Zara Exclusive N°02 - Ancestral Papyrus Zara 2021

From the very first spray, the papyrus scent creates a "I-love-it-feeling"! Radiating green, mysterious coolness. Water and grasses, a simple arrangement with great impact, like in Japanese Zen gardens. Exuding calm and serenity. A fragrance that is sure to polarize. Delicate, pleasantly bitter notes with a fine, bitter radiance. And paired with the fresh yet warm scents of ripe grapefruit.
I can well imagine that the very green impression of the perfume is not solely due to the violet root, but that a good amount of galbanum has also been used here, similar to Chanel's Cristalle Eau de Parfum, just in a completely different olfactory context. The two hardly resemble each other, but both have this wonderful, almost "sharp" green scent base.
That Jo Malone was the perfumer behind this, a "top nose" in the fragrant industry and expert in simple yet significant scent duos or trios, gives Ancestral Papyrus a good measure of high-quality ingredients. This concept is also perfectly suited for "layering". The "layering concept" is a typical feature of almost all Jo Malone fragrances. And it can certainly yield very surprising results here! Experimentation is called for. Yet even on its own, it is worth many sniffs!