Exultat Maria Candida Gentile 2009

Maria Candida Gentile is a gorgeous perfume-house I discovered on my last trip to Italy. I was looking for an incense-based fragrance which I can actually wear and which doesn't end up as an "ambiance-spray" for use around Christmas-time.
"Exultat", needless to say, does contain loads of high-quality incense (from Somalia, as I was told) and Maria Candida Gentile took her initial inspiration for this outstanding fragrance from her attendance of a mass at the Church of "San Lorenzo in Lucina" situated in the centre of Rome.
When the first blast of incense has evaporated, the fragrance becomes softer and very wearable with the help of violet leafs and vetiver. You can also perceive a "down-to-earth" lavender-note in the heart. As the shop-assistant in Venice explained to me, this accord is reminiscent of the Italian tradition of sprinkling some "acqua profumato" consisting of lavender and other herbs on a bride's linen before her wedding.
"Exultat" is a very special fragrance, profound and mysterious, intertwining aspects of the unspeakable sacred and the tangible material world in a very skillfull way.
Sillage is above average. I'd recommend this fragrance for evening use and for both genders, btw.

The frankincense in Exultat is outstanding and probably one of the best out there. It reminds me of a sacral incense, but not overly so. The violet and it's leafs are stunning with just a tiny pinch of sweetness and the woods are soft and warm. The citrus gives it a lighter touch, but Exultat isn't a light scent. It's also very sensual. I think Exultat is more feminine than unisex and best in somewhat colder weather conditions. Longevity is above average and sillage is modest.

Maria Candida Gentile is a very gifted perfumer. Her scents are really complicated, high quality, unusual and extremely well crafted. I assure you: after a few wearings Exultat will probably become one of your most favourite scents.

What makes me quite fond of many of Maria Candida Gentile's works is the cool, vaporous quality of them. They aren't quite aloof, but they do not lock you in an embrace and remind you at every moment that they are there, doting you and flattering you. More so, they embody this lingering presence much like the way Werner Herzog approaches landscapes in his films. They are dreamlike, atmospheric, but with a slight, uncertain chill in the color and space. In Exultat for example, there is no rhapsodic pipe organ crescendo that many liturgical incenses aim for in their feel. It is more like the plucked-string, ever slightly metallic hush of a pedal clavichord, played in the rectory for an intimate recital at dusk. From the windows, a cerulean blue hue glows from without, contrasted with an interior flicker of candlelight.

Olibanum resin is the centerpiece here, punctuated with citrus, and melded into violet—leaves and flowers. I have such a favorable reaction to the combination of olibanum and violet, and I seldom find the two coupled together in perfume (one I can immediately recall is the long-forgotten treasure that is Diane Von Furstenburg's Volcan d'Amour from 1981). Here, it is the candied parma violet impression juxtaposed with the sharp qualities of frankincense that bring me pause. I love when a fragrance does just that: out of the mist, it taps into my brain and has me losing myself for a bit. As it unwinds, the violet leaf seems to surpass the flower, while a dry, reflective cedar and soft vetiver has Exultat's ethereal nature slowly grounding itself. It serves a great companion to MCG's equally enchanting Sideris.

The scent opens warmly, with spicy and slightly woody notes. These initial notes gradually take a back seat, remaining subtly perceptible while gracefully giving way to violet. However, it does not become a typical floral fragrance. The combination of these notes feels unusual, slightly edgy, and it is certainly not a classic feminine scent.

Woody, powdery, balsamic, smoky, floral, and aromatic in perfect harmony.
I love “Exultat” mainly for its dark, beautifully flattering, and enveloping aroma. I cannot define it more closely; it seems characteristic of some fragrances by Maria Candida Gentile: a dark, mysterious, aromatic aura that feels “mature” and vintage, weaving through the composition like a beguilingly warm and calm heartbeat. There are similarities to the dark aura of “Sideris,” which makes me think of a concentrate of old, mystical, resinous-smoky elixirs.

Starting with a quite woody opening, featuring a distinctly noticeable cedar note that thankfully appears powdery and light-woody, the fragrance initially develops into an almost doppelgänger of “Bois d’Iris” by Van Cleef & Arpels, but then takes a different direction and transforms into an astonishingly beautiful frankincense scent. First, soft frankincense blends with the powdery wood, shortly followed by a dry-powdery violet that feels earthy and not overly sweet, with rich dark violet, velvety petals, surrounded by a shady violet leaf and earthy vetiver.

In the heart, violets and frankincense dance around each other for half an hour before merging into a harmonious unity. From then on, the fragrance is pure well-being. It is warm and creamy frankincense that does not come across as too smoky but instead blends with the other notes into a kind of “frankincense cream.” The heart of the fragrance is thus a balsamically sweet, warm, frankincense cream, while the fragrance surface remains breathable and powdery due to the dry-powdery, light wood and presumably also due to the citrus notes and bitter orange, which I cannot distinctly identify in this composition.

“Exultat” lives up to its name. Exsulta! Rejoice! I do, but I rejoice in complete silence. Hysterically screaming and jumping around in excitement is not really my style. The fragrance conveys to me a deeply inward feeling of calm, joy, happiness, and complete satisfaction.
It seems not entirely of this world, shining like transcendent, warm light in a grotto filled with frankincense and warmly illuminated by candles. Not cold, smoky church incense, but deeply warm frankincense “balsam.” I perceive the fragrance as poetic, the olfactory interpretation of warmth, protection, and security.

For me, “Exultat” stands somewhere in the middle between “Bois d’Iris” by Van Cleef & Arpels, “Bois d’Argent” by Dior, and “Coromandel” by Dior, but additionally comes with this deep, dark, and aromatic comfort that I know from “Sideris.”