ElAttarine

Ingenious: here, "my sin" does not lead to ruin, but directly to heaven, a very sensual fragrance heaven at any rate. What need is there for another?
The word "sin" (Sin) has nothing to do with sense or sensuality, but with "but", to separate oneself, to close oneself off. In this respect, it would be a sin to ignore or push away sensuality! The theologian and mystic Teilhard de Chardin believes that the refinement of the senses is a divine task. So feeling, tasting, seeing, smelling and experiencing everything as intensely as possible... This fragrance invites me to do just that.
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Even the tingle of the top notes makes me almost feel the fragrance. Later, it becomes so sensual and powdery that I want to feel more and more with and on my skin and can't get enough... Like smooth dry silk on the skin, which has a certain heaviness but glides gently over the body like a tender touch. The jasmine and ylang-ylang used here create an almost tactile olfactory experience, like soft lips touching warm skin.
And I imagine tasting precious flower nectar from your lips... Literally drinking and tasting the scent of your skin...
There are many beautiful old advertising images for the looks; many of them show a black cat, first as a drawing, later as a photograph, always with a mysterious look, sometimes downright lurking. In the photos, the black fur looks like I would like to stroke it, but can't be quite sure what would happen then...
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My precious version is the EdT from 1969... I don't have strong aldehydes at the beginning, but nice clary sage and a little dark tart citrus peel and neroli. Pretty soon, flowers appear, and what flowers they are... beautiful lilacs in any case, narcissus, soft jasmine, lily of the valley, a very small amount of rose, so that I have the bright colors of a lush, large bouquet of flowers before my eyes. Later, the extroverted, luminous, cheerful scent gradually recedes due to the body heat; it first becomes indolic, lush, overripe, decadent, and then increasingly powdery with a very beautiful iris root. And again, I think of soft skin. The clove is really spicy and clove-like here, never pungent, styrax makes it resinous, later I have dry, powdery, unsweet vanilla and soft, fine musk. I don't find it very woody; I can't confirm the reference sometimes made to "Bois des Îles (Eau de Toilette) | Chanel" (because of the aldehydic beginning against a woody background). Rather, the relationship to "Narcisse Noir (Eau de Cologne) | Caron" because of the beautiful civet-colored flowers. Because of these wonderful animalistic flowers, I understand that the fragrance has been advertised as the "most provocative perfume" since 1924.
My Sin is so sensual that it must have been shocking at the time. It is stunningly animalic. I almost want to say it's a very sexual fragrance, even horny - but then again, those words don't match its sophistication.

It is very complex - and yet very simple.
Light as silk lingerie, heavy as longing desire.
Wild and refined in the finest way.
A flowery animal.
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"you have to see, touch, live in the present, drink existence hot in the midst of reality itself. [...] You need oil for your limbs - blood for your veins - water for your soul - [...]. Bathe yourself in matter [...]. Immerse yourself in it, where it is most violent and deepest! Wrestle in its stream and drink its flood! It once cradled your unconsciousness - it will carry you to God!" (Teilhard)
Come what may. Cost what it may.
Yes!

I've saved this review for today. Darlings, there is sensuality to celebrate today! Firstly, this fragrance from 1924 is 100 years old this year. And I wish you all a wonderful transition into May tonight... quietly, or cheerfully sociable, or debauched, whatever!

An absolutely dark fire burns here and smokes away...
I see a huge cauldron on this fire, in which bitter roots, resins and tree bark are boiling and bubbling in a brew... The bubbling intensifies, more and more bubbles and space rise, and a mysterious giant resin creature rises from the cauldron out of this smoke and majestically spreads its wings... It shakes itself dry and seems to grow even bigger. Although I have great respect for it, I feel wordlessly invited to hold on to the wings of the winged creature, to ride on its back and fly with it in and through the smoking darkness... Deep below us, very deep down, flowers bloom, their scent carried to me by the smoke, somewhere sweet and bitter nard oil is boiling and steaming. The scent of galbanum rises from green meadows very deep down... Now we are flying downwards, and whales emerge from the sea, bowing to the dark king of the skies and the resin abysses...
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This dark green elixir has it all and has nothing whatsoever to do with what some people here might associate as millefleurs flowers.
Starts tart-bitter, smoky-spicy-resins. Very bitter medicine, root tinctures, but not only, due to the smoky note. Nicely spicy cumin. Cedar resin, tar.
Later it becomes drier and dark ambergris appears. The spiciness becomes less dense and releases more nuances: very slightly sweet nard, a little galbanum. In the drydown, beautiful spicy-dark patchouli and moss. I am fascinated by this dark dynamic and the wealth of smoky, animalic, resinous and spicy notes.
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I would like to quote from the description in the online store because I find it so fitting: "Skins, whales, a stable on the beach. Deep smokiness, lots of spice. [...] Bubbling resins, pine resins, birch resins, fir resins, cedar resins, oud resins! Cumin floats through balsams. Far away are blossoms. Far away. Peat smoke, fire, salt. Can salt burn? Medicinal root tinctures. [...] Humus Calamus. Angelica with galbanum in patchouli decoction. Nagarmothism. Shards of clay. Mess.
[...] And skins. Beaver skins spread out on moss.
Truly not a scent for the faint-hearted.
For all people who are not yet familiar with my Essences - Millefleurs range:
The Millefleurs are structured differently to my 'normal' creations.
Over the course of a year, I collect hundreds of good accords. These are carefully and appropriately blended by me and make up about 50-60% of a millefleur. The remaining content is usually filled up in the last week of the year, just by nose, with high-quality oils, tinctures, CO2 extracts and absolutes. No scales, no notes, no reproduction."
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Please note: My statement under "Essences - Millefleures Dark | N-O-A-M"
applied to this 2023 version, which was not yet listed. Would have been a shame to delete the discussions there again.
With my fascination for smoke and fire, I am delighted to have got hold of one of the bottles and to be able to immerse myself in this fascinating world again and again... The flight takes a few hours.

Imagine...
Far up in the infinite expanse of the sky stands your star, shining around you from a nameless distance... You can open yourself to this radiance at the top of your head... From there, it scatters magic silver powder over you and shines around you...
Imagine...
The star powder turns into delicate silver threads that reach up to you and reveal silky iris petals... They are silky, but also fleshy... Have you ever watched iris flowers blossom? They draw water from the moist soil and become juicier and juicier until they are finally ripe to open...
Just imagine...
Yes, you had gotten cold down here, and your skin and cheeks are pale and pale. But a hint of rose petals descends to you from the sky, and your cheeks are allowed to redden again... A tender joy germinates in you and becomes almost mimosa pollen in an inner smile of your soul.
Imagine...
After the petals have slipped off your vanilla skin again, a balsamic, slightly smoky cloud of benzoin now envelops you and gives you protection... You are completely enveloped in a very deep and yet still bright feeling of being carried... Let yourself fall and sink down... onto the ground of sandalwood shavings and soft musk dust...
Imagine...
You too are a silver angel from heaven. One day the time will come, and you too will become angel dust and return to your star.
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For me, this fragrance with the clear signature of the (older) Bianchis is aptly named. It's all about angel dust. But for me, the association is not so much with the mistress who, as Francesca Bianchi puts it, applies face powder and lipstick in "a dusty boudoir of times past" while waiting for her lover to arrive.
Yes, this fragrance is beautifully sensual. But the decadence for me here is less one of rococo with powder puffs and many layers of make-up or of the cunning and ultimately overestimating Glenn Close in "Dangerous Loves", but a light, at the beginning quite transparent-silvery, which later becomes somewhat more earthy and carnal, and heartbreakingly reminiscent of the fragility and silvery, delicately sweet fragility of life. And yes, the "powder-iris-rose part [is] softened by a blend of resins that represent a dirty-experienced sensuality", but even what could be called dirty-experienced remains at once innocent and delicate.
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The beginning is silvery, powdery, translucent, before the fragrance gradually becomes more tangible.
Fascinating iris is clearly added, also powdery-dry at first, then silkier, more floral, then more herbal (buttery, rooty, damp-earthy). A small hint of rose and a beautiful mimosa note with a childishly innocent, almost cheerful idea of flower pollen. At some point, the more floral aspects recede and allow balsamic notes to come through. Benzoin with a balsamic, slightly smoky cloud (whose sweetness I can easily tolerate due to its delicacy), vanilla barely comes to the fore, but reinforces the depth and substance with tolu balsam, but even this depth remains light for me. In the base I have sandalwood and musk, still rather light and fine.

so despondent my little soul wings...
so powerless sometimes my heart...
caught in the thicket
what am I really
everything is deception
where is support
You show me a vanilla light
put a protective cloak of incense power around me
strengthen me with styrax in my back
lay iris powder at my feet
put civet powers at my side

This is the first time I've tested a fragrance that prominently features vanilla and rated it positively. This is a small sensation for me, as vanilla fragrances usually run the risk of being overtly sweet and/or musty. Neither is the case here! The notes listed here and on the Prada homepage (vanilla - styrax - incense - amber) might lead you to expect a rather simple ambery fragrance, but that would be completely wrong. This one is very complex and beautifully crafted and never ceases to surprise me. Other sources also list other ingredients that confirm my olfactory impression - I had already doubted myself and thought I was imagining them all.
It is precisely this uncertainty, a certain unstable floating and then being carried that seems to me to be the theme of this fragrance: a vanilla glow of uncertainty and unsteadiness.
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It begins for me with an ambery vanilla that has a kind of glow right from the start and also something very delicate and lively, citrusy and fresh. (I thought I was wrong at first, but some sources also list bergamot) Then it becomes denser and deeper as it progresses, resinous-powdery-sweetish. The brightness of the beginning gets some shadows. I perceive a delicate but very dark leather note, and I also suspect ambergris with its slight animalic quality, which typically contributes to the dark/light theme - as I know it from Annette Neuffer's fragrances in particular. And I would guess that some oud is also present. Sometimes it becomes apparent shortly after spraying it on, but not always. I'm pretty sure that the light animal notes are reinforced by some civet. This is where the fragrance gains downright vintage qualities with its - yes, should I call it opulence? It is a successful modern and somewhat lighter interpretation of vintage opulence.
The incense is present, but remains part of this chiaroscuro and does not stand out as a note in its own right. And I can imagine that there is also some iris in the powderiness. So: "Marienbad" is a very complex, very well-made fragrance. The components create a lively whole, like different layers that intertwine with each other and constantly reveal each other and new things.
(I've never looked at Daniela Andrier's work before - I've only just realized how many big houses she's worked for. I'll have to look into that again when I get the chance.)
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For me, this fragrance has three thematic facets:
Firstly, what could be described as baroque or opulent and makes me think of vintage fragrances. On the Prada homepage, it is described as "baroque" and "decadent", which is not quite right for me - it is more the aforementioned vintage notes in a modern interpretation. If you want, you can find parallels here to the spa architecture of the 19th and early 20th centuries, which has been preserved in Marienbad/Czech Republic with the splendor of the classicist and art nouveau buildings.
Secondly, I perceive the difficulty of objectifying impressions of reality as the theme of the fragrance. This is evoked by the light, floating, misty quality of the beginning, as well as by the interaction of the ingredients, which unfolds anew each time. There are echoes here of the film "Last Year in Marienbad" (1961), which addresses the question of what makes my memory of past loves and injuries "accurate". This is about love, about depths of the soul, confusion, about the questions of what is real and what I really want. These questions remain unresolved in the film, the ambiguity remains.
Thirdly, it is the chiaroscuro theme that is beautifully realized here. The fragrance begins bright and light, and then the dynamic between light and shadow, between illusion and clarity, unfolds.

Many thanks to @FrauKirsche for the sample and to both of you, dear @FrauKirsche
and @Can777 , for your beautiful introductions to the fragrance, without which I would not have tried it, that would have been a shame. Now it's on the wish list.

It is almost dark. There is still a small amount of half-light. I have left the riad and the red city wall far behind me. My bare feet with their dark red nail polish feel the soft moss and the earth beneath the soles of my feet. The soft grass tickles my ankles. All my senses are awake and alert. I listen into the darkness... As I pass the beehives at the edge of the garden, the scent of dark forest honey envelops me. Before I had thrown on the light dress, I had opened the bottle of oil that you said should be well timed... The elixir in it seemed to pulsate... From somewhere, a breeze carries the scent of violets that linger in the dark. And I think I can still feel the breath of your skin as you walked past earlier. I know for a fact they all told me not to follow you... it was dangerous... could have unforeseeable consequences... But now I take step after step on the path covered in soft cedar shavings that winds between the trees towards the forest. My heart is pounding. As threads of incense move between the trees towards me, residual sight becomes increasingly difficult, but my sense of touch and smell sharpen. I'm sweating, even though a breeze passes by. And although it is so dark, I perceive the shadow of your lithe figure in front of me even more darkly... And it has already escaped my perception again... Was there a billowing cloak? And could it be that there were also horns? ... Let me taste your honey-sweet skin... Where are you?
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Who else here wrote "I prefer honey"? Never mind, what do I care about yesterday's gossip, this dark honey is great. This is probably where I benefit from the fact that my skin tends to attenuate scents. While others write that they have to dose carefully, I dabbed carefully at first, then a little more generously, then opened the sample and dripped it all over my neck. Wonderful. And it's not sticky on me either! It's soft and powdery, very sensual, very dark.
Devilishly tempting.
When I tested it carefully, the dark honey was the first thing to emerge, followed gradually by spices, styrax and something slightly floral. The second time I wore it and applied a slightly larger amount, the tart cedarwood was very prominent and there was a subtle hint of dark patchouli. I can now also clearly recognize violet blossom. And every now and then I also have some incense, not the very light variety, but rather the dark golden one. Powdery iris and an unsweet vanilla amber blend form a thoroughly dry and - despite the honey - not at all sticky, but very fine base. I do not perceive sandalwood and vetiver as prominent notes, at most they add depth.
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On her homepage, Francesca Bianchi writes that the idea for this fragrance began in Marrakech, one of her favorite cities, which she visited several times and always returned with many "wonderfully forged oils", fragrant stones, incense resins, carpets, swords "and other useless but important objects". Inspired by a Moroccan oud imitation, she then tried to make her own base at home "and created some sticky-sweet, woody, smoky, oriental stuff that I called 'My Oud'". This later became "Into Darkness" and finally "The Dark Side".
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Honey can not only be spread on bread to enjoy it, but also applied to the skin, to favorite places... and then... ... Now in spring there is the light spring honey again, but I'm already looking forward to how it smells when the bees bring in the darkest leaf and forest honey in the hot summer and I open the boxes... And then...

Thanks to @UntermWert for the beautiful sample!