ROTE FARINA MARKE KOLNISCH JUCHTEN: Ok, like — OMG! Translation: If you’re in the market for a dry woods and cracked leather fragrance, you should definitely kick the tires on this one.
“Juchten” is the German word for Russian Leather, and this is dark, charred, leather for the hard to please leather-scent fan. Alleged to have been created by European monks in the 16th century (or so says one Internet story, though the much more reliable Marina at Perfume Smellin’ Things writes that “it was first produced a couple of hundred years ago by Johann Maria Farina (or “Johann Maria Farina gegenüber dem Jülichs-platz”), the world’s oldest Eau de Cologne manufacturer in Cologne, established in 1709″), Russian leather is said to have acquired its dark, smoky odor due to the application of birch tar in the treatment process.
Kolnisch Juchten is crammed with birch tar, which lends it a deep, campfire smoke tone. This is fattened up with some nice tobacco leaf, a cracklin’ dry wood and a healthy dollop of patchouli. My one complaint is that, while I love everything about its smoky, charred wood opening and leathery mid-phase, it finishes up on a thin, weak amber note that undercuts everything that came before it.
I was all prepared to give it a hugely enthusiastic thumbs-up, but I feel the amber lacks the necessary depth and strength to support the structure.
MONTALE ORIENT EXTREME: Montale can make a great fragrance, but they often stumble when it comes to the volume level. Orient Extreme is supposed to be a mix of roses, sandalwood, spices, musk and benzoin, but what sounds great on paper comes across as muddled and brash, trying hard to attract notice by talking ever louder rather than displaying an intelligent grasp of the subject matter.
The perfume field is a crowded one, and while shouting “Fire!” in a packed theater will definitely get everyone’s attention, it won’t win you any accolades — even if you apologize and start talking softly later on (and Orient Extreme does both). But people remember, you know.
I’ll give it points, however, for an exceptional musky drydown. It’s a damn shame the stuff shouts so loudly at the beginning.
DOMENICO CARACENI 1913: A fully unexpected and entirely pleasant surprise. Everything that’s wrong with Montale Orient Extreme is right with Domenico Caraceni 1913.
The volume is subtle, the list of notes reads like a Who’s Who of your favorite incense-chypre ingredients (petit grain, styrax, geranium bourbon, neroli bigarade, rose, tobacco, cypress, frankincense) and the blending is pitch perfect. The rose isn’t too rosy, the incense isn’t too smoky, the citrus is subdued and the woods are tweaked just so.
Domenico Caraceni 1913 stays close to the skin and wears like a tailor made suit, yet for all its elegance, it’s entirely casual and easy. It’s not going to win any converts from those hoping for the experimental and daring, but DC 1913 is a good example of a well-made, well-done, goes with everything fragrance.
If you’re tired of the usual Office-Friendly suspects and would like a change of pace, I nominate DC 1913.
IL PROFUMO VETIVER DE JAVA: There’s not much to say about Vetiver de Java. It’s decent enough — the vetiver is blended with some light florals and woods to result in an everyday wearable, earthy fragrance, but it by no means distinguishes itself, in any way.
It’s mild and mossy, with a lavender overbite (full disclosure: lavender could disappear from the face of the earth and I wouldn’t shed a tear) and a soft rose layered throughout, but it’s difficult to imagine anyone getting excited about wearing it. It’s like Clark Kent in a bottle when you’re actually staring out the window and pining for Superman.
If Clark Kent is your thing, however, have at it! Guys who wear glasses and all that.
But again, the perfume field is ever more crowded, and if Il Profumo wants someone to fork over his/her hard-earned cash for a bottle, they’ll have to try a little harder than Vetiver de Java.
