Opoponax

Impérial Opoponax

Les Néréides

Just as I imagined it; that’s the sentence I wrote in my notes during the first test 15 months ago. After initial concerns about its sweetness, the bottle with the two cherubic angels moved in with me nine months ago.
My Impérial Opoponax EdT starts off immediately powdery, initially still herb - citrusy, almost slightly bitter underneath. Yet it is also sweetish. In my notes after the first quarter of an hour, the adjectives resinous, powdery, spicy, warm, opulent, but not intrusive, soft are noted.
After that, it becomes quite sweetish, while remaining dry - powdery at the same time. I can't claim that a honey-like jasmine or even a strongly sweet hawthorn plays a bigger role here. I can't pick any of those out individually. Rather, Opoponax feels wonderfully cuddly and enveloping to me. A real vanilla rises to my nose, warm and sunny, or is it rather the slightly chocolatey benzoin that is so similar to vanilla? At the same time, a dry - velvety amber wood is also present. The sweetness settles nicely in between, the whole fragrance calms down and gains an earthy depth. It remains dry - powdery - resinous - woody, definitely leaning towards oriental.
Then the scent develops even softer, almost creamy - powdery, which I attribute to the benzoin. Time and again, a spicy - warm wisp of smoke from the myrrh glides by, which feels good and is simply beautiful. The sweetness is now perfectly fine. This soft balsamic base of myrrh and benzoin conveys to me inner peace, optimism, and balance. This may sound boring like pink cotton candy for over-stimulated nerves, but believe me, there are also many sensual and pleasantly enchanting elements involved.
I am all too happy to bury my nose in my forearm the next day to enjoy the last remnants. Impérial/Opoponax is not a scent for every day, but it is wonderfully suited for the upcoming season.