Patchouli Santa Maria Novella Eau de Cologne
3
Helpful Review
Beneath the Earth and Deep into the Cellar, where the Wild Roses grow...
The perfect Patchouli fragrance for my soul. It has a bit of everything - nature-like smell, dank, earthy, dusty, liquor-like, spicy, medicinal, only slightly sweet, and with a brilliantly poetic addition of rose. It is a soul-stirring, unfiltered, and brutal depiction of this note.
I love many approaches to patchouli, from the dusty cocoa to the ambery ones. The variety that leaves me indifferent is the "modern" and "clean" patchouli scents a la Coromandel and Co. I like them as musty, dusty, earthy, and close-to-nature as possible. The Santa Maria Novella is that and more. I think it might be too literal for many, specifically if one is used to having their patchouli pampered by balsamic, woody, and floral notes. This one is as close to nature as it can get, further made challenging by the cold, almost metallic, and medicinal blast from the opening (very clove-forward), the raw earthiness (practically can nearly chew it), and the minimal sweetness and fillers. As with other perfumes from this house, it smells very high quality, quite butch, and medieval. With this one, I picture a dank cellar in a castle. The cold and wet opening, coupled with the boozy, liquor-like facet (like a liquor made from the earth) and the earthiness, all make me think of a cellar. There is, however, one aspect that helps bring out a lyrical and romantic face of the fragrance, and that is a vivid rose accord. It comes across as such and may be the suggested imagery of the combination of eugenol, geranium, and rosewood listed among the notes. Still, it's a rose nonetheless. Crimson petals of a withered flower dangling on the cold and wet earth. It allows a sensitive side of the perfume to show and prevents it from being too simple-minded and brute.
This duality of darkness with speckles of diaphanous light makes me reminisce of the way Lestat dreamed of Claudia: "The smell of crushed rose petals wafting from her curly hair." I can see a character like Lestat de Lioncourt as an embodiment of this scent. The perfect balance of malevolence, starkness, timeless beauty, with a hint of romance.
CAVEAT: Review based on the frosted bottle version, which differs from the current, clear-glass, and paper-label one.
IG:@memory.of.scents
I love many approaches to patchouli, from the dusty cocoa to the ambery ones. The variety that leaves me indifferent is the "modern" and "clean" patchouli scents a la Coromandel and Co. I like them as musty, dusty, earthy, and close-to-nature as possible. The Santa Maria Novella is that and more. I think it might be too literal for many, specifically if one is used to having their patchouli pampered by balsamic, woody, and floral notes. This one is as close to nature as it can get, further made challenging by the cold, almost metallic, and medicinal blast from the opening (very clove-forward), the raw earthiness (practically can nearly chew it), and the minimal sweetness and fillers. As with other perfumes from this house, it smells very high quality, quite butch, and medieval. With this one, I picture a dank cellar in a castle. The cold and wet opening, coupled with the boozy, liquor-like facet (like a liquor made from the earth) and the earthiness, all make me think of a cellar. There is, however, one aspect that helps bring out a lyrical and romantic face of the fragrance, and that is a vivid rose accord. It comes across as such and may be the suggested imagery of the combination of eugenol, geranium, and rosewood listed among the notes. Still, it's a rose nonetheless. Crimson petals of a withered flower dangling on the cold and wet earth. It allows a sensitive side of the perfume to show and prevents it from being too simple-minded and brute.
This duality of darkness with speckles of diaphanous light makes me reminisce of the way Lestat dreamed of Claudia: "The smell of crushed rose petals wafting from her curly hair." I can see a character like Lestat de Lioncourt as an embodiment of this scent. The perfect balance of malevolence, starkness, timeless beauty, with a hint of romance.
CAVEAT: Review based on the frosted bottle version, which differs from the current, clear-glass, and paper-label one.
IG:@memory.of.scents