Orlo Mendittorosa 2020

Tart, sad bergamot and melancholy citrus peel linger under gray clouds. Faint violets in the dull grass. Intense melancholy of leaden gray days that never end, somehow dragging me along as if under a glass bell, sealed off, is anything still getting through? Is anything still coming through at all? No strength to perceive or absorb any impulses from outside. --
After a long time, another day arrives - for whatever reason, I can't say at first; I sense a hint of pale pink brightness. A tiny inkling that life could be brighter, less burdensome, spicier, airier. Yes, there are flowers, different varieties fan out, sometimes there is even light. In the end, there is a soft whisper, ... Yes.

"For the Fragile
Fighting to open
Light in the Dark"

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Orló was my first rather crazy blind purchase of a niche fragrance in 2021 after reading Clemens Brunner's "Essences" column (see link below). Ordered directly from the Mendittorosa online store, the delivery came with a handwritten letter "Orló is with you now...". The plastic-free bottle comes in a small wooden box which, according to the Medittorosa website, refers to the protective boxes in which precious works of art are shipped. I hold my bottle in my hands in amazement. The bottle has a beautiful wooden cap with a touch of lightly metallized paint and a plaque with a hand-engraved snake. The bottle and plaque are entwined with knotted strings.
The snake refers to the poem by Sylvia Plath that gave the perfume its name: "Edge", Italian "Orló" means "edge, edge, abyss". Sylvia Plath wrote it a few days before her own death, invoking the ancient myth of Medea and linking it to her own longing for death. A woman on the edge, on the brink of death.
Even if Sylvia Plath was no longer able to go on living in the end, her poetry can be understood as that which stood between her instability and insecurity on the one hand and the abyss on the other. And for me, the fragrance corresponds to this:
"In respect for all who fight demons and go to the Edge. [...] Who needs more land to expand and to let the light inside." (Mendittorosa homepage)
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My fragrance impression: At first, I notice a lot of alcohol and then the citrus notes, which are not bright but remain tart: Bitter orange, tart mandarin, bergamot. There is also a tart peach. At first, the fragrance forms an intense, dense cloud that I can associate with the "glass bell" that gives another work by Sylvia Plath its title. Orló forms a very intense interior. It certainly has an exhausting side, it also depends on the dosage. Later, light resins and pink pepper provide a cautious impulse, and it becomes unsweet and floral. The rose blooms, but it does not radiate happiness. Clemens Brunner rightly writes here: "The olfactory dream begins to expand." Unsweet magnolia, orange blossom and a very cautious rose make up the bouquet. I don't get the sometimes mentioned cumin sweat at all. After 6 hours, I finally perceive delicate floral notes (ylang and neroli, surprisingly still unsweet), and the bergamot remains.
In a way, this fragrance continues the style of the 60s/70s, which for me is positively old-fashioned fragrance art.

https://www.perlentaucher.de/essenzen/anne-sophie-behaghels-parfum-orlo-fuer-mendittorosa.html