LORENZO VILLORESI INCENSI: Incensi opens with cinnamon and ginger spices laced with the green apple of olibanum, and at first I’m picking up signals that this is a smoky fragrance pitched toward the gourmands in the crowd, yet once the foodier elements pipe down, the resulting mix leans more towards the Catholic church than the Martha Stewart kitchen.
Not bad, but if it had incorporated a richer frankincense, it might have been a lot better. As it is, the ginger and cinnamon impart a kind of Red Hots Candy aura with the unfortunate result of dumbing the whole thing down.
FRAPIN 1270: honey, raisins, cocoa, vanilla, candied oranges . . . I should never test perfumes on an empty stomach, or perhaps the perfumers for Frapin should never create perfumes on an empty stomach, or just maybe it’s a little of both, because 1270 smells like the most delicious dessert and I’m about ready to bite a big, toothy chunk right out of my own arm.
Gourmand heaven.
If you don’t wish to smell like the sugared dish on the menu, I’d recommend you give 1270 a wide berth — all others, however, are free to wear it with abandon, though they’ll spend their waking hours beating the salivating hordes back with a stick (yeah, I know, just another day). Finishes on a smooth vanilla and sandalwood note.
PARFUMERIE GENERALE BOIS DE COPAIBA: based upon my previously stated lack of affection for the scent of myrrhe, I should have known better than to think Bois de Copaiba was going to be able to skate right past my radar without a thumbs down from a chorus of loudly booing critics, but here we are, ringside seat at the colosseum and me without my binoculars.
There are some very nice woods, along with a bit of ginger and orange blossom, but the myrrhe takes too prominent a position in the composition for my taste, tilting the mix and throwing it off balance. If you’re a big fan of myrrhe, however, Bois de Copaiba should bring tears of joy to your eyes.
Me? I think the stuff deserves a good ravaging by a pack of lions, even though the woods utilized in the base almost incite my inner mob to forgiveness. Notice I said, almost.
KEIKO MECHERI OLIBAN: the lightest of the four scents reviewed today, Oliban is dry, green and a little bitter, underscored with the sour sweetness of cedar and raw honey.
Since olibanum is a resinous scent note utilized in many incense fragrances, this would put Oliban in the category of woodsy-incense perfumes. The cedar radiates quietly from underneath and becomes more pronounced as time passes, resulting in a lightly smoked, dry wood fragrance that manages to avoid the heavy, churchy super-highway.
Fans of Andy Tauer’s L’Air du Desert Marocain might find something of value to discover in Oliban — it has a similar relaxed and wide-open vibe, though with less artistic aspirations.
