The Noble Collection

At the beginning of February 2023, ZARA launched a new collection of perfumes called Fragrance Series N° 01. For this collection, the Spanish brand chose all-black packaging, refillable bottle, and names inspired by colours combined with noble adjectives. ZARA has paid much attention to quality, the perfumes seem well made, and a more or less famous master perfumer created and signed each of them. The four scents in question are, in no particular order, Magnificent Black, Imperial Purple, Majestic Green, and Regal White. By practising and reviewing them, I tried to make sense of each colour, perhaps drawing inspiration from the most dominant chord. I want to share my emotions with you, and with this post, I will try to get ideas on the sensations and significant chords that I get with SERIES N° 01.

A Leafy Vanilla

If you describe something or someone as majestic, you think it is very beautiful, dignified and impressive. Fabrice Pellegrin’s Majestic Green is everything but green. I would have expected a herbaceous slap in the face, full of leaves, bushes, and saps, but no. The nose gives us a disturbing dark vanilla served on a woody carpet wrapped in a super dose of spice and citrus. It’s creamy, buttery, and slightly sweet with intense tart lemon flavour—like a curd, a creamy lemon version of jam. Besides, he added super creamy sandalwood to the sweet, powdery vanilla as if that weren’t enough. A pleasant-smelling incense lingers after some time and gives a hint of smoke. Even after a few days, the blotter has a touch of spicy, balsamic, and smoky vanilla with a nutty note, similar to brown-cased almonds. Pellegrin’s creation is majestic in redolence.

Continue reading A Leafy Vanilla Scent For Adults

A Powdery Leather

Imperial means of or relating to an empire, emperor, or empress, a characteristic of or befitting an emperor; majestic; commanding or exercising supreme authority; imperious. Ane Ayo’s creation puts the seductive powdery purple iris flower on the backbone while other elements rotate around it, namely smooth leather and gourmand vanilla. While the formula of dusty green iris outfitted with leather and vanilla isn’t groundbreaking, the result here is nothing short of mind-blowing. The initial stage is all about dry, waxy, and powdery iris. Unexpectedly, Imperial Purple turns chocolaty and leathery in the dry-down, and it takes its name from the purple iris flower. When I smell it closely, the leather note is quite distinct. A powdery and leathery accord remains on the blotter many hours and days later. In this collection, Ayo stands in regal splendour.

Continue reading The Orchid Of The Poor

A Verdant Salty Fig

The word regal is an adjective that describes someone or something that is related to or befitting someone who is royal, or something that is related to royalty. Regal White is a creation by Nathalie Lorson. Even though it was the latest addition to my collection, it was the one that impressed me the most when I tried them all the first time. It is a cologne centred on a herbaceous, figgy vetiver with earthy and mineral undertones. Salty and mineral fig leaves washed in seawater, fruity but not sweet. I like to think that the White in the name reflects the fig milk and coconut pulp. The last phase also has a woody, dry background, with those typical nuances of wood and its shavings. What remains on the blotting paper, even after a long time, is a mineral fig and a milky coconut with greenish reflections. Lorson has a regal manner in creating perfumes.

Continue reading A Verdant Salty Fig

A Burnt, Syrupy Amber

Magnificent, gorgeous, splendid, superb are terms of high admiration and we used informally all in weak exaggeration. Something that is magnificent is beautiful, princely, grand, or ostentatious. Hamid Merati-Kashani is the nose behind Magnificent Black. This is an exploration of amber wood with a beautifully subtle opening of spicy and semi-bitter orange peel. Amber, mineral, leathery, with that complicated oud smell-feeling that comes to life after about two hours. It’s slightly medicinal, with a cherry cough syrup nuance. The heart is many things: sandblasted, soft, woody suede, fine-grained, a little fleshy, steaming, brushed. Woody scent with intense oud and vetiver note. A little sweet and powdery. I get on the blotter after many hours, and even days after, a sweet oudy accord with semi-medicinal cherry cough syrup nuance. Merati-Kashani delivered a magnificent cologne.

Continue reading The Blue Hour

If you missed the N° 02 series, you can find it here The Desert Landscapes

-Elysium