Nasomatto Silver Musk vs. Nasomatto China White

Yesterday, I gave a test drive to five Serge Lutens fragrances, since I've so far been less than enthusiastic on this blog regarding Serge Lutens perfumes and I wanted to give the line a broader testing to see if I might actually have been missing something special.

The answer, to my nose, was no.

And today I find myself willing to take a gander at two Nasomatto fragrances, despite the near disastrous introduction to their line over a month back. On July 4th, I sampled Nasomatto Duro and found it less than wearable, to put it mildly; but just as Serge Lutens has its admirers, I know that the Nasomatto line does, as well, and I thought it would be a fair shake to give a few of its other scents a chance to counteract the bad taste left in my life from the thoroughly unpleasant Duro.

China White: China White is the most recent Nasomatto release, and its mildly provocative name probably does it more harm than good. China White is a street name for a type of white powder heroin, and while the choice of name is likely meant to conjure all types of hazy and addictive iamgery, it actually comes across as more Beavis and Butt-head than sex, rock & roll and glamor.

"Uhhhhhhh Dude . . . heh heh heh . . . he said "China White" . . . heh heh heh . . . that's so cool!"

Which is a shame, since China White isn't half bad -- but "not half-bad" is like the kiss of death for a perfume named China White. For what should have been a euphoria inducing, eye-glazing and brain scrambling experience is instead a lightly powdered, ever so delicately smoky scent that exhibits a bit of flaming match & scorched coffee-table (including a bit of furniture polish, mind you) overlaying a warm salty-sweet resinous core that hovers just above the skin.

But narcotic? Not so much.

I'd consider buying a bottle, as it's genuinely attractive, IMO better than Serge Noir as far as minimalist incense fragrances are concerned, and its subtle warmth would serve just as well in a crowded venue as an intimate gathering, but the name is so dumb (kind of like MoslBuddJewChristHinDao, only worse because of its lame Studio 54 pretentions) that I'm not sure I can bring myself to actually support it with my $$$.

Nasomatto only has itself to blame on that account.

Silver Musk: an oddly pleasing liquid musk. Chilly and a touch sparkling, with some white florals plus a bit of that Dove soap cleanliness (99.4% pure!) -- and is that a faint watery-melon (not watermelon, but watery-melon) note placed way in the back? Did they honestly put muscone and calone in the same fragrance? I keep getting a here and gone again whiff of Hermès' madly unappreciated Un Jardin Apres la Mousson . . . ? Whatever the combo, this is a surprising and devilishly creative means of effecting a shimmering, see-through musk.

I'd say Silver Musk is likely Nasomatto's most accessible candidate for the perfume sweepstakes yet -- it has a much better name than China White, and it's confident enough in its construction to avoid the use of any showy calisthenics as a substitute for high talent and quality ingredients, though it must be said that China White has a woods and smoke character that satisfies a much different need than the cool chinchilla tones of Silver Musk.

If the rest of the Nasomatto line turns out to be as good as these two, I might just forgive them for Duro after all.

And because I know it has to be a burning questions on somebody's mind, the character that Kathleen Turner played in 'Crimes of Passion' was named China Blue, not China White:

"Save your money, shithead!"

Oh, wait -- she isn't talking about the Nasomatto perfumes! You can find China White and Silver Musk for sale at Lucky Scent. Spend away!