Sweet Lavender Curious Perfume

Until now, I have never been particularly enthusiastic about lavender scents. Certainly, "Ancient Lavender" is a very beautiful lavender perfume - it used to be. But all other scents remind me, when I perceive lavender on its own, of scented wardrobes and laundry. In general, lavender is more of a room fragrance for me, good against mosquitoes in summer. Lavender is also said to be effective against aphids on roses, which is why lavender plants are often planted among roses.
Otherwise, lavender is present in many good fragrances for men. For me, lavender exudes something masculine. Generally, lavender is a practical herb with a more or less pungent scent. As a perfume, I do not own any fragrance with dominant lavender, nor do I prefer cleaning or laundry products with lavender. But I have nothing against it.
However, when I tested "Sweet Lavender," I would have liked to keep the sample because I liked it so much.
Probably because it reminds me of my first trip abroad as a young adult, as if I were still on the road. My then-boyfriend and I drove in our vacation in an adventurous little old car, a Lloyd Alexander, of course without air conditioning, so with the windows down, to a work camp in the Cevennes. Many young people from Europe came there; we wanted to help revive an abandoned, very remote Huguenot hideout as a French youth leisure center from its centuries-long slumber.
To get there, we drove down the Rhône to Nîmes and from there further into the Cevennes. Since we had very little money, we took the back roads, as the highways in France have always been toll roads and therefore too expensive for our budget at that time.
I will never forget the many small towns, the many little pottery markets, where lavender was available everywhere, dried, tied in bouquets, in sachets, as soap and perfume. And somewhat eerie were the cicadas encased in resin, up to 10 cm long. Everywhere there were signs "Miel / Lavande, des Pêches (etc) à vendre" and the many fields, some still with blooming lavender, or already harvested, or still being harvested. The scent of unfamiliar dry heat, lavender, dust, and so many smells that were different from what I knew from home.
As the alcohol of "Sweet Lavender" faded away, I was immediately - and this in the middle of cold winter - back on the journey to the rugged Cevennes. This is what fascinates me about most fragrances from "Wonderchest Perfumes." They can transport me to nature, allow me to time travel like this, because they truly smell as I perceive the fragrance materials in their natural or native environment. In this case, to lavender fields in the dimensions I experienced back then, with their blue-gray-violet hues, swirling hot air with a fine mist veil above.
The natural scents from "Wonderchest Perfumes," NY, by perfumer Anna-Elvira Brodskaya, are made from natural oils and essences. If alcohol is present in the fragrances, it is only distilled from grains. The perfumes have a traditional feel yet are pleasantly fresh, herbaceous, natural, and in my opinion, still unique, sometimes particularly beautiful with interesting developments. Above all, they are very long-lasting for natural scents, lasting six to twelve hours for me. It is essential to have patience and to wait for the development even with less differentiated scents.
"Sweet Lavender" starts with strong sillage, like freshly harvested, sharply scented lavender drying in the heat, along with the scents of herbs, dry grasses, and dry shrubbery. Nevertheless, "Sweet Lavender" smells warm, sweet, floral, and familiar underneath. I see again the sunlight in southern France, feel the heat that didn't bother me at all back then, hear the cicadas chirping loudly as soon as one took a break outside of towns.
As it develops, "Sweet Lavender" initially becomes more pungent and dry, only to then smell sweeter and woodier again.
The fine rosy floral scent, and as I later realize, ylang-ylang, as well as herbal notes, remain present throughout the development. I also perceive a softly smoky note, as if somewhere in the evening, the dry lavender stems were being burned. Vanilla and neroli, lemon are integrated in such a way that I do not detect them.
But apart from the very prominent lavender and the underlying rose-dominated floral blend, I cannot distinguish the earthy-dry-smoky notes. When I later check the ingredients, I "understand" "Sweet Lavender" correctly.
The sillage of "Sweet Lavender" decreases in the first two hours and then remains with this fragrance blend for more than six hours. After that, "Sweet Lavender" is still perceptible for a longer time, but now the scent becomes even drier, earthy-dusty.
Overall, "Sweet Lavender" is a harmonious scent for me. Aside from the herbaceous-aromatic lavender, "Sweet Lavender" is not too floral and not sweet. Therefore, I also consider it wearable for men.
On our return journey, all the fields had been harvested, and we were saddened that we had to go home.