Top Notes 
Apple skin
Almond
Mugwort
Kaffir lime leaf
Violet leaf
Galbanum
Heart Notes 
Cinnamon
Opium
Absinthe wormwood
Clove
Frankincense
Papyrus
Pepper
Cocoa leaf
Labdanum
Suede
Base Notes 
Patchouli
Cedar
Sandalwood
Vetiver
06/03/2025
ClaireV
958 Reviews
ClaireV
1
Woody oriental with a few surprises up its sleeve
Vision in a Dream Psychedelic, a densely packed, spicy, 'brown' oriental, contains enough surprises up its sleeve to bump it up into the 'so odd it's good' category. It takes me a while to discern all the separate layers swirling around, but when I do, I understand its appeal.
First, there's the phenomenally dry, ashy, clove-inflected cedar and resin base holding everything up - this smells dusty, woody, a bit animalic, but also boozy and intricately spiced, similar to Mona di Orio Vanille, which is more sandalwood than vanilla in the end. Upon this base, the whole house is built. I smell several notable 'movements' on top - a clutch of wild, and bitter greenery, a dark anise-clove-licorice stickiness that approaches the texture of jam, and most surprisingly, an accord that smells exactly like the melon-flavored vodka that defined a whole summer in Sicily for me when I was 20 (I blame the apple note for this). The green, melony (apple), and anisic notes layer in and out, so the top half is no monolith. Still, the dry, sweet clovey wood and incense base is what wins out in the end, so best to emphasize that.
It is an unusual, even challenging, scent, but on balance, I think its opacity is what gives it much of its strange allure - start to break it down into its constituent parts, and you start to see bits and pieces of other perfumes, like the aforementioned Mona di Orio Vanille, but also, it must be said, Amouage Interlude Woman (with its odd kiwi-incense), and even Guerlain Lui (with its clovey benzoin and pear notes). But, you know, analysis is the death of joy, and if I could only stop thinking so hard about what makes a perfume tick, then I'd probably call this pretty darned great.
First, there's the phenomenally dry, ashy, clove-inflected cedar and resin base holding everything up - this smells dusty, woody, a bit animalic, but also boozy and intricately spiced, similar to Mona di Orio Vanille, which is more sandalwood than vanilla in the end. Upon this base, the whole house is built. I smell several notable 'movements' on top - a clutch of wild, and bitter greenery, a dark anise-clove-licorice stickiness that approaches the texture of jam, and most surprisingly, an accord that smells exactly like the melon-flavored vodka that defined a whole summer in Sicily for me when I was 20 (I blame the apple note for this). The green, melony (apple), and anisic notes layer in and out, so the top half is no monolith. Still, the dry, sweet clovey wood and incense base is what wins out in the end, so best to emphasize that.
It is an unusual, even challenging, scent, but on balance, I think its opacity is what gives it much of its strange allure - start to break it down into its constituent parts, and you start to see bits and pieces of other perfumes, like the aforementioned Mona di Orio Vanille, but also, it must be said, Amouage Interlude Woman (with its odd kiwi-incense), and even Guerlain Lui (with its clovey benzoin and pear notes). But, you know, analysis is the death of joy, and if I could only stop thinking so hard about what makes a perfume tick, then I'd probably call this pretty darned great.
BertolucciK
BoBoChamp
SmellGoodGuy
