02/19/2021
Rosenut
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With something like this, I imagine, the still ignorant Emma Bovary would have washed her face on her wedding day
There's nothing really green about "Paisley" at all, which is why I wouldn't classify it as a fougère, but in the small niche of summery light spiced waters. These completely uncitrusy anise-based summer waters are original, deeply idyllic and touching. Comparable was Acqua di Stresa's dreamy "Calycanthus Brumae," now sadly out of production. The citrus notes mark "Paisley" as a spring and summer fragrance, but they are purely prelude. After only seconds, they retreat to reveal a warm heart of sweet mint and star anise. The mint note is warm and sugary, free of menthol sharpness and hardly evokes the plant but rather old-fashioned little mints. It melds with the anise to form a powdery entity that is the keynote of this scent. While the cardamom also nestles closely to this keynote, the pepper steps out of it a bit and brings about a subtle freshness. That "Paisley" (like "Calycanthus Brumae") is a quieter fragrance seems to me a perfectly plausible, thoroughly stylistic choice. The delicately complex essence of such fragrances can only exist in a somewhat husky sillage; more powerfully tempered, it would become something else, much more pretentious. Beautiful words that reviewer Darvant finds on 'basenotes' about "Calycanthus Brumae can also be said about "Paisley": "A poetic little shadowy juice for struggling souls."
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