FARMACIA SS. ANNUNZIATA DAL 1561 PATCHOULY INDONESIANO: Holy Moly, Mama Mia and Mother F***ing Bejeebus! It’s clobberin’ time!
Die-hard patchouli purists are going to feel like they’ve keeled over and landed in heaven once they get a whiff of Patchouly Indonesiano — but If you’re not a die-hard patchouli purist? Then I’d suggest you stand back, or maybe even clear out, cuz you’ll just be a mildly annoying human speed-bump in this thing’s way and there’s simply no dignity in a fate comprised of scraping yourself off the linoleum.
Lucky Scent lists the ingredients of Patchouly Indonesiano as Indonesian patchouli. Period. No sweeteners, no flowers, no spices, no extra nuthin’ — it opens like a camphorlicious stink-bomb and rides that blast all the way to its god given, pure patchouli conclusion of stark, nuclear glory.
For serious patchouli fanatics only. Proceed with caution and wear at your own risk. Really. I’m not kidding around here.
PARFUMERIE GENERALE INTRIGANT PATCHOULI: After the knock-out blow of Patchouly Indonesiano, Parfumerie Generale’s Intrigant Patchouli seems like nothing so much as a sweet, powdery imposter to the patchouli throne — which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, depending upon your point of view.
While Patchouly Indonesiano introduces itself with a power-punch to the olfactory-plexus, Intrigant Patchouli initially comes across as a sweet, feminine dear of a thing, inviting you over for tea and serving the crumbliest of vanilla scones, the flakiest of chocolate croissants and the butteriest of toast squares as you sip your piping hot almond tea from the family china that she inherited from her grandmother who just recently passed away (god rest her soul).
Intrigant Patchouli does eventually shed some of the sweet layers to allow its patchouli heart to shine through, and in any other context I might remark that it deepens into an attractive woods and musk fragrance laced with traces of chocolate and honey, but honestly? Next to the iron fist of Patchouly Indonesiano, PG Intrigant Patchouli is as soft and elegant as an elbow length velvet glove.
Now, if I could just figure out how to put the two of them together into one bottle, they’d make the perfect camphorish woodsy chocolate patchouli perfume. Oh, wait — someone already beat me to it.
