Carpathian Oud Soivohle 2013

Here's another amazing perfume from a house no one talks about. Carpathian Oud from Soivohle. Incredibly unique perfume. It is one of my most worn perfumes this year, not because it is easy to wear or among my favorites, but because I still try to wrap my head around it. I'd say it feels like an aromatic floral-chypre with a bracing, spicy top, and an earthy, mineral, musky, and oudy base. There is so much going on while being incredibly well-blended. You sense there are layers upon layers and many notes playing around yet the synergism is high so it all comes together as a perfect melange that is difficult to break apart. The perfume, as the name suggests, is inspired by Stoker's character, Dracula, and the Carpathian Basin flora. And it manages to capture both. The top and the heart showcase a beautiful amalgamation of flavors that I can associate with a Transylvanian countryside summer kitchen. A bracing opening with a strong laurel note, an ingredient that I feel is underused as it has such a beautiful and interesting flavor. Spicy, camphoraceous, and sweet. Cleverly complemented by clove. Some other aromatics and spices are present but difficult to pinpoint. I believe cumin is present, as I always get the "it smells like sweat" comments, and that always happens when "muggles" detect a heavy usage of cumin in perfumes. I am very tolerant of its flavor as I consume it frequently in my diet while also being one of my favorite notes in perfumery. I own many compositions that make heavy use of it. The heart uses some floral accords, from what I can tell, carnation and geranium. Again, a clever choice as both of them help to perpetuate the spicy-aromatic accords from the opening stage, carnation having a naturally spicy odor, and geranium a clove-like mentholated facet. The base uses Indian Oud but this is not an oud-heavy perfume, although the fermented, spicy facet of it does show up. There is a strong earthy and mineral-salty aroma as well, most likely from the oakmoss and the ambergris working together with other materials, as well as a civet-like furiness creeping in. A complex base layer with woody, earthy, and musky facets.
The first part of the perfume smells like a Transylvanian summer kitchen amid a field of wildflowers, whereas the base smells like a dungeon slowly inhabited by terrestrial elements. Therefore, I think Liz captured what she intended to in this perfume. A majestic example of first-class artisanal perfumery. Bold, strange, natural-smelling, different, yet blended to perfection and smooth all the way through.

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