SAFI EAU DE PARFUM: In my quest to be seasonally relevant, I stumbled across Safi and thought it sounded like a good way to look forward . . . to summer!
Yes, I know, the tiny little flower buds are just barely shrugging off the topsoil for their annual Preening For Shutterbugs competition and here I am, already slathered in sunscreen and floating languidly in a hotel pool, signaling the bartender for my fifth gin and tonic. It’s a curse. I bear it.
Which is all just a preamble for saying that Safi is a velvety mid-summer evening type of fragrance more than something Spring fresh and breezy. It starts off like a specialty drink at a beachside bar — fruity, sweet and creamy, but after several hours it tones down the fruity-tunes and turns up the volume on the bamboo wood and dark green leaves in its base.
That’s when the sun goes down, the tiki torches fire up and the party really gets started. Dancing under a hot moon is encouraged.
Listed fragrance notes: lychee, pineapple, black currant, stargazer lily, freesia, neroli, muhuhu wood (sometimes called African sandalwood because of how similar it is in scent to sandalwood), bamboo, papyrus and vetiver. Five hours after application and it’s all dry, smooth sandalwood with a layer of spilled Daiquiri.
I’m picturing a deck party, suntans, brightly printed halter dresses and a cloud of Safi. Does that sound so wrong?
SIX SCENTS #4: Created with artistic direction from new LVMH wunderkind Garth Pugh, Six Scents #4 is the epitome of the skin scent. It’s not sweaty or clean — in fact, it seems to have no discernible odor beyond an impression of salted body heat.
The PR copy goes into some overwrought blah blah blah about ambiguity, duality and “a struggle between lightness and darkness.” Whatever. It smells like warm skin; the kind you cuddle up to at the end of the day — unless you’re too cool for sissy cuddling, and then I guess you’re left with the whole ambiguity and duality thing.
Viva la lutte!
Listed fragrance notes are: dill, black pepper, nutmeg, palissander, black tea, amyris, white amber and musk. Six Scents #4 smells like all of these things until it’s more than these things, expertly shaken and lovingly stirred. It’s going on six hours later and the scent is still very much present, so the longevity is good. You can see my previous review for Six Scents #5 here.
