Tubéreuse Astrale Maison Crivelli 2024

Oops, what kind of sample did I get here? I didn't want it, but I can test it anyway. The color alone makes me think the worst.

And yes - where do I start? Unpleasantly cardboardy, intense fragrance, absolutely not my style, but it's all a matter of taste. Personally, I find it awful and would like to wash it off me, but then I can't go into the fragrance any further. This fragrance is old-fashioned, old-school, it's only for people who like the past. My great-grandmother would have loved it, but it would probably be too old-school for my 60-year-old mother.

The opening is pure esoteric store. You're standing in line, today is the big summer sale for crystals and life potions. So many people in the store, you're standing squeezed between two gentlemen in warm old leather coats. It creaks and squeaks as they keep moving and you get stuck. You try to catch your breath, but all you inhale is incense fumes, stale and outdated, you can't smell any spice, just the flimsy old soft sticks. Every breath of this scent gives me a headache, more and more.

Then the leather note comes through even more penetratingly, you slip between the two leather coat men and end up in a basket full of old sandals. Next to you is a child, unattended, throwing plasticine in your face. "How dare you fall on the basket of sandals!" - Plop, plop, plop, one ball of plasticine after another, a few get stuck in your nose, you choke on plasticine, surrounded by leather. A hint of rubber somehow. You want to escape from the basket, but you slip on the plasticine and fall right back in.

An employee comes over, "Hey, you look pretty wasted there in the basket, would you like some carrot cake?" - Yes, why not. It doesn't suit me at the moment, but I'm always in the mood for cake. And then she throws the carrot cake in my face. "How dare you fall on the sandal basket!" - Plop, plop, plop, carrot cake and dough fly into my face. The leather coat lords were actually vampires, and flutter away with the coat, the haze intensified once more by the swirling air.

An hour passes, I have given up. I slowly get used to this haze. Something sweet pokes through, a woman came into the esoteric store, she was wearing something with vanilla, a blast of fresh air paired with her scent. And she disappeared again just as quickly, but the memory remains.

I take a deep breath, "what do I do now?", I'm trapped here. An employee opens the store door, "It's pretty stuffy in here!" - And something fresh comes in, I notice a very slight citrus, someone outside has a lemonade stand, the air slowly relaxes, but the notes from before are still hovering around me.

And that's where the fragrance ends. Not a great progression, initially penetratingly powerful in the face, then it slowly becomes lighter, but continues to linger unpleasantly in my nose. Quite creepy. It lasts a really long time, I've had it on the back of my hand for 10 hours and it doesn't give up, it just becomes calmer. But even when it's calm, it's not beautiful in my opinion. Sillage is strong, the haze sticks to the room.