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37
The case of Deva
When I was young and had all the time in the world, I read a few novels by Yukio Mishima. They really shaped the image I have of Japan. I would never write a funny comment about a Yukio Mishima-related fragrance. The "Angel" in The Decay of the Angel is not a Christian angel, but a Deva. Devas belong to the Buddhist cosmology and are beings who have attained a godlike being through good deeds. They can consume good karma. Then they lose their divine status. This is The Decay of the Angel. The fall of a Deva is all the more tragic because he (or she or it) was godlike before. I only understand this now that I've smelled The Decay of the Angel perfume.
The Decay of the Angel smells of the incense that was burned to pay homage to the Devas. It smells like burnt flowers. You have to know that the Devas wear wreaths of flowers. When they fall, their wreaths wither. Their dress gets dirty, they sweat, they get silly and sometimes they start to stink. I can't detect the smell of sweat, I don't find the oud animalistic here either. For me it smells like Maggi with plastic. Apart from that I smell wood (cedar), which has nothing to do with Devas but gives substance to the smell.
Familiar tester M is totally open and not at all preloaded and therefore smells in the top note incense with tiger balm and later goat with fig. He would only give 7.5 points. But after all, he does not find the stuff very bad either.
Since this is not a funny comment, there are also not the usual application examples. I would not buy The Decay of the Angel. Too rare are the occasions when I would wear it. Although it's really pretty great (albeit weird) stuff. Probably the environment would rather tolerate it on a man. The sillage is only strong at the beginning and moderate later. You can wear it all year round, but in summer it is more for strange evenings. If you want to become philosophical, melancholic or crazy.
Thank Caligari for the sample.
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