 |
| Picture: Alahine in its current extravagant bottle. Photo: PR Téo Cabanel (c) |
To me Alahine is the image of the floriental fragrance, even if Alahine has a contemporary slight gourmand twist, a strange but sucessfull interaction between pepper and liqueurlike notes. Alahine starts with an instant flowery sweetness of ylang-ylang supported by rose and the classical whites: Jasmine and orangeflower. Those accords are contrasted by fizzy peppery notes and soft notes of pencilshavings (not the sharp varity) also appears. The liqueur note which, just like the notes of pepper and pencil shavings, stays all through the dry down of Alahine. There is a warm and resin-y dept of Alahine which lends the fragrance a velvet soft quality. If Alahine has a color it's definitly red, medium jelly like (a bit transparent) red in the beginning and dark, red, thick, silky velvet in the end. Alahine is very sweet but the woody and peppery notes are contrasting the sweetness in such a well balanced manner and Alahine never gets cloying. When comparing an older sample with recent I don't find any notable differences between the versions. The older version is a bit deeper in character and the newer is just a notch more flowery.
When tested Alahine I come to think of another original red, liqueur, pepper, pencilshaving, floral which preceeded Alahine with six years, Chopard Madness. Madness is loud and sharpedged compared to Alahine but Madness is a forerunner and definitly ahead of its time. Another loud, red and spicy fragrance which comes to my mind when wearing Alahine is Vivenne Westwood Anglomania. Compared to both these red's, Alahine is wellbehaved, elegant and somehow the perfection of the theme. Alahine is a fragrance for autumn and winter, a blanket in grey, cold and rainy weather. Longevity is good, 12h+ and sillage is medium.
To sum up:Alahine IMO still holds its number one position among the Téo Cabanels even if Barkhane is a close runner up.
Rating: 5
Notes: Bergamot, ylang-ylang, rose, jasmine, orangeblossom, pepper, iris, labdanum, benzoin, patchouli, sandalwood, vanilla, musk
When I saw new bottles for the line my heart sank: I have just 5 ml left in my decant and I considered a FB purchase after that... I hope I'll like the new version as well but now it means that I need to find a new sample before comitting to a FB.
SvaraRaderaI think they are quite similar, a bit more body in the older version, the newer a tad more "airier" a bit less in strenght. But try to be sure.
SvaraRadera