Bastiaan1975

From the top, Beyond Rose seems to be following the path laid out by Mark Buxton's sheer Comme des Garçons 2: a beautiful, dry woody rose that, nevertheless, I personally find a little too stark to wear comfortably. It also takes a cue from the more recent Montale school of oudy roses, and marries CDG2's jetblack, terpenic structure to a coumarinic amber accord. That doesn’t necessarily make it sweeter, however - I also detect a hint of salt. It does make it friendlier (and more office-friendly) than, say, Black Aoud. There is a warm lightness in its heart that renders Beyond Rose more versatile than its precious packaging suggests.

I am not immune to tarry smells, so having read and watched the reviews I hardly hesitated to blind-buy Rien Intense Incense. (Note that I say ‘hardly’, because Etat Libre d’Orange is also responsible for unleashing upon the world the pure evil that is Secretions Magnifiques.) I did blind-buy, and upon first spray I did also, briefly, feel a slight sting of regret, underlined by the (hilariously) confused look upon my friend’s face (in her undying and naive support of my obsession with smells, bless her heart). ‘It smells…old’ she said, trying to hide her bewilderment. And yes, the aldehydic onslaught of the opening screams ‘perfume’ like nothing else: both nutty and bright, sitting somewhere between the first acts of Arpège and Chanel no. 5. Once the aldehydes give way, the frankincense kicks in, turpentine-like, smoky, and anti-septic (near immaculate, for the liturgically inclined): in perfect counterpoint with the beastly roar of the leather-accord. After a nod to the civet of its congenator Rien, RII dries down to a gentle (if still very audible) purr, a comfortably dry mix of spices and leather that really does last for hours.