Classic Collection: Aqua Composita - M. Balode Florascent

OK, sweet-powdery old-school Fougères I usually can't stand, it's a nasal torture on the level of plastic aquatics and shower gel bombs for me. In that regard, M. Balode is a death candidate. And indeed, I find it dreadful. Piercing-irritating opening. Instead of clear lavender or other fresh-green notes, a very unpleasant powdery-soapy mishmash reminiscent of the perfume department just before closing time. Partly scratchy-sweet (tonka can be so beautiful), partly green-violet-like (fractionated ionone?), partly powdery, partly piercingly woody - "everything I hate about perfume" and that with a natural scent?! A horror-fougère at the other end of the scale from the brilliant Heart of Darkness by Providence Perfume. In the drydown, it becomes a bit spicier and fruity notes emerge in the background, but it remains a nose burner without backbone. For me, a compositionally helpless variant of Biehl's eo02, which smoothly and perfectly modernizes a classic scent scheme and makes it interesting with davana. While others - also noses I appreciate - classify Balode as one of the better Florascent fragrances, for me, it is the worst so far.