Year: 1999
Nose: Lorenzo Villoresi
Explosive opening, a bomb of spices, flavours and herbs, mainly cloves, pepper, cinnamon and cumin. Still not in a traditional Oriental meaning – this is more in a dry, organic sense, like opening a bag of spices walking in a vegetable garden. There is a base of green aromatic herbs which actually makes me feel like wandering my dad's garden – oregano and fennels, he has them both (actually this scents reminds me of my father for some more intimate reasons I still can not get). As a counterpart, a pungent, bitter lemon/lime note, which to be honest does not much "fit" in there (pungent on pungent, kind of cloying). As minutes pass you feel a warmer, softer base emerging, mostly comprising a sweet balsamic-resinous accord and amber. The most prominent smell for the whole cycle will however remain the accord of cloves (eugenol), lemon, cinnamon and pepper. You also feel a mentholated/balsamic vibe emerging, which gradually makes the whole scent more and more closer to a medicinal/herbal feel, which is how it ends – I mean that the drydown is in fact undoubtably medicinal, as in Diptyque's Eau Lente or Esprit du Tigre by Heeley. Cloves, balsamic notes, a debris of pepper, dry vetiver and dry resins again. Which in turn gradually developes a kind of gingerbread note. Overall is a peculiar, powerful, challenging scent, with a really complex texture and and elusive personality; all is vibrant, naturally "alive" and dynamic, but still it is also a bit messy for me. There is some accords just layering on others and that creates weird, cloying and noisy superimpositions. Surely unique and interesting to smell, but really challenging to wear – if you manage to do it, it can probably turn into either a disaster or a total win. Strong projection and persistence.
7,5/10
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