Vivacité(s) de Bach Les Fleurs de Bach

I came across Vivacité(s) de Bach a few years ago when my fellow perfumista and friend Nikos gave me his sample, more as a test to my weird taste in perfume as I later realised, than an introduction to a new marvel. To his nose it is an olfactive oddity, strange and unwearable. From the first whiff I was astonished by how different this one smells. If you have ever had an italian after-dinner amaro, then you already have a very good idea of what this smells like. A cloistral amaro served in a wooden cup. Freshly cut wood, and a conifer for that matter, is the first impression. Intense and masculine with terpenic nuances. Then come the bitter herbs. And when I say bitter, gin is sweet liqueur compared to this. I am no botanist nor monk so I cannot pin down different notes. If however bitter makes you think of something sombre and difficult, you are mistaken. Vivacité(s) remains bright and sparkling. The woody inclination remains very prominent and it is the kind of polished wood or very freshly cut. Pungent and more suited for topnotes rather than base. I often associate this bright woody quality with a certain fruitiness. The fruitiness of green apples or mango skin. I know that this is a very personal association but it can give you a measure of the woody qualities of Vivacité(s). The rest of the ingredients weave a herbal, bitter carpet. And like an amaro makes your teeth clench but your stomach light as the morning munchies, the same way Vivacité(s) manages to deliver what its name promises: liveliness and alertness.