Salered

Brief description of the fragrance in German Southwest Africa:
Bergamot - not at all
Lavender - rudimentary
Violet - when strongly inhaled
Juniper - yes
Vetiver - in abundance
Labdanum - later
african grenadilla - WTF?
Vanilla - nope
Musk - don't know, fell asleep

A very nice dry-woody vetiver scent. Sweet? Fortunately no.

For male and female (and all in between according to the Federal Constitutional Court).

Baba Wanga was a famous Bulgarian clairvoyant and fortune-teller. For more than half a century its prophecies captivated the citizens of Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. In the 1980s it was almost impossible to get an appointment with her without special relationships.

In the late eighties communist Bulgaria slowly opened up to the West and so the first perfumes from Bulgaria came to Yugoslavia, where I lived for a while. In the Balkans, Bulgaria was already famous for the production of the famous Bulgarian rose, which today is a component of many precious fragrances. The fragrances were very straightforward: rose and musk, sometimes for a change musk and rose, in order. The perfumes were smuggled in small 10ml atomizers across the strictly controlled border. Sometimes the Bulgarian customs officers turned a blind eye when they were given the latest cassette of the Balkan mega-popular folk singer Lepa Brena. I think you could have smuggled an entire truck through, the singer was so popular there.

After some time we were not so impressed by the scents anymore. One could feel the extremely valuable ingredients in the form of Bulgarian rose and musk (probably artificial), but the inventiveness for combining, mixing and trying out was simply lacking. The scents marched like the soldiers of the Bulgarian People's Army under Eastern Europe's toughest dictator Todor Zhivkov: musk, rose, musk, rose, musk, rose. Today, 30 years later, I immediately think of the strictly composed popular parades in North Korea.

The scents in the Chopard Musk Malaki are as strict as this. Unfortunately the above mentioned components like pepper, cedar wood, leather do not appear. The fragrance starts very fresh, but also creamy. A friend of mine said at the first sniff it reminded him of a wonderful soap. Then the mixture of musk and rose (not mentioned comically in the fragrance composition) unfolds. Even after 7 hours everything smells completely identical to the beginning. The musk rose combination covers everything else.

The bottle is a feast for the eyes. It is the same as Rose Malaki's, which I also own (more about it in the commentary there). The liquid, however, is not as pink as shown here on the title photo. In artificial light it is transparent, in daylight some pin knots shimmer out, but far from what you can see here.

I wonder if Baba Wanga had anticipated that a perfume company called Chopard would release a fragrance in 2017 that would be so reminiscent of the Bulgarian fragrances of the last century. And that the sale would go so badly that it would be taken off the market just one year later. The remaining stock can now be bought in the United Arab Emirates, where musk seems to be more popular than here. This wonderful, short memory of a socialist-communist time now has a firm place in my collection.

The Chopard Malaki series fascinated me immediately with its appearance. Yes, I know they say you shouldn't just be impressed by the looks, but you can't help but admire the wonderful flacons for hours. The Chopard Malaki series consists of the following fragrance series: Amber Malaki, Musk Malaki, Oud Malaki and Rose Malaki. I wanted to buy them all at once, but they're really not that easy to get. Some distant USA-Chopard-watch-shops or not quite lovingly looking Brexit-shops offered 1 to 2 fragrances, but I was not really convinced. With a look to the east, however, this changed quickly. Almost every Arab country from Qatar to Bahrain to the United Arab Emirates offers all 4 fragrances at all airports and various online shops. At very correct prices. Fortunately there is a frequent flyer in my circle of friends and so my Rose Malaki landed with me a few days ago.

The brown-golden packaging with black inscription is very discreet. She lost a punch in the right corner on her long journey (see photo below), but that doesn't bother her visually. The bottle is round, but also octagonal with 8 semicircular sides. You can feel the full glass in your hand like with a precious Ralph Lauren vase. The lid is also round/octagonal and closes with a magnetic closure. The inscription "Chopard Rose Malaki" is only glued on, but I knew that from various forums and was not disappointed, although one suspects rather a small metal plate at first.

The head, heart and base notes are rather close together and you can feel the dominant rose from the beginning. Not a pink summer rose on the dress of a prepubescent teenager but a night rose. A masculine, dark rose with initially a lot of smoke, as if you just lit your Indian incense stick. Shortly thereafter one is transferred to the leather court supplier of the Emirati sultans, where the leather species of the most improbable animals are spread out. The patchouli vanilla finish rounds off this unique fragrance.

Thank you Chopard! I will never be able to buy your (overpriced) watches, but as long as you stay in the perfume business, I will be your loyal customer. The frequent flyer is on his way to the airport again...