Atelier Cologne - Part 1

Atelier Cologne is a house which I for many years have overlooked to discover properly. I love Jasmine Angelique and like Mistral Patchouli and Rose Anonyme very much. Café Tuberosa enticed me to try more of the line. Thanks to the generous Atelier Cologne Sales representative in Åhlens City, I've a bunch of samples to test. Here are my short impressions:

Picture: Tobacco Nuit
Photo: PR Atelier Cologne (c)

Tobacco Nuit: A stunning transparent Tobacco from one of the Edp sub-lines of Atelier, Collection Orient. On paperstrip it first smells like a anorectic version of Kerosene Copper Skies, on skin it's tobacco, citric notes, sort of a dry smell of soft paper and finally sparkling, fresh cardamon. A proper and clean tobacco for those who are afraid of a disruptive interpretation of the note. 

Picture: Encense Jinhae
Photo: PR Atelier Cologne (c)

 

Encens Jinhae: Also belonging to the Collection Orient, E J is dry incense wrapped in berries, pink pepper and roses. E J immediately reminds me of a smoother and more sophicated Vivienne Westwood Anglomania mixed with some Chopard Madness.

Picture: Clémentine California
Photo: PR Atelier Cologne (c)

Clémentine California: An almost natural smell of Clementine, slight bitter but in the same time juicy sweet. Green notes like the leaves of the tree and  also a cold, breezy impression. Compared to for example Hermès Eau de Mandarine Ambrèe  CC is brighter and sharper in apperance, In MA the mandarine is wrapped in a soft, glowing amber.Strong and longlasting for belonging to the cologne subline, somewhere between Edt and Edp on my skin.


Picture: Café Tuberosa
Photo: PR Atelier Cologne (c)

Café Tuberosa: I've already posted two mini-reviews of CT and therefore add both: "Starts with thick tuberose, bergamot, blended with dry cacao and maybe a hint of coffee. It's a thick blend, vintage in style reminding me in texture and style of Vero Profumo Rozy. Later there are traces of the colognestyle with hints of citric notes. " (April 2018) "What a comforting beauty! A dark oriental floral with chypre vibes. The coffee and cacao are not sharp or sticky, they blends very balanced with the tuberose in a retrostyled accord. The tuberose dosen't stand out as a flower, it's just a part of the dark blend. " (September 2018).

Further impressions from testing fragrances from Atelier Cologne will appear during the coming months.

Téo Cabanel - Alahine

Picture: Alahine in its current extravagant bottle.
Photo: PR Téo Cabanel (c)

Alahine is probably the most famous of the Téo Cabanel fragrance and the third one released since the house re-started 2005. Alahine is created by Téo Cabanels in house perfumer, Jean-Francois Latty.

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

Dagens doft - Anglomania

Anglomania från Vivianne Westwood, skapad av den kända parfymören  Dominique Ropion som gjort en rad dofter för olika mode- och parfymhus tex legendariska Safari från Ralph Lauren och på senare år Alien från Thierry Mugler. Anglomania är en trevlig blom-oriental. Den påminner mycket om Madness från Chopard fast Madness är träigare. I toppnoterna på Anglomania finns bla kardemumma och coriander, bland hjärtnoterna framträder rosen väldigt tydligt på mig men här finns också viol och muskot. I basen typiska orientaliska ingredienser som vanilj och ambra men också ett ovanligt inslag av läder. Sitter hyfsat under dagen. Anglomania är en doft som kom (2004) och försvann, den är ingen kioskvältare trots att den är en trevlig bekantskap. Den hade väl inte tillräcklig marknadsföringsbudget kan tänkas.