Nohiba E. Coudray 1978
4
Helpful Review
Holographic love-child of old-school Opium & the original O de Lancome.
Uncompromising classic.
Nohiba transports you back a fair few decades with her fiercely aldehylic & mock-moss opening but wait, there is a plump & pillowy “perfumery” perfume lurking below the radar. She is dated yet mutable and as contemporaneous as nature herself. She is meaty & voluminous yet light enough to shimmer with a golden heat-haze. You will either love her or loathe her, but take a while to understand her (as you would a painting) & you will be rewarded with an interesting, unfurling romantic scent journey.
When your nostrils have become accustomed to the dry, stripping bergamot you are aware of a fine, ivory soap with a hint of triple milled powder. It is herbal & clean not in today’s modern sense (all ozionics & solars) but in that of the past, almost as nature herself. Not sweet, almost savoury, definitely dry – a sage green with a touch of terracotta.
When the arid rawness of the start subsides, the warm, spicy desert-heat of Nohiba arrives. Light, sour Roses – not fresh, but pot-pourri petals left out in the sun. If there’s any lemon in there, it is the bitter pith & peel. Coriander & old store-cupboard savoury herbs add a dash of dust, but the true stars are sun-baked carnations & ylang-ylang. Big! Bold! Ablaze!
As the heat-haze wears on, Nohiba softens to a sun-warmed, spicey-sweet, woody-oriental harking back to a bygone era. Her last gasps are of smoky woods, old pine cones & salty skin.
Nohiba is very distinctive but there are moments where she swings towards scents you recognise. This grande dame wanders through the garden of perfumes-past, picking at the petals of once famed fragrances: a snippet of Sisley, a dash of Aromatics Elixir, a handful each of Cinnebar, Opium, O de Lancome, Guerlain’s Terracotta Voile d’ete ……on & on she travels…a scent ship in full sail.
Nohiba truly is a bosomy, well upholstered fragrance. She is as tough as a corseted matron but remains voluptuous & womanly beneath. She is a William Morris woman - a mix in time of austerity & romantic fantasy.
To sum up: the holographic love-child of old-school Opium & the original O de Lancome.
Nohiba transports you back a fair few decades with her fiercely aldehylic & mock-moss opening but wait, there is a plump & pillowy “perfumery” perfume lurking below the radar. She is dated yet mutable and as contemporaneous as nature herself. She is meaty & voluminous yet light enough to shimmer with a golden heat-haze. You will either love her or loathe her, but take a while to understand her (as you would a painting) & you will be rewarded with an interesting, unfurling romantic scent journey.
When your nostrils have become accustomed to the dry, stripping bergamot you are aware of a fine, ivory soap with a hint of triple milled powder. It is herbal & clean not in today’s modern sense (all ozionics & solars) but in that of the past, almost as nature herself. Not sweet, almost savoury, definitely dry – a sage green with a touch of terracotta.
When the arid rawness of the start subsides, the warm, spicy desert-heat of Nohiba arrives. Light, sour Roses – not fresh, but pot-pourri petals left out in the sun. If there’s any lemon in there, it is the bitter pith & peel. Coriander & old store-cupboard savoury herbs add a dash of dust, but the true stars are sun-baked carnations & ylang-ylang. Big! Bold! Ablaze!
As the heat-haze wears on, Nohiba softens to a sun-warmed, spicey-sweet, woody-oriental harking back to a bygone era. Her last gasps are of smoky woods, old pine cones & salty skin.
Nohiba is very distinctive but there are moments where she swings towards scents you recognise. This grande dame wanders through the garden of perfumes-past, picking at the petals of once famed fragrances: a snippet of Sisley, a dash of Aromatics Elixir, a handful each of Cinnebar, Opium, O de Lancome, Guerlain’s Terracotta Voile d’ete ……on & on she travels…a scent ship in full sail.
Nohiba truly is a bosomy, well upholstered fragrance. She is as tough as a corseted matron but remains voluptuous & womanly beneath. She is a William Morris woman - a mix in time of austerity & romantic fantasy.
To sum up: the holographic love-child of old-school Opium & the original O de Lancome.
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