Turquoise Olivier Durbano 2009 Eau de Parfum

Even though one quickly thinks of the beautiful beach of a Caribbean island when it comes to turquoise: Interwoven with gray-black veins, sometimes leaning more towards brown, sometimes more towards green, it shows many facets. The mineral that gives the color its name rarely appears in pure blue.

From the very beginning, the stone is a whole. Polished into a unique, well-woven scent - although not polished to the point where the naturalness is lost - all the facets that a turquoise offers are excellently developed.

The blue ... aquatic, fresh, and salty.
The gray ... cool, murky, and smoky.
The green ... woody, piercing, and resinous.
The brown ... rusty, hard, and woody.

All colors are constantly present, but the shifting changes. In a certain sense with a gradient, but also somewhat erratic. It begins with a salty-rusty freshness. Slightly sharp, but mainly ethereal-cool. This rusty note, which has already put me off other scents, hardly bothers me here. Pine resin and camphor give the fragrance a woody direction that fits unusually well with the decidedly aquatic (partial) theme. Added to this are other herb-green notes and a bit of smoke. At the very end, the scent tips slightly into the woody without losing the other nuances. Accordingly, the progression feels similar to the order of the colors.

The cool aura that the scent radiates is harsh. Unhappy. But also primal and enduring. Like spray meeting gray stone. A summer thunderstorm sky over the northern sea. And that is exactly what makes this scent! For days when the weather is dreary, one longs for melancholy, and wants to let the forces of nature reign.

Always been there and always enduring, it knows no season or gender. It also does not seek attention but is a quiet companion. Therefore, longevity and sillage are moderate. Overall, it reminds me a bit of the opening of Mendittorosa's Archetipo.
Many thanks again to Yatagan through whose traveling package I was able to discover this scent.