Tempel Tiziana Terenzi 2019

When you, like me, research lily of the valley perfumes, you eventually come across this arguably most controversial lily of the valley scent of all. From praises declaring it art to denigrations calling it slurry, cow barn, and the little pile on the flower meadow, everything is included. "Hahaha," thinks Aspasia with a devilish grin, "this one has to go in the lily of the valley package!" Said and done, but of course, I want to test it myself too, where's the fun otherwise?

Fearlessly (?) I spray Tempel on my wrist. On the other wrist went "Replica - Lazy Sunday Morning (Eau de Toilette) | Maison Margiela," basically a harmless lily of the valley for comparison. And in the first seconds, the two actually smell quite similar. A fresh lily of the valley, indeed. But then, from one second to the next, the oud kicks in with Tempel, at least I think that's what it is; I don't have much experience with this controversial trend ingredient. And that's the moment when the fragrance descriptions here at Parfumo start to get funny, because what hits your nose is indeed special. To me, it smelled, now please don't laugh, like soft cheese, not aged for long, but fresh out of the package.

And what’s even crazier than the cheese on the flower meadow is the fact that I didn’t find it that bad at all. I was irritated but also fascinated. This ambivalence between sweet lily of the valley and fine camembert occupied my mind continuously, and it kept drawing my nose back to my wrist to understand what I was smelling. I didn’t find it disgusting at all, just simply unusual.
After about 20 minutes, the "cheese fun" was over. The oud now smelled significantly resinous, with an undertone that I would describe as a skin accord. Still not a scent that those who care about such things would call a crowd-pleaser, but at least something very individual. I definitely had a lot of fun testing it and am already curious to see how the scent will be received in the Wp.

A quick note on the sillage: This is more of an estimate. I found it quite close to the skin, but I only sprayed once briefly to use little, as it is still supposed to travel. With a proper spray, the sillage may therefore be more pronounced.