Art and Sharing - Lux Visionaria Filippo Sorcinelli 2022

I saw the notes, saw artemisia (which I'd dare say it's Sorcinelli best note, I do think he gives its best with artemisia and not with incense - I know, unpopular opinion) and I saw frankincense, and yeah. I had to try it.
The opening was not capturing me, the first thing that hit me was a very distinct jasmine and lily scent, too floreal to the point to be almost sweet (not gourmand. Just the sweet scent of some flowers) and I was a bit disappointed, but luckily the evolution got better. It has my trinity of notes when we talk about liturgical scents: frankincense, myrrh, smoke. The only thing missing is beewax. So you get this almost golden aura to it, that gets intertwined with artemisia, almost as if this Church had a little herboristery as some abbeys did. A good one for meditation (and I do not mean the yoga-etsy witch kind of meditation, obviously).

My first foray into Filippo Sorcinelli and probably not one of the best from the house, or at least not one of the most referenced. It's got kind of an odd structure, with the resinous notes as top notes while floral notes act as base notes. Even from first spray I mostly get florals (violet oddly, even though it's not in the note listing) with sour resins coming through and finally a base which is mostly a watery lily accord to my nose. Interesting premise and quite unique, but not really a fan of the scent itself unfortunately.

From the depths of time, a sacred fire in the middle of the cathedral. A fire that is seen. A thousand sounds escape from the organ, expelled breezes of wooden timbres and metallic vibrations, enveloping the bright light. Thousands of years ago, people offered woods and resins to the fire, their bright fragrant smoke cloaking all that is visible. The other world opens up, creation shines, Brother Sun and Sister Moon, Mother Earth in her colors and forms. The holy light vibrates golden, delicate, a flower blooms within it, a cornucopia of light poured out reveals a bittersweetness. The heavenly light is infinite love, told in fine notes of the beauty of creation, its generosity. It is a laughing light that makes us shine, only we are important, our wholeness, our blooming, and our daily nourishment of light and bread. A laughter that takes away our seriousness, it absorbs worries and suffering and gives us golden light in return. And this is light, dancing, overflowing, not overwhelming. Yet in its lightness, it outshines the old dark walls. For a moment, it only allows the spaces between the atoms to appear, the universe is light and sound.

Hildegard of Bingen, the nun, abbess, scholar, poet, composer, experiences in her visions the presence of God's love as great light. She possessed great knowledge of healing herbs and the connections within the human body. For her, sexuality was divinely intended, and she is said to have been the first to describe the female orgasm. In monastic plays, she had her sisters appear adorned, celebrating their femininity. All belong to creation, to the great act of love. She celebrated joy, laughter, and beauty. I have strong images from the film "Visio" by Margarethe von Trotta in my mind. Is this scent therefore so light and playful, shifting between flower, resin, wood, bitter, sweet, smoky, because Hildegard is in mind?

There is a CD with Hildegard's compositions of spiritual songs to her visions, sung by bright, high female voices that let the pulsating light be felt: "The Origin of Fire". From her first vision: "I [...] saw a brightly shining fire, incomprehensible, indelible, blazing and filled with real life, with a flame of the color of air."

Frankincense opens with an extraordinary accord of amber, myrrh, vanilla, patchouli, and saffron, soon vanilla dominates and provides warmth, together with amber and saffron, the bitter myrrh recedes, giving fine patchouli space. Soon jasmine and lily of the valley bloom, but delicately, flanked by woods. I cannot yet detect ambrette seeds, but the variety of their scent notes makes me very curious. Afterward, the sweetness takes over again, surprisingly for me in a vision, and makes me think of the cornucopia of divine gifts.

I have read elsewhere about the unusual scent pyramids of Filippo Sorcinelli, a multi-talented individual, tailor to the Pope, organist, perfumer. (The bottle would also be worth a few words, but that would exceed the scope here, and I only have a sample.) In the base, alongside smoky notes, are artemisia and ylang-ylang, which I perceive rather delicately, rounding off the sweetness with a slightly spicier note. A fine trace remains, a luminous memory.

Art and Sharing is a new series, Art and Sharing - Lux Visionaria the first fragrance of a collaboration between Filippo Sorcinelli and Bianca de la Garza, a Mexican-American journalist. This is told at duftkunsthandlung.de/products/Filippo-sorcinelli-lux-visionaria and describes in detail the ideas of the duo, here is an excerpt: "'Lux Visionaria' speaks of both sensitivities, of the search for the beyond [...], which hears our distortions and reinterprets them, allowing us to look up without forgetting our drama, in a meditative and lush cosmos of colors." So this is about our search and the Other World that comes to us, merciful, encouraging.

When I think of "Breath of God (Perfume) | Lush / Cosmetics To Go" or "Unum - LAVS | Filippo Sorcinelli" by Sorcinelli, the Other World can also appear more powerful and harsher or more defined. Art and Sharing - Lux Visionaria comes shimmering, playful, warm, light, and sweet. What a playful trick of the essence juggler.

Lux Visionaria is, I would say, another classic Sorcinelli.
A scent that is niche yet also quite pleasing.
Filippo Sorcinelli likes to play with incense and myrrh, and that is exactly the case here again.
I like that! Especially because these notes always feel subtly refreshed and, above all, finely spicy with him.

The fragrance starts off directly with incense and myrrh.
As mentioned, it feels slightly refreshed and finely spicy to me.
This feeling of "refreshed" often arises when herbs, anise, and resinous notes are in play and combine well. I suspect that the artemisia is relatively strong here and could be contributing to that in combination with, for example, the myrrh.

Additionally, I then perceive slightly earthy patchouli undertones as it develops.
I personally always find that particularly appealing. Furthermore, there are these pleasantly mild smoky nuances from the incense and myrrh.
I felt I also detected anise in the initial phase, but it is not listed. Over time, it becomes increasingly "spicy," this "refreshed" aspect diminishes, and the fragrance gains more warmth. It clings to the skin.

Lux Visionaria lasts about eight hours on my skin and has a totally solid sillage.
Is the fragrance unisex wearable?
Definitely.

For an older, wealthy woman, it might suit quite well. For me (male, 22 years old), it is, in my opinion, too old-fashioned and feminine. After a while, the scent becomes more bearable, acquiring a slightly smoky, but above all, floral and powdery note, which still seems more suitable for older people and feminine to me! It almost reminds me a bit of that smell of slightly old-fashioned laundry detergent that many probably remember from their grandmother, just a bit sweeter and somewhat more synthetic or chemical! Not a bad scent, especially in the later stages, but as I said, too old-fashioned and feminine for me; the scent itself, however, smells high-quality and certainly matches the visual presentation of the bottle in terms of composition!