Dmbfaninmass

When I say Stéphane Humbert Lucas leaves me perplexed, I mean that in only the most stunningly awe-inspired way. I’ve worn this on numerous occasions and on numerous occasions, I’ve begun to write a review, only to find myself so perplexed I didn’t know how to begin, let alone what all it was I would want to say. With warmer spring weather beating on the door, my trying to be more conscientious about keeping track of my feelings about fragrances, and being aware of what I’ve worn and when, so that I be sure to give them all adequate wearings, today I’m going to force myself. Hopefully I can turn this bewilderment into words that make even slight sense.

First I’ll say I’ve seen this mostly compared to Musc Ravegeur and Shalimar. As luck would have it, I’ve not smelled either of those. However, that’s mostly due to having other fragrances I’ve seen compared to both. "Fêtes Persanes | Parfums MDCI" and "1899 | Histoires de Parfums" both of which I’ve seen compared to MR, and "Kashnoir | Laboratorio Olfattivo", which I’ve seen compared to Shalimar, all reside within my collection. In the opening / mid, I see the resemblance to both Fêtes Persanes and 1899 as the opening and mid feel dominated by the spices and vanilla which gives it a similar feel. I wouldn’t call them close, just mildly similar, a similar vibe / aura. When this moves into the dry down, I can feel / smell a somewhat similar vibe / aura to Kashnoir. Again, not real close, but distantly similar. Interestingly enough, at initial spray through about the first 30 minutes, I also pick up a slight similarity with the opening of "Wish Come True | Stéphane Humbert Lucas" - I get a slightly more “coca-cola” sensation from Wish than this, but, and I haven’t quite made sense of the connection I feel between these two, I don’t get that coke feeling from Isra. Eventually I’m going to have to do a side by side and figure out this perplexing aspect / reminder / olfactive scent memory / similarity.

The opening of this is just simply delicious. To my nose I get the nutmeg and cinnamon with the vanilla of the mid notes front and center. The bergamot, tangerine, and osmanthus seem to be in the background supporting the frag as a whole as it’s in the earlier phases of development on the skin. I’ve seen some describe this as very linear and I just don’t get that at all. This one evolves and evolves again on my skin.

Something interesting begins happening as the clock ticks past 30 minutes and gets closer to about an hour in. SHL’s frags always hit me in a way the vast vast majority of others have not. His works have this power over my nose where my nose detects scent in a manner of scent + texture. To be quite honest, other than SHL, I can’t think off the top of my head, of another fragrance where I sense texture with scent. I’m sure there are definitely others where I do, just not so prominently as is the case with all SHL frags I’ve tried or have in my collection. Anyhow, as this gets into the dry down something really interesting happens with this one to my nose - the texture comes into play. But here’s the odd thing, usually when my nose encounters the magic of scent + texture, it’s one texture. This one, though, I’m getting 3 different textures in the mid, as I continue to whiff sniff and huff this in off my skin, and at least a 4th distinct to my nose texture in the dry down. Anyhow, in the mid, with one sniff it’s effervescent, sort of bubbly, like a carbonated beverage tickling your nose. At other sniffs it’s fluffy and reminiscent of cotton balls or whipped meringue. Then again, just when I’m sure that’s the end, I get powdery. This perplexes my brain. Like it’s doing too many things to be real and makes me question my sanity and nose with thoughts like “am I going mad? Am I really picking that up… let me try again,” and it just keeps changing up on me. I’m guessing the bubbly effervescence is the chamomile and citrus coming through, the fluffiness from a mix of the osmanthus, heliotrope, and perhaps the leather. The reason I say leather is the fluffiness causes images in my mind of soft suede, but almost as if you magnified the suede 10,000 x and lay on it to sleep. I get the feeling that soft suede, made much larger compared to self would feel fluffy. I swear, SHL’s frags make me feel like I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole to wonderland or am on some odd hallucinogen affection only my sense of smell. Friggin groovy, man. Powdery! The powdery clearly has to be from the heliotrope. Oddly I don’t much care for powderiness in fragrances, as usually when I encounter powderiness it’s less texture to my nose and more a scent of powder. This is just… different. When the powder begins to take hold it’s sort of an amalgation of notes into something other than the notes. I’m always bewildered when a frag can spark olfactive memory due to smelling like something from years, decades in the past. I’m just as bewildered by those whose frags just create something that makes you think “I’ve never smelled this in my life. What is this, where has it been my whole life, and why did it take until now to finally show up!?” This powdery sensation is accompanied by something new. I cannot discern what of the top, mid, and bottom notes are present. It’s just a new magical potion that has a powdery sensation but smells nothing like any powder I’ve ever smelled.

This new to my nose scent of the mid does some odd things as it gets into the dry down and the hours pass. Every so often those 3 tactile sensations come and go but a 4th one comes into play, a smooth, thick, creaminess. With occasional wafts of the scent in the wind or from moving about, at times the scent is spicy, at times the citrus is more prevalent, at times vanilla, and even some almond from the heliotrope. The prominence of scents and texture seem to mix and match and at times I’m left with that sum is greater than its parts brand new to my nose scent. SHL being the wizard he is, though, it gets even deeper. The oud, while not dominant as is the case in an out and out oud frag, seems to intermingle with the existing oddity of scent, as well as the sandalwood, amber, and patchouli to cause that sensation of smooth, silky, creaminess while the fragrance just gets richer from those same notes. It doesn’t change to something other than what it is, but rather just seems to get more intense, like it’s more well supported.

I’m baffled. This fragrance to my nose is like the opening to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas where Johnny Depp narrates Hunter S Thompson’s words “we were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold…” as it literally makes me question my sanity or if I’m smelling things, perceiving things that simply cannot be in the physical world. Bravo Stéphane, this stuff is otherworldly and one of the reasons why he is jockeying for numero uno on my list of fave perfumers.

Edit: forgot to add in my thoughts of unisex vs fem vs masculine. I’ve seen some men refer to it as fem, some women refer to it as masculine and Vice versa. This to my nose is 100% unisex and doesn’t lean either way. To me it’s unisex leaning otherworldly. The enduring mystery scent of the dry down and ebbs and flows into then opening and dry down aspects all defy fem/masculine character in my nose’s opinion.

I think if I could go back in time 22 years to visit 22 year old nouveau hippie jam band concert going me and I told that 22 year old version of me that I’d come to love patchouli in my early to mid 40s, the 22 year old may have punched me in the nose for thinkin the sniffer wasn’t working. In those days of going to Dave Matthews and Rusted Root shows, among others, it was commonplace for every other gal to have seemingly swam in a bath of what I now realize was just horrible quality patchouli oil. During this same time frame and through my 30s I unknowingly warmed up to patchouli fragrances without knowing it considering some of my fragrances from those years were from the patchouli dominant Angel for men / A*Men line. I just paid no mind to notes / fragrance compositions in those days.

Anyhow, nowadays, my gosh can a good patchouli scent just be so darn delicious. Psychedelique, Crush On Me, Patchouli Nosy Be, Patchouli Intense, l’Instant de Guerlain, Sole Patchouli. There are just so many delicious patchouli dominant scents. This one is by one of my absolute favorite perfumers, Cécile Zarokian so that makes me love this one even more. This opens slightly citric and heavily warm spicy from the bergamot with clove and cinnamon. The patchouli is there right from the get go and I don’t know if it’s the notion that patchouli is from the mint family of plants, or it actually smells this way due to the mix of citrus and spices… but I get almost a fresh mint-like scent at the beginning, though it’s somewhat fleeting. The patchouli gets a bit more dense and I feel would get more earthy into the middle and to toward full dry down, however the florals of frangipani and orris come to play. That frangipani really sweetens it up so it goes sort of chocolaty candied patchouli while the orris just makes that a silky smooth cake-like quality - just absolutely delicious. Totally am biased cause I adore Cécile for sure, but my gosh does she do some marvelous things - I love her use of both frangipani, and patchouli in other fragrances and really love how she brings them together here.

The cedar, cistus, and musk play very well with the top and mid and seem to add a touch of density and lasting power with a leather, woody, ambery and sweetness that round out and support the silky smooth patch and florals of the mid. Outstanding work here and while I love Cécile’s work, there are times where it I lose this one in the midst of the several other path bombs I have but whenever I go to this one I’m left going “how… why,.. did I lose sight of this!?” It’s simply wonderful. Additionally I will say, though I’ve only got 4 from the house, and 3 of them being Zarokian creations, if I were in the market to add more to my collection, I would definitely be exploring the house of Laboratorio Olfattivo. If ever I make it to Italy, that will be a stop on the journey! Bravo!

I have to admit, lately I’ve seen a few fragrances being spoken about within fragcomm and that delights me. I’ve felt for a few years this house is a sleeper house with some really great works. Granted it seems as of late I’m mostly seeing one fragrance spoken about in particular, Vanagloria, piggy backing off the hype around YSL Babycat, due to the similarities and greater affordability and availability of Vana in the states in particular. Anyhow, I’ve been impressed since I’ve learned about this house and were I to dive further down the fragrance rabbit hole, this is a brand I’d joyously explore. So far, though, Kashnoir, Patchouliful, and Nerotic, all by Cécile Zarokian, and this gem, Nektar, are all pretty darn amazing in my nose’s opinion.

I’m not sure how others perceive this one, but on my skin it’s fairly linear. Gotta admit, that took me by surprise given there’s 16 listed notes. I was half expecting there would be some very noticeable changes as the head dries to the heart and the heart to the base notes. However, I would not, in any way, count that as a negative against this fragrance. I’ve found some fragrances take you on a multi stop journey and some stops along the way are great, and some not so much. Sometimes they’re linear, like this one, and it’s just so darn good, I wouldn’t want any changes because this hits just right staying nearly at the exact place it begins throughout the life of the fragrance wearing.

While this one tends to be voted ever so slightly leaning feminine, off my skin it seems the woods, leather, and incense jump off just enough that it keeps it with a masculine semi-gourmandish sweet and spicy feeling. In my collection this one really stands out as unique - the closest that I have to this may be Layton, and Khaltat Night, but those are a stretch to say they’re similar because my nose sees them as quite far apart. This is just a marvelous blend from the citrus and berries to the fantasy tiramisu note shining through to the cinnamon and honey, to the leather and incense to the vanilla, tonka, cedar, and patchouli, all those notes just come together in a harmonious and intoxicating concoction.

I just did a price check to comment on whether I’d think it’s worth it to get this or generally speaking, explore this house and I must say that I’m rather shocked. It looks like on some discounters here in the states, 100ml bottles can go for as cheap as around 55 usd and up to about 100 usd. If I had disposable income wherein I would dive into the frag rabbit hole or begin decanting what I have in my collection as a means to add other frags, I would without a doubt find this house worthy of exploring especially in that price range. Granted there aren’t a lot of options from the house currently available, it looks like they do have a pretty good selection that comes in and out of stock on a couple different sites.

In the early 2000s on a biz trip to Jersey, I first smelled L’eau d’Issey. When I got back from the trip, I absolutely had to get that frag and drove about an hour and 15 minute to the nearest Macy’s that carrier it as our more local one didn’t carry it. For years it was my most used fragrance, as close to a signature as I’ve had. Over the years I had a couple dozen deep rotation until I came into the motherload fragrance deal of a lifetime. I had no idea what had been going on in fragrance in the 15 or so years I hadn’t a need to purchase any new fragrances. Heck up to that point, I thought fashion designers were the be all end all of fragrance. That the designers were bored on weekends and figured “eh what hell, may as well make a few fragrances in addition to my clothes” considering my fragrance purchasing ended around the time the internet really took off and there was info out there since about the notion it’s a whole industry unto itself.

Anyhow, I digress… let’s get back on track. That massive fragrance purchase, or rather a few purchases I made. Wow did that result in my jaw dropping to see some of what came after the original Issey pour Homme. Suffice to say my nose has experienced several hundred fragrances now whereas prior to those purchases, my nose had only been exposed to those I had, some friends or family had through the years, and some testing at a local Macy’s prior to its closing and that location had a pretty small selection in the whole scheme of things. Issey is, and I assume will remain one of my absolute favorite houses. I can’t foresee a day where I’ll actually add fragrances to my collection unless I were to sell off quite a bit. However, with the Issey line continuing beyond Issey having passed, were they to introduce some new fragrances like Pulse of the Night, Polaris, Bois Artic, Noir Ambre, Or Encens, and I were financially able to add frags with ease, I’m not sure I could stop myself. Now that I’ve had quite a bit of mileage on my fragrance journey, I can say with certainty, Issey Miyake is one of my fave designer frag houses, along with Dior, Mugler, Prada, JPG, Guerlain, and Gucci. Especially their aforementioned deeper, denser blends. While Issey may be better known for the freshies given the original and many flankers over the years, they just did something correctly with those denser scents that are spectacular. One regret is passing over Noir Argent and missing out on one of the several bottles my frag dealer had.

I don’t have much in the way of nights out these days, but if I did, this would be a go to in cooler to cold weather… as would any of their darker scents. To my nose, this is special among designers, I suppose “nichey” as some may describe remarkable designer releases. At the same time, I’d imagine this being a compliment beast, a bonafide crowd pleaser. Though striking me as one that would be a compliment beast, I don’t view this as beast mode projector, but maybe a tad above average. Longevity, on my skin, though, this is a beast and lasts a good 10+ hours.

The scent itself is absolutely delicious to my nose. At first spray, I get a spicy, incense, and vanilla mix that is just intoxicating. Although pretty dominant at first spray, this is quite masculine leaning as one may expect as it’s marketed as a frag for men. After 15 or 20 minutes the spices calm and the sweetness is enhanced by tonka, and a dusty woodiness comes into play from the cedar, with a depth added from the patchouli and resinous Labdanum. About 40 or so minutes in, the journey seems to get into the dry down. My nose begins to get a more prominent aspect of the vanilla, mixed with some of the leathery density coming into play, along with enhanced woodiness from the Vetiver, and a smoothness I’m guessing coming from the sandalwood.

For a designer selection, this is marvelous and I’m delighted I had the opportunity to get this one before the supply dried up and it was seemingly only available for astronomical prices on eBay. That being said, were I a fraghead with a lot of disposable income, I may view this as worth the asking price on eBay. At times, I’ll admit, I’ve pondered whether I’d want to part with this. Considering only wearing a few times, the bottle is about 98% full and with the price I got this for, I could probably sell the bottle for a 10x return, but this is just too good and I can’t bring myself to let it go. To my nose, it’s just that darn good.

This is a marvelous fragrance. I’ve researched and written somewhat extensively within allied health, medical ethics, and complementary healthcare coursework the topic of medical use cannabis. To say I was intrigued when seeing perfume houses introducing cannabis as a fragrance note is an understatement.

I’ve had a few friends who are prescribed cannabis as a therapeutic and I’ve always been somewhat fascinated how the scent profiles can vary widely - from citrus fruits, to berries, to petrol, to pungent skunkiness depending upon the strain, cannabinoids, and terpenes present. While those terpenes etc can cause the buds and growing plants a very pleasant fragrance, I’ll admit the smell of burning cannabis can turn me off, at times making me feel nauseated… and that’s coming from someone who once upon a time partook quite a bit… ah, the good ole days lol

Given that the burning buds can be bothersome, I was quite curious where this frag would take one. I was very pleasantly surprised. At first spray, the cannabis is quite strong - though not in the burning bud way, but rather a growing plant, perhaps just nearing the time when it will begin to flower. After the first few minutes, that overwhelming fresh leafy cannabis subsides a bit as the patchouli provides a bit of depth and the woods seem to take center stage with a mix of aromatics that suggest more in this potion beyond just cannabis. In some ways, this reminds me a tad of DS & Durga’s Cowboy Grass. It could just be my nose, but I get a lot of what feels to me like sage, Basil and actual grass mixed in with the cannabis. But who knows, however the cannabis for fragrances are developed, perhaps they could be based upon strains with terpenes that evoke these other aromatics. This one pushes off skin pretty darn well and is quite long lasting in my experience - several hours easy, perhaps pushing the 10 hour mark and remaining quite noticeable.

While this is titled cannabis and has cannabis is all 3 levels of the pyramid, due to how well this is blended, it comes off to me as more aromatics than out and out cannabis in the sense I wouldn’t worry about wearing this for the notion I may be worried people would be like “aight who’s the stoner here!?” Or that if I got pulled over for driving too slow in my Prius they’d call out a canine unit while a very different composition, the way the cannabis plays reminds me of Hindu Kush by Mancera with the notion the cannabis is a green aromatic more than a “weed” note, man. It’s done very well and won’t have you out there smellin like Cheech and Chong.

I’ve worn this several times and I’ll be honest green aromatics haven’t been my fave scent profiles but I’ve warmed up then quite a bit and so I’m looking quite forward to spring and summer weather to hear things up and taking a cruise with Cannabis Salata and Cannabis Fruttata.