Patchouliful Laboratorio Olfattivo 2014

I think if I could go back in time 22 years to visit 22 year old nouveau hippie jam band concert going me and I told that 22 year old version of me that I’d come to love patchouli in my early to mid 40s, the 22 year old may have punched me in the nose for thinkin the sniffer wasn’t working. In those days of going to Dave Matthews and Rusted Root shows, among others, it was commonplace for every other gal to have seemingly swam in a bath of what I now realize was just horrible quality patchouli oil. During this same time frame and through my 30s I unknowingly warmed up to patchouli fragrances without knowing it considering some of my fragrances from those years were from the patchouli dominant Angel for men / A*Men line. I just paid no mind to notes / fragrance compositions in those days.

Anyhow, nowadays, my gosh can a good patchouli scent just be so darn delicious. Psychedelique, Crush On Me, Patchouli Nosy Be, Patchouli Intense, l’Instant de Guerlain, Sole Patchouli. There are just so many delicious patchouli dominant scents. This one is by one of my absolute favorite perfumers, Cécile Zarokian so that makes me love this one even more. This opens slightly citric and heavily warm spicy from the bergamot with clove and cinnamon. The patchouli is there right from the get go and I don’t know if it’s the notion that patchouli is from the mint family of plants, or it actually smells this way due to the mix of citrus and spices… but I get almost a fresh mint-like scent at the beginning, though it’s somewhat fleeting. The patchouli gets a bit more dense and I feel would get more earthy into the middle and to toward full dry down, however the florals of frangipani and orris come to play. That frangipani really sweetens it up so it goes sort of chocolaty candied patchouli while the orris just makes that a silky smooth cake-like quality - just absolutely delicious. Totally am biased cause I adore Cécile for sure, but my gosh does she do some marvelous things - I love her use of both frangipani, and patchouli in other fragrances and really love how she brings them together here.

The cedar, cistus, and musk play very well with the top and mid and seem to add a touch of density and lasting power with a leather, woody, ambery and sweetness that round out and support the silky smooth patch and florals of the mid. Outstanding work here and while I love Cécile’s work, there are times where it I lose this one in the midst of the several other path bombs I have but whenever I go to this one I’m left going “how… why,.. did I lose sight of this!?” It’s simply wonderful. Additionally I will say, though I’ve only got 4 from the house, and 3 of them being Zarokian creations, if I were in the market to add more to my collection, I would definitely be exploring the house of Laboratorio Olfattivo. If ever I make it to Italy, that will be a stop on the journey! Bravo!