DonErnesto

As part of my Patchouli test marathon, I have tested over 50 patch scents and essential oils over the past few months. I ordered samples from the perfumeries on the net or bought them here in the souk as bottling. Maybe I should mention that I have loved Patchouli since my youth in the late 70s. At that time it was the small, bulbous bottles that you could buy in the India shop.

I got the sample of Reminiscence Elixir together with bottlings of several other Patchouli fragrances, including Les Nereides Patchouli Precieux and Von Eusersdorff Classic Patchouli. I mention these here because I noticed during testing that the 3 fragrances are very similar. I liked all three of them and I would call them hardcore patches. Mentally I have saved them as the Patchouli triple because of their similarity. If I had to give a rating, the Les Nereides would drop off a bit, because of a slightly stabbing note shortly after spraying on, which then also subsides again. However, it makes up for this again with its very reasonable price and is therefore the price/performance winner. Besides, he may have the most beautiful base of the three.

I was going to buy the Les Nereides. Unfortunately it became the Elixir after I found a cheap offer in the net. Stinginess is not always horny and I have been annoyed first of all when I then peeled the Remi from the packaging and sprayed. Fraud and fake were my first thoughts - but no, it can't be, I'm simply holding the summer edition, which is certainly strictly limited, in my hand, I said to myself. Let's take a giant step towards the hot season right now. Refreshing he is, with the citric note at the beginning, Patchouli clearly reduced, altogether lighter, quite adapted, fits nevertheless. Even those who don't usually like patchouli could enjoy it. And he's always office fit, no question. I recently asked myself, what do you do in summer, when it's really hot, too hot for the Roma or for Patchouli Leaves? Even wanted to open a thread in the forum: Search Sommerpatch - who has a tip for me? That's all over now. Found it!

I came up with several titles for this comment, such as Zeitgeist-Parfum, Brüssel-Wasser, Camomile Tea with Lemon, 21st Century Paranoid Patch, etc. I don't know now when the fragrance was reformulated, nor do I know the reasons for it, but I can well imagine that it has fallen victim to some reformulation condition. Please don't misunderstand, I don't want to speak ill of the fragrance - it really isn't. But it differs clearly in durability, sillage and finally also in the fragrance itself. After all, this is an eau de parfum. In the '80s, he might have passed for After Shave.

Elixir isn't the only fragrance I've noticed a change in. The other day I got a bottle of Il Profumo Patchouli Noir. The perfume is a lot lighter than the one in my original bottle. Here, too, the proportion of patchouli was significantly reduced. This takes away all the depth, the spatiality, the corners and edges of this fragrance, which is built on patchouli. What remains is a shallow water that reminds you of stale beer.

In any case, it is quite clear what we can expect from a perfume in the future. A patchouli fragrance has to have a certain amount of power. I just expect you to. If it's not there anymore, I'm out. Alternatively, I use essential oils. Patchouli pure or mixed with other oils such as sandalwood, musk, orange, etc.. I'm experimenting with it a little right now. It's fun and the results are quite passable and getting better all the time.

I haven't been dealing with perfume long enough and not in sufficient detail to have a sound background knowledge. Until now, I was also not aware that there were any legal requirements regarding the ingredients, unless they were animal raw materials. I was of the opinion that changes to the fragrance came from the manufacturer, for fashion-related or professional reasons. This is annoying but still understandable. After all, there is still the possibility that on the next visit to the perfumery another manufacturer has put a similar, perhaps even better fragrance on the shelves.
Not so, however, if once again some bureaucrats' fun brakes for some absurd reason think they have to act as a scent police and thus destroy one or two small works of art. Imagine a castrated Profum Roma Patchouli. The niche fragrances will soon be the same as the mainstream fragrances. One smells like the other. Quiet and shallow, without corners or edges. Environment and health conscious. The packaging will be removed soon. And bring an empty bottle when you go to the perfumery! It's a spirit of the age perfume.

First of all: I am a hardcore patchouli user. It all started in my youth, in the seventies. By substitution with substances like opium, Black Afghano, China White, etc. I could live without P at times. By a small carelessness I have built a relapse into old habits. Today I'm more violent than ever.

As part of my Patchouli test marathon I have tested over 40 patch scents and essential oils over the past few months. I had already emptied a bottle of this candidate in advance. Looking back my impressions from the year 2011 or 2012.

[Flashback]
The Afghan is supposed to be, I think, while I steer towards the big shelf wall with the many perfume bottles. Haven't had one in a long time. But wait! What's that? What's that? The Afghan and his clan have had new neighbors. The Nasomatto family really caught my eye during my last visit, with its tasty flacons and promising names. The Afghan, this black oil, I sprayed on myself then ... And now this. JOVOY. Hmm, never heard of it. Unlike the Nasomattos, the slightly curved, heavy containers stand like modern sculptures on black, marble pedestals. L´Enfant Terrible, La Liturgie des Heures, etc. PSYCHEDELIQUE! That fully arouses my interest. Well done I already know what's inside. An old friend from the seventies. It wasn't hard. I press the nebulizer and the patchouli reveals itself to me quite loudly. Bright tones set refreshing new accents, some remain standing for a while, others are plucked only briefly. The Patchouli is always present, never retreats. A hint of lemon gives the familiar fragrance a new freshness. After this loud, slightly fresh start, a subtle sweetness sets in. Bitter-sweet. Like a high quality chocolate with a high cocoa content, it envelops the patchouli without completely combining with it and gives the fragrance even more body. Amber and musk now intervene and prevent the descent into too dark vaults.
At that time I didn't know what the consequences of buying this perfume would be for me. The relapse into old scent habits was thus initiated.

Today and forty patchouli fragrances further on and always on the hunt for the ultimate kick, my impressions of that time are no longer comprehensible to me. It's worth noting how my perception and taste for perfume has changed in the meantime. Because of my positive memory of this fragrance, I wanted to buy another bottle of Psychedelique. Fortunately the fragrance is not available at the moment and I had to be content with a bottling from the souk. I don't think Jovoy has changed perfume in the meantime because of a reformulation. Besides my current favourites like Montale Patchouli Leaves, Il Profumo Patchouli Noir, Profumum Roma Patchouly, Les Nereides Precieux Patchouli, etc. Psychedelique simply has no chance anymore with me. Not high enough.

In psychedelique I only perceive patchouli in homeopathic doses, the scent is too musky for me, I don't like this hairspray note. Too sweet by the vanilla. In fact, he reminds me of the '80s. Heavy Sillage and long shelf life. Surely a beautiful, a special fragrance, I have worn it almost daily for a while.
Psychedelique is supposed to be a tribute to the 60s, to Woodstock and the hippie era, a bow to Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Santana, etc. a tribute to psychedelic rock! And Jovoy didn't succeed. Topic missed! Montale's Patchouli Leaves would be more appropriate. He beamed me straight back to that time. But that's another story.

...in the truest sense of the word!

As part of my Patchouli test marathon, I bought an almost full bottle of this perfume here in the souk and had to take note of the fact that it doesn't always contain what is written on it. Surely I was skeptical because of the scent pyramid, with floral notes the alarm bells ring with me! But after reading the comments I ignored my initial doubts, the fragrance is described here as earthy, dark, woody, even from the cellar patch and stable smell is the talk of the 60s and the hippie movement, so definitely a fragrance that could appeal to me.
All the greater was my disappointment when I sprayed "Patchouli" on my wrist. Instead of the expected patch-drumming, my sense of smell was attacked by floral, floral, vanilla, for my taste much too sweet notes. Yuck! Patchouli? No way! Another perfume that doesn't live up to its promise. In my mind I put it with Moonlight Patchouli (Van Cleef & Arpels) and Noir Patchouli (Histoires de Parfums) in the category "Misdirected". Close the drawer. Check and forget!
Nothing for patchouli lovers and fans of the "hippie scent". Friends of flower power in the sense of floral and flowery could be happy with it.

Some of you surely know the underground comic series "The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers". The adventures of the San Francisco hippie community were published in the late 1960s to early 1990s. All the clichés associated with the hippie, flower power and drug subculture are served here. So the long-haired, permanently stomping protagonists Phineas, Freewheelin`Franklin, Fat Freddy and sometimes his cat, Fat Freddy`s Cat, are mostly on the road in the old, painted VW bus, always on the hunt for some psychoactive substances, having fun with lush, well-formed hippie girls on the next Love-In or drone their heads with dope and the music of Grateful Dead at some festivals,
I don't know if Fat Freddy was wearing it at all and what scent he was wearing. At this point I make use of another cliché and claim that the boys smelled like all hippies, after patchouli; namely after the pure patch oil from the India-Shop, Postershop, Cri-Cri or whatever. Perhaps also after sandalwood, musk, amber, etc. mixed with the obligatory cannabis and cigarette smoke and shell pub flavours. A perfume was a no-go and 100 bucks was a good investment in a Black Afgano, but certainly not Nasomatto's. Well, maybe it was simply the smell of Fat Freddy's oller biker jacket, with the fringes, which despite her age still emitted this sharp leather smell and mixed with the smell of the patch oil... and maybe Fat Freddy wears Montales Leather Patch every now and then. Just for a change and yet not far away from old habits.

Montale Leather Patchouli is not an elegant leather fragrance like Tom Ford or Aqua di Parma. I would insert it between Patchouli Leaves and Aoud Cuir d`Arabie, also from Montale. The base note is very similar to that of Patchouli Leaves.
When I smell the sprayer and spray on it, I notice a touch of citrus freshness next to patchouli and leather, which quickly evaporates. Then there's only a very strong smell of leather. No, actually it's not leather yet, it's cardamom. Like when I smell a spice jar filled with black cardamom capsules. The smell of cardamom has always reminded me of leather and I have always liked it very much. An enormously strong, slightly pungent cardamom scent that dominates all other ingredients. Patchouli is present from the beginning, but not in the foreground. It seems to be dancing around the leather. Behind the slightly stabbing note I suspect the oud. I also notice a slight sweetness of vanilla. Saffron and frankincense remain rather hidden in the background. In general, it seems to me that all the ingredients are completely interwoven, making it difficult for me to locate the individual actors.
There's no such thing as a scent gradient. The initially still strict, almost pungent notes lose themselves more and more and the Montale becomes quieter but not quieter, smoky, rounder and warmer. The cardamom note seems to be more transformed into a leather smell. The slight sweetness of vanilla increases without becoming sticky or penetrating. Patchouli and vanilla come to the fore even more without dominating. The main actor is and remains the leather right from the start. So the fragrance lingers for the next 4 to 5 hours. Now the leather slowly says goodbye and a very nice base of vanilla, incense and patch remains, similar to that of Montale`s Patchouli Leaves. Both remind me of the smell that used to strike me when I entered an Indian shop. Or on the glowing incense sticks.
Durability, as usual from Montale, very long. In the afternoon sprayed on, the next morning still clearly perceptible up to the shower.

A slightly different leather scent, apart from the well-known Russians and Cuirs, etc.. A composition under the aspect of "leather + patchouli". Elegant hippie.
A welcome change for me, which I have already included in my small Patchouli collection. No scent for all days, rather the special one for in between.

Peace & Love & Patch, Brothers & Sisters


A big thank you to the lovely Parfumo for this bottling and the many nice side dishes!!!