the fragrance pyramid.
Despite all the kinship to Uncle Narciso, this fragrance becomes softer and less strict over time, always retaining its fine powderiness and wearing gently like a delicate silk scarf, yet with very good longevity.

Conclusion: I really like this fragrance despite the misleading name, which somehow doesn't quite fit this beautiful scent and only delivers the themed patchouli in very fine doses.
The white bottle fits very well, as it is a bright scent, clean and creamy with subtly fruity nuances, but certainly not a dark patchouli representative, which I forgive Bvlgari, as that is not my preferred fragrance theme anyway.

For some time now, I have enjoyed reading the fragrance descriptions in this lovely community, and now I feel like writing something myself again.
My first test candidate is the Patchouli Tentation from the Splendida series.
It starts off very cool, distant, subtly floral, a patchouli in a winter coat. Peach is hardly noticeable. Then the scent becomes very clean, it smells like freshly showered skin. The iris is probably to blame for that. Soon it disappears again, and the white musk makes its appearance. This becomes increasingly delicate, subtle, and finely powdery. A fine, discreet, yet still special fragrance for every season, except summer. That would need to be tested first to see how it performs in strong heat. Oh yes, in my experience, it is particularly important with this fragrance series to let them breathe; they often develop surprisingly.