Nombril Immense Etat Libre d'Orange 2006

Patchouli... my nemesis. I could never fall in love with a patchouli scent, I thought. Until the first spray of Nombril Immense. A powerful, deep, and emotionally touching fragrance, striking... no: shocking!
Nombril Immense did not seduce me slowly, but rather overwhelmed me with a bang.

Peppered, with a slight fruity touch and from the very beginning patchouli-dark, the overwhelming begins. Then, further facets of patchouli unfold: there’s a smoky touch, a leather touch, and I also think I can smell an underlying lavender, while a very thin citrus note survives the start and becomes a close companion to the main note.
Never too drastic, never so uncompromisingly overbearing as patchouli can be, yet always strong and characteristic.

From the middle on, an aspect of vetiver adds a surprising smile (and once again makes one understand a typical ELdO name): Nombril Immense is the opposite of fresh laundry and freshly showered scents!
Fragrant, smooth sheets, linen or soft cotton on the skin, bodies refreshed by water, young, virgin, just washed off the soap, cleaned, clear... exactly the opposite of that!
Nombril Immense does not smell dirty, disgusting, sweaty, fishy, rancid, or anything else that might come to mind under the heading "unclean." But still, it is a clear rejection of fresh-body concepts.

The sheets AFTER the night.
The body BEFORE the water.
That is Nombril Immense. Incredibly sensual and physical, but not in a directly sexy, urgent way. More like a Sunday morning in bed: still cozy, still sleepy.
A lazy stretch when the bed is still warm.
Wonderfully unshowered.