Ichamia

A dream or a memory from the past wafts around me. Emphatic, cultivated, chypry, green-spicy, bright. Clearly perceptible but not intrusive. Not like all the others.
A dream of Romina Power, it was her fragrance at the time of "Albano & Romina Power". For me, it suits this elf-like beautiful woman from another time. It was just the late 70s and early 80s...
A memory of that time, my childhood. It seems to me that everything was somehow better back then ;-) Many problems were unknown. Nevertheless, we lived deep in the progress of modern times. I remember women who were always well-groomed... not all operated on and styled in the same way, but still individually groomed. Painted fingernails, cherished jewelry, long hair, you went out "well-dressed", you went on vacation in a jacket, not in a jogging suit. At the hotel, dinner jackets instead of Bermudas in the restaurant.
Lightness of being...and yet more etiquette, more manners. Perhaps. That's how I remember it. Colorful, carefree, light, well-groomed. Eternal summer. The scent of rain.
For me, this fragrance means the security of home (Sharazan) and adventure on vacation in Makassar.
It wafts with self-confidence, nostalgia, sophistication. Not one-size-fits-all. Strong but feminine.
I'm wearing it with Coco Vanille these days. Perhaps a break in style.

London sometime in the 2010s. For the first time in 25 years, I was back in the city that I had always loved and that my dad had shown me as a little girl. This city that has always had a special magic of Britishness, time-honoredness, tradition and modern metropolis. Home to Sherlock Holmes and Paddington Bear. With beautiful architecture, cozy yet chic streets and ancient parks. Where afternoon tea, bespoke suits and the piano player in the Harrods restaurant create such a special flair.
A scent seemed to accompany me into the night that evening... through the rain-soaked streets, into the London cabs and through chic hotel lobbies. The scent accompanied the look down my face, black coat, brunette hair. The clack-clack of boots on damp asphalt. For me, it was the scent of London that evening. It was an important evening for me, a mission was taking me through the city, my heart was pounding.
The scent was a mysterious, for me dark blue-minty-cool pulse of the city...excited little pink explosions here and there. Addictive, eerie, beautiful. Perhaps the inner excitement, the rain, mixed with the scents of the city...? The asphalt with the beautiful streetlights reflected in the puddles? Perhaps the buzz that is always present in London, even in the side streets, even in the dark of night. The glow of the Thames. Embankment. The shadows of the old buildings. Knightsbridge. Harrods greets me. I feel nostalgic. Mayfair, the art deco personality of Clardige's Hotel. A champagne bar, the view out into the night. I feel bold. And always that scent. Beguilingly mysterious, at the same time rain-damp, black-blue like the night. As heavy as a tweed coat. Rich in detail and decorated like a luxurious silk dress by Princess Catherine. Vintage and yet lively and modern - like the fast heartbeat of this city.
London by night, I said to myself. It was for me. I didn't have time to really think about where this fragrance came from.
The memory of that night in London and its scent stayed with me for years. And at some point, an image suddenly flashed in my memory. The hotel room I shared with my childhood friend. A strange black perfume bottle...
Suddenly I remembered her words from back then.
It was her "lucky bottle", a fragrance that she wore on important occasions. Fitting, as we were both on important missions in London, each in our own way. The perfume, an heirloom from her former boss, the late Isabella Blow...
A few clicks later - Fracas! That was the bottle.
Then an agonizing wait until it was finally delivered. Even as I was unpacking it, I could hear the "swish-swish" of the elixir inside the heavy bottle.
I had always known Fracas, of course; perfumes are my passion. I had just never smelled it, the description didn't appeal to me at all and so I never felt the need to try it. Bandit, however, has been on my shelf for a long time.
Fracas it is.
Heart palpitating. I took the cap off and lifted the bottle to my nose...what awaited me? Nocturnal London or loud flowery movie diva? Eerily nocturnal or oppressively exotic?
The images immediately came back. Yes, midnight in London. Mysterious, unique, vibrant.
So this fragrance has been with me for 10 years, now my umpteenth bottle.
For me, the fragrance will never fit the descriptions of it - white floral, heavy, even pompous. It has nothing loud, sweet or overwhelming for me, I don't see any blonde movie goddesses with red lips and heated skin. For me, it's not a fragrance that makes you want to stand out, be self-confident or a diva. Not a grand entrance for me.
For me, Fracas in its black art deco bottle is the scent of London at night. Dark, mysterious, unique. The dark green-eyed fairy on a secret mission, with a fast heartbeat she flits through the shadows of the rain-soaked city and her veil of scent casts a black-blue, green-minty spell over everything around her. Every now and then a pink star flashes in the night. Her aura lies over the city, becomes one with it. Creeps into the cabs, is carried into every corner by the fog.
London by night.
As I said, I can't smell any fragrance notes here and I can't describe them. For me, the fragrance is very special, very mysterious and unique. Black, sharp and soft, opposites make a harmonious whole, a little minty, a little bubblegum (yes, here it is, the tuberose...). An aura, a veil. Cool and warm at the same time. A fragrance that emerges and simply "is" - rather than just "a perfume" that anyone can simply spray on.
And apparently very different for me than for everyone else! Once again you can see how individual fragrance and perception are.