Anyone who has read my Cedro di Taormina comment knows that I had 2 office colleagues who suffered from hay fever and, let's say it nicely, did not shower my passion for perfume with a lot of compliments;-)! It was a typical stalemate situation, as we couldn't open the window due to the hay fever, but judging by their facial color, it would have been extremely necessary in terms of perfume... but the constant stereo sneezing eventually gets on your nerves, especially when you're on the phone with clients. So what to do??? I then moved to the office of my actual vacation replacement, who was sitting there alone in a very large office... he is still very young... and could still use some know-it-all suggestions... oh yes... and he has hay fever too, but it doesn't bother him, the window is wide open the whole time... has nothing to do with perfumes... honestly... he just sneezes from time to time... sometimes more... well, you can't have it all... he probably thought so too;-)!
Since I wore "L" for the first time today, having only tested it on the back of my hand before, I asked him this morning, "..sooo, does it smell strong of perfume today?" (I had only used 3 sprays just to be safe)... and he said "nooo... but somehow it smells strange"... with raised eyebrows (he didn't see the stake in my heart) I asked... "how strange... describe it... before I fall off my office chair from a heart attack"... he thought for a minute (I think he wanted to break it to me gently)... and then said... "it smells like pencils when you've put them in the sharpener... the dark green ones from Faber Castell"... wow... let someone claim that young people are all lazy and dumb... it really does smell like that... but we'll get to that later..;-)!
L is simply amazing, I can't describe it any other way! It starts beautifully divine with an incredible grapefruit-bergamot blend that switches off all my lights... like with heroin... the first hit is already addictive! When I bought it at the Hofparfümerie in Hamburg on Saturday, I didn't find the top note that brilliant (more the later development) as I probably still had the 1872 in my nose (that's why I actually came), but now I could almost flip out... also because a subtle needle tree note mixes in, which pairs very well with grapefruit, not exaggerated like sauna infusion, Norne, In The Woods, or Fille en Aiguielles... ethereal, but not sauna-like, strong, yet mild and soft. Maybe it’s also due to the oud, which I can't isolate or recognize at all, but is probably still there... I would describe it as "there's something incredible in there"... or best described as a "stealth oud accord";-)!
The development and transitions of L are fluid... and despite the brilliant top note... the heart note is for me the highlight of the fragrance... I don't think it can get much better. Citrusy needle-oud aroma glides into a dreamy rose-wood mix, all components of the top note are still there, nothing is in the foreground... everything perfectly balanced... and then come the rose streaks... wow.. awesome.. the aromatic-spicy woods give me the rest. Here L becomes both softer and spicier, but also distinctly more masculine! To borrow a quote from Gold's current comment, this is an olfactory shock (Thanks Gold for this quote, hope I was allowed to use it!?)!!!!
But the development goes even further... the transition to the base note is fluid as well, the rose steps back into the second row, but remains slightly present... now the wood clearly takes the lead, and here my pencil colleague comes back into play! The brilliant Atlas cedar actually creates this carbon-pencil note, as one knows it to some extent and in different quality from Laliques White and Carbone de Balmain, only here you believe someone has just felled a cedar next to you and processed it immediately... so delicious... I liked it in the other 2 fragrances as well, but this is a whole different league, so intense and natural, fresh, green, spicy, masculine, and yet the fragrance becomes creamy-balsamic. It's wonderful how the fragrance clearly goes through its stages of development, something you usually only know from Guerlains!
In the base, which is reached after 8 hours, I only perceive a wood-musk mix, which is very nice, but not particularly extraordinary.
This morning at 8 am I sprayed it on, and now at 6 pm I can still perceive L very well... that's just genius. The right hand is just at the beginning of the heart note for comparison and comment writing.
Conclusion: A brilliant fragrance that I rejected half a year ago, a fragrance that has extreme longevity yet doesn't overwhelm. Yes, intense, demanding, polarizing, but not exhausting, you have to engage with it... that's what it wants... otherwise, you can't recognize its true beauty. The sillage is almost consistently magnificent, but it doesn't tire, annoy, or overwhelm you or others... because it shows and takes this wonderful development.
Another example of how the nose "learns" and develops over the years, how it can be worthwhile to immerse yourself in the fragrance and give yourself and the fragrance time! Yes, the price is hefty, and at the cash register in the store, I briefly thought "have you completely lost your mind???" and also told my girlfriend, "we will never talk about this price again... never again... agreed?"... an incredulous nod was the answer;-) . When I add up my failed blind buys, the mainstream fragrances I bought after smelling them once in the store and returned after 2 weeks, and also consider the losses when reselling, then the bottle is easily paid for 2x a year!
Not a fragrance for every day, but an absolute fragrance Olympus, there’s probably not much between love and hate. It will play out between witch's brew (quote from Cravache) and revelation...
Thanks for reading:-)!
Top Notes 
Grapefruit
Heart Notes 
Petitgrain
Rose
Oud
Base Notes 
Fir balsam
Atlas cedar
Musk
Vetiver
SeoulBrough
Hajuvana
BertolucciK
Prokion
Eggi37
Luwa
Konst121
Jacko
Rosalie234
FRAgrANTIC
