Les Espionnes du Tsar

The Spies of the Tsar

Roméa d'Améor 2009

As with all fragrances from Roméa d'Améor, there is a nice story behind this perfume as well. This time, the scent takes you back to the Tsarist era of Russia, where a spy of the Tsar travels to France to scout the art scene. The fragrance is meant to reflect the olfactory impressions of her journey from St. Petersburg to Versailles.
This perfume is very harmonious with well-coordinated scent components. None of the notes come across as artificial or sharply synthetic.
At first, it smells of fresh fruity apple, not sour but of warm sweet red apples. I can't really detect any floral notes, just a hint of iris that adds a slightly soapy nuance. Later in the scent's development, the base notes become particularly prominent. The fragrance is now more woody and fresh than fruity, as if you are in a dense forest inhaling the fresh scent of the trees and the forest floor. The sweet apple scent quickly fades, and the fresh forest aroma increasingly blends with deep earthy notes. Amber and patchouli mix with the woody notes to create a slightly darker, softer, and warmer perfume. The scent no longer seems cool and "green" to me, but rather warm and "yellow-gold-orange," somewhat balsamic. A slightly soapy note remains very present throughout, giving the fragrance a hint of cleanliness. A very noble scent.
Definitely a delicious autumn fragrance. At least for me, as my skin seems to amplify amber and patchouli, and the scent comes across much warmer, with the fresh woody notes being quite overshadowed.
Perhaps it smells fresher on other skin types; unfortunately, the fresh woody notes reminiscent of a Nordic birch forest do not last long on me, and the earthy character then prevails.