LadyLuxifer

What does a masterpiece need?

First, it needs a sensitive composition of a "conductor" who knows his craft. But above all, such a fragrance must spark images, open their own soul like a book.

There are plenty of images in the fragrance "Opera" by Chris Maurice: a lyrical kiss in the haze of the dark night; farewell moments behind closed eyes burning on my hands and lips; a river full of lovesick arias tinged with shadows of farewell.

Christian Carbonnel a.k.a. Chris Maurice comes from the most prestigious perfume family in Spain. Thus, Christian grew up in the world of perfumery and thanks to his father Francisco Carbonnel, the passion and talent to create exceptional fragrances were literally born in his cradle. "Nefs", "Erba Pura", "Camel", "Malvs" are just a few of his excellent creations. Many will follow, I am sure. Christian is so very "out-of-the-box", so I expect many more jewels.

The opening is already very opera-like, a heavy curtain reveals a brilliant start, which smells very unusual: subliminally compressed fruity notes floating with rose petals in an old barrique barrel. Already here small indefinable fragrance particles swim along, which will not leave my nose until the end. These notes behave like tiny pheromonal fragrance particles that hold the wild mess together and give the whole fragrance only a sense.

"Opera is not just a night out scent. Opera you spray on, if you intend something more than just "togetherness and holding hands". "Opera" is wicked and a little "trashy", a scent of apostatic lust without a hint of moderation.

The longevity of the fragrance is monstrous, it also follows countless twists and spins in the fragrance development. The sensuality of the scent is further underpinned with earthy, rooty notes that kick in after about five hours.

After DeepRiver's really cool review, it's really hard to say anything else about the fragrance that would reveal more than DR has already so clearly and wittily stated. I fully share his opinion, no fruit type is individually smellable here or even vetiver and musk. What is clearly perceptible, however, are compounds of notes whose whiff smells of carnal desire. The fragrance leaves a stamp not only for days, it is almost a tattoo that remains.

"Opera" is a bit like "dancing on a string", the scent can quickly seem over the top. For me, however, "Opera" is a sinful essence that sighs deeply and longingly lascivious on my shiny skin: A masterpiece.

If love were a fragrance, it would have to be the fragrance of freedom, for the absolute beauty of love reveals itself only freely, independently and completely in its freedom.

Impatience is the fire that is the undoing of all love. It is the age-old theme that kills love with zeal. I feel it as a thousand reflections of my "Appetitus Sensitivus" - like fragments hidden in little intermezzos - throbbing in search of satisfaction of a want.

Therefore, I deliberately decided to be patient and gave the fragrance time, tested "the love" often and at different times of the day.

"Un Amore Eterno" is supposed to be a tribute to the fragrant letters of Casanova. Already I find the idea to be exalted and over the top.

I perform the Y-cut on the fragrance and hold: smells like open lady's bag, lipstick, leather, dull scarlet sweetness, earthy-floral and woody-nutty smells spice the air on my perceptual horizon. The strongly distinctive, yet somehow affective creation with its antique aura doesn't really reach me. It feels heavy and suffocating, like a requiem. The combination of tuberose, clove and saffron finally do the trick for me.

My idea of eternal love is tied to the scope of feelings lived. If something is eternal and infinite, then it is everywhere. Eternal love is like being kissed by a soul barelipped and uncertain. A kiss, but one that resounds for all eternity. Love awakens like spring, unstoppable and warm, smiling and dancing.

"Un Amore Eterno" is, alas, love on its deathbed.

The scent is rather "dirty." "Carnal Desire" would stand the fragrance better. Even then, the fragrance would not be more wearable for me. Often evoke fragrances with me musical associations. This one, however, makes me think of less dignified figures like the lonely writer Gustav von Aschenbach, the main character of the novella "Death in Venice".

"Un Amore Eterno" also shows me that the fleeting ecstasy of the Fall only confuses the senses and catapults one into sudden abandonment. It is precisely this suddenness of the enigmatic that reveals the drive that Roja pursues and Gustav paradoxically finds shameful as the one profound impulse of creation. Hours move crawling without flying, poetically blasphemous and wastefully rudimentary, like a last apocalyptically tinged desire for desire, blinded and unable to perceive that love has already died in its far too tight clothes. The scent of the Britten would have been a good scent to go with the novel.

Similar to the disarray of the torn writer, I experience unwanted stops in no man's land with "Un Amore Eterno." Standstill. At this stage, borne of cloying boudoir opulence, Roja's creation is somewhat reminiscent of "1889 Moulin Rouge." It stays that way only briefly. This is followed by one of the least positive aspects of the fragrance, the grandiose marriage of patchouli and iris. These moments are real compensation for the initially terrible tangle.

The fragrance calms down here increasingly and becomes more harmonious. The too potent spicy-floral and dull-nutty moments from the opening, paired with the ancient clove spice, are now only faintly perceptible, but seem pleasantly supportive and above all appropriate.

It is not the eternal love, far from it, but an average good Roja fragrance. No fragrance that will be remembered, for this there are clearly better at ROJA perfumes. It remains with me the regret that Roger Dove just takes up this beautiful and eternal theme and then misses it so mercilessly.

Raphaël Haury was born and raised in Grasse, the son of a perfumer. He studied at the Ecole de Parfumerie de Charabot in Grasse.

It is less known that he founded the niche perfume brand "06130" together with Jacques Chabert (known among other things for the creations for the houses Tom Daxon, Atelier Flou and Zéro Six Cent-Trente) in 2003. After all, Raphaël comes from this city, the capital of perfumery, and therefore inherited a sense of beauty, refinement and a special sensitivity for aromas.

In 2007, Raphaël founded his own company "Perfum.com".

Raphaël Haury not only worked on perfumes for 06130, but also created fragrances for other major brands, predominantly for the Cofinluxe/Cofci company brands.

Cofinluxe - originally Cofci - was founded in 1976 by Jean-Pierre Grivory and is a French family and independent company based in Paris, whose brands have been represented in more than 100 countries for 40 years. Cofinluxe now distributes perfumes from brands such as Charriol, Barthet, Love Love, Parfums Café and Dali Haute Parfumerie. Raphaël Haury was responsible for three creations from Dali Haute Parfumerie's Fabulous Collection in 2017, namely "Fabulous Bukhara", "Fabulous Korynthia" and "Fabulous Srinagar", with Srinagar being the best of the trio in my opinion.

The creations of the handsome, smart Raphaël didn't really reach me though, it wasn't the great love, more like a fleeting acquaintance between the two of us.

But it became love!

Raphaël enchanted me with a leather creation, his "Royal Leather", composed for the Charriol company. I was blown away.

Perhaps it's not unimportant to point out that for me, Ernest Beaux's "Cuir de Russie" from the house of Chanel, Tom Ford's Tuscan Leather, and Roja's Great Britain are "the big three," a trinity of sorts, leather chords dominating like no other of the many leathery fragrance creations out there. Of course, there are countless leather scents, but the three mentioned above deeply trigger me.

The Trio Infernale, the three daredevils are well known, everyone knows them, the sly boys just...one more fatal than the other. Raphaël was like the reserved but charismatic boy next door, who hid much more beauty and character in himself than his shy exterior and defensive nature wanted to reveal a priori. Ah, this Raphaël, he was so sensual and warm, I couldn't resist him. He conquered me quietly, very subtly...until one day I realized I couldn't be without him.

The fragrance notes listed are not exhaustive, that's for sure. I firmly believe that both birch and davana were used in this composition. The fragrance literally lives on these components.

Royal Leather starts pleasantly restrained, harmoniously spicy-leathery. If you compare Royal Leather start with the "Big Three", Tuscan Leather is very modern, berry and initially least a leather fragrance. Roja's Great Britain is the bridge between the XXth and XXIth centuries, neatly spicy, dominantly leathery-woody. The Cuir de Russie Vintage version is a real leather scent, super potent from the start, with the charisma of the undead Vlad III Draculea, a prince in fact.

Raphaël doesn't need to show off. Somehow, he's still the little big boy who doesn't take life too seriously. It's a dominance of playful tenderness. Royal Leather reminds me of the hypnotic voice of Peter Murphy. The fragrance starts with a subtle combination of delicate floral tones, very delicately paired with the scent of various dried fruits. The listed spices are more in the background. Everything is like wrapped in the finest posh leather that feels like second skin and shimmers brown, like the color of mother earth. This deep color helps ground me, connects me to nature, helps me in some inexplicable way experience support and security, healing and care. Already here I perceive something warm and sweetly exotic. Raphaël Haury has succeeded in creating a grandly beautiful leather scent with Royal Leather. His composition is not overloaded with sweetness, over-spiced or omnipotent. What is striking, Raphaël plays with opposites and subtly embraces the wearer with these contrasting olfactory experience to connect his creation with the wearer thereby ultimately to a harmonious unity.

The fragrance loses this tension at no time or even becomes dissonant. The fragrance development takes place almost in bent, like an invisible harmony. I feel like I'm being haunted by a good spirit. Royal Leather is a leather fragrance like no other. With this creation, Raphaël Haury has succeeded in a very big hit.

However, we know that truly great love stories don't have happy endings. They never end. The enchanting fragrance was discontinued in 2019.

HICC, is known among perfume lovers as Lyral; it has a soft floral scent (reminiscent of lily of the valley, cyclamen, and a bit of lilac) with subtle aldehydic and woody nuances. Officially, it was said that as of August 23, 2019, cosmetics containing Lyral will no longer be allowed on the market. They decided against reformulating RL at Cofinluxe and put the creation "Fabulous Mandawa" in the race in place of Royal Leather. I was very surprised that it was Michel Almairac who was responsible for the umpteenth Tuscan Leather clone, which has become so inconsequential that it was not worth it to me to test said fragrance a second time.

Now I'm on the hunt for the last few copies of Royal Leather. The search is turning out to be much more difficult than I thought. There are only a few left, so it's a real rarity. Dear Aquamonza was kind enough to sell me a 10 ml bottling. I appreciate that very much. Here again a thousand thanks for that.

What makes Royal Leather so special is its microtonal aura and well-tempered composition. The fragrance is neither intrusive nor boring. This leather fragrance simply fits like a second skin.

I will not give up the search. You're out there somewhere, I just haven't found you yet. Not yet.

Omega is, teleologically speaking, the point at which the complete extinction of all life seems inevitable. Man moves into his own immovable reconstruction, which equates him with God. It is a bittersweet wait for redemption at the space-time endpoint, it is the ultimate future without a return to existence.

Owner of the Mendittorosa company, Stefania Squeglia presented a trilogy consisting of Alpha, Omega and ID in her 2012 Odori d'Anima collection. I chose the almost decadent creation Omega, which is so much more than just another leather gourmand fragrance.

The fragrance starts off warm, bittersweetly earthy, with soft toasted notes. There are also fine floral veils and a delicate sweetness perceptible. Many fragrances literally go through breathtaking stations and change directions. It is often the case that the end of certain compositions reveals little of the first impression of the fragrance. Omega is not like that. Omega is an end point. The fragrance is wonderfully finished from the beginning, penetrates all layers of the soul and pulsates softly. Warm. Familiar. Enveloping.

The woody-floral compounds, paired with a wafer-thin incense note, form the filigree framework for this extraordinary fragrance. Amélie Bourgeois has succeeded in harmonising a wonderful combination of a relatively dominant cumin note with a soft leather accord and sophisticated powdery sweetness of vanilla and iris. It is like an epicurean ceremony for my entire sensory system.

Stefania Squeglia's desire for soul scents does not quite work out, however. Omega is not a fragrance of the soul, it is the fragrance of human nudity. The composition smells of subtle human shells, which do not yet have the scent of life and experience, here they are without wounds and without scars. They are still new bodies in all their diversity, but without Photoshop and without taboos.

Omega remains innocently human until the end, infused with gently seductive gourmet notes. A fragrance for those special moments. If there is that one moment that your counterpart will remember when he took you in his arms, you should wear this fragrance. The aura of Omega is "something to be forever remembered for".

The fragrance possesses the longing of the song "Calling You" by Jevetta Steele. Omega is melancholic and yet life-affirming and sensual, like "The First Time", which is simultaneously a beginning but also inevitably an end.

With Omega, Mendittorosa and perfumer Amélie Bourgeois have created a true masterpiece. It is only to be hoped that the fragrance will remain in its original state for a long time to come, because this way Omega is perfect, from beginning to end

It is now about 2 weeks ago that I have purchased this fragrance. Still, like my first statement, I am torn. Why? Because the fragrance has strongly ambivalent, ambivalent, ambivalent moments.

The first aspect is remote, inattentive and subconscious. Eau de Mystique is always there, like a veil. The family of rhomboid plants is delicate and beautifully perceptible at this distance. The rest of the fragrance is there subliminally, in an apparent orbital movement, with more and more intensity.

Two essences of scent give me trouble. I just don't get along so well with cinnamon and heliotrope. I experience both essences as unpleasantly explosive for any fragrance composition.
That's what happens when I smell right on my arm. Now these two essences are quite dominant. They lie like usurpers over the orange lowlands of the fragrance and radiate dominance.

However, when I remove the nose from my arm, the first thing described is there again, and that is the much more beautiful perception.

The term mysticism comes from, "myô", to close your eyes and immerse yourself in the inner world. This is exactly what this affect of distance leads to.

But it is also an ingredient in this fragrance that splits, rips and smashes the whole composition in a beautiful way. At first I thought it was the essence of sandalwood. With every further test I knew that it was not the sandalwood essence after all. It is also not the May Rose. Maybe it's the combination of the two.
This one note dissects the composition; the whole is lost in detail, only to be inductively bridged together again afterwards.

What I particularly like about the composition is a very attractive combination of prune and incense. For me personally this is a real lien émotionnel. This is the moment of passion in the development of the fragrance. Now the fragrance shakes sinusoidally towards the nose.
The fragrance is perceptible for well over 12 hours. Thereby you really experience a very beautiful journey. You start your walk in an orangery, linger a little in the rose garden, late afternoon a prune liqueur from the barrique... that's roughly how I experience the journey. It is a beautiful journey

Eau de Mystique is a successful debut. It's up to me not to rate the fragrance any higher. It's just not my fragrance. But I am sure that this fragrance will find many lovers. The composition is more than successful, the bottle is drop-dead gorgeous, the packaging very noble...everything is very harmonious and fits together very well.

Mr Mayki Wesker, what can we expect from you next?