My Love Has the Colour of the Night Floraïku 2017

Unease is slowly creeping in. I have received eleven Floraïkus (thank you very much!) from Verbena and ‘My Love Has the Colour of the Night’… ugh… ‘MLHtCotN’… another ugh… let’s just call it ‘MyLo’… marks exactly the middle; as a business economist from accounting, I proceeded alphabetically. Did Floraïku shoot its powder too generously at the very beginning with ‘Between Two Trees’? None of the four subsequent candidates reached a similar altitude.

Now number six:

Dark patchouli, with a hint of spice behind it. Involuntarily, I think from afar of the Eugenol-bomb Vetivert by Angela Flanders. Not in the sense of a twin, the English one is much spicier and stronger. Only in terms of approach. And even there, the vetiver had to earn its position as the main theme.

The previous Floraïkus were often somewhat more or less floating-dotted, sometimes almost ethereal, as if they were catering to Central European Japan clichés. Today, a bolder representative comes along. The aura of the opening phase can be described as downright dark. Hints of leather and tobacco have already been reported.

The darkness, however, fades away; within half an hour, the colleague takes it a bit easier. An increasingly stronger emphasis on the vetiver theme during this general retreat steers the entire habitus in a more classic direction. Citrusy splashes, likely related to the vetiver corner (and presumably ISO-enhanced), provide a portion of freshness. Rough-sour-thickened-malty-woody patchouli (presumably boosted with Cashmeran) underscores that this is by no means a suit fragrance. To stay in the metaphor, it’s at best suited for a tweed jacket. But that’s just fine!

An intriguing interplay of light and dark emerges, stable over many hours. This seems - in the sense of an interim conclusion - to be another characteristic of Floraïkus: olfactory rollercoaster rides, any kind of “tempo” is avoided. Otherwise, MyLo definitely occupies a special position in its relatively rustic nature.

Even as the woodiness increases and it shifts to the lighter side, there is always something spicy-fresh on top. And no hardware store - plus point! Moreover, the shift fits perfectly with the fundamental vetiver principle and makes it tempting to take a sniff of the woody-spicy-herbaceous mixture throughout the entire afternoon. Towards the evening, it even develops a scratchy-earthy-smoky twist, yet cheerfully accompanied by a certain freshness. Very nice.

Once again, without wanting to talk about fragrance twins, mentioning the Flanders vetivert naturally brings to mind the corresponding Guerlain classics as stylistically related alternatives - I just know the Flanders better.

Thus, I lack the imagination to see what sets Floraïku apart so much that I would want to shell out a round quarter of a thousand euros for it. Such feelings are (third interim conclusion) not an isolated case with this provider. Still a good fragrance.

Conclusion: Curve achieved, well done! Now you just need to get a handle on the sprawling names. And while you’re at it, maybe recalculate the series.