Bruno Acampora Iranzol and Seplasia

I picked up the Bruno Acampora sampler pack from Lucky Scent, and while it's not nearly so nicely packaged as the Ineke sample box, the pack does include a small booklet listing the scents, accompanied by brief descriptions. The booklet is really more about pictures and poetic prose than helpful information, but what redeems the lack of info in the booklet is a carboard sleeve that encases each sample vial, listing the actual, honest to god ingredients rather than some whimsical collection of made-up scent notes.

For example, the list of ingredients for IRANZOL is listed as: alpha-isomethyl ionone, cinnamyl alcohol, citral, citronellol, coumarin, eugenol, geraniol, hexyl cinnamal, hydroxycitronellal, isoeugenol and linalool.

I have no idea what most of these ingredients actually are, but now that I'm armed with the information, I can search the net for my own answers, which is what most of us really want -- I mean, if I were to pick up a package of food from a grocery store shelf and the ingredients list consisted of bulls**t like spirit of life and sea breeze accord, I'd be less informed than when I started, not to mention completely annoyed.

So I absolutely applaud this move toward transparency, and hope to see more of it in the future.

IRANZOL: Bruno Acampora perfumes are produced in a concentrated oil format, resulting in a very soft, yet long-lasting fragrance experience. Every scent to the pieces smells rounded, smoothed out, buffed down, without a sharp edge for miles.

Described in the PR prose as a full-bodied, resin fragrance, "soft, damp green grass and fresh buds in flower in stark contrast to seasoned sandalwood," it's important to note that Iranzol doesn't contain any actual sandalwood or natural floral essences, but is, instead, a nicely blended chemistry project that comes out smelling woodsy and sweetly floral with a damp hay aroma floating through its center.

While many of the smell molecules contained in Iranzol are derived from plants and flowers, they are not actual plant or flower essences, which makes this softly floral, damp woods perfume a rather remarkable product of the modern laboratory. Up against a truly natural fragrance, such as a perfume from Ayala Moriel, Mandy Aftel or Dominique Dubrana, it's easy to tell that Iranzol is nowhere near to smelling like real roses, genuine jasmine or smooth sandalwood, though it does reference such essences with a decent amount of humility.

And it just gets prettier as the day passes . . .

SEPLASIA: Described as "a sensual embrace from an island called desire," there actually is a faint scent of a salty Mediterranean breeze lurking in the background of Seplasia, a hint of seawater and seashells without going unpleasantly aquatic about it.

Actual ingredients listed are: alpha-isomethyl ionone, benzyl salicylate, cinnamyl alcohol, citronellol, coumarin, eugenol, geraniol, hexyl cinnamal, hydroxycitronellal, hydroxyisohexyl 3-cyclohexene carboxaldehyde, isoeugenol and linalool.

As you can see, the ingredient list of Seplasia, though arranged a bit differently, is quite similar to Iranzol, but with the addition of hydroxyisohexyl 3-cyclohexene carboxaldehyde (a soft, floral aldehydic utilized as a blending agent to achieve richness and tenacity) and benzyl salicylate (a balsamic floral molecule that often serves as a foundation for heavier floral elements in the mix). This results in Seplasia as a richer, warmer perfume in contrast to Iranzol's straight-forwardly pretty nature, though both are merely variations on the artificial floral theme.

If you're into light, sweet florals with a bit of damp grass and smooth sandalwood rolled underneath, then Iranzol is your bag of tricks, but if you prefer a warmer, thicker type of floral with a bit of sand and ocean breeze, Seplasia is for you.

So if you have your heart set on a Bruno Acampora fragrance, I'll stand on the sidelines and cheer for the decidedly more woods and rose drydown of Iranzol -- in my opinion, it's lovelier and more satisfying than the somewhat olive-oil drydown of Seplasia.

UPDATE:

I was contacted by Laurie Erickson, the perfumer for Sonoma Scent Studio, who informed me that the lists of ingredients that I saw for the Bruno Acampora perfumes were only partial lists.

Here's a quote from her email: "the ingredients lists you see are usually just partial lists that include the potential allergens required to be disclosed by EU regulations. The list usually also includes the word "fragrance" or "parfum" and that is the all-inclusive term for everything not considered allergenic and thus part of the trade secret for the scent. The US doesn't yet require that allergens be listed so you'll just see the ingredients list as something like water, SD-39C alcohol, and 'fragrance.' ... See if you can find the word "fragrance" or "parfum" in the list and that's your clue that there's lots more unlisted stuff."

And indeed, the word "parfum" preceded the list of allergens that I had mistaken for the entire list of ingredients, so some of the statements regarding ingredient lists in the reviews will be incorrect, but you still get the general gist. Suffice it to say that there is undoubtedly a lot more to the ingredient lists than I had assumed, and there may very well be natural essences included, they just aren't listed (and this might just be where the missing sandalwood is hiding).

Gosh darn it! And I was all happy with Bruno Acampora for what I had assumed was a refreshing transparency. I should have known better . . .