Histoires de Parfums - 1969 Parfum de Revolte

Picture: "Riverbank of Peach Blossoms (portion)", ink and colors on paper,

1642 - 1707, located at Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wikimedia commons

From a perfume named 1969 Parfum de Revolte one routinely expect a blend with a dominant patchouli, maybe something as Reminiscence Patchouli or the airier Etro-version Patchouly. The 1969 Parfum de Revolte, created by the houses founder the perfumer Gerald Ghislain is anyting but this: Parfume de Revolte is a fruity, slight floral dessert-like gourmand creation, and there is indeed some patchouli very well blended among the ingredients.

1969 Parfum de Revolte starts with a wonderful peachy, rosy accord supported by a note that I percieve as freesia, which is not mentioned among the notes. The peachy note is somehow not especially sweet, it's not jammy instead it's more like the fresh ripe fruit. The peach note is present during the whole dry down but reduces in extent in the middle- and basenotes.There is also an  indefinite almost dense flower-iness which complements the peach very well. In the middle/base a patchouli which highlights the dark chocolate aspect of the note shines through. But the patchoulinote is cleverly interwowen in the blend as it never takes over the fragrance, just supports with it's darkness. In this stage some soft spices and a dark coffenote also appears, perfectly matching the patch. Everything is backed up by a soft musk. In the late middlennotes/early basenotes there is an accord as I percive as true aldehydic, there is something in common, not exactly in smell but in appearance, with Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche.

1969 Parfum de Revolte is another beautiful and artful composition from the quality house of HdP. This is not the ordinary, screechy, chemical, fruity-floral, this is a delightful, credible fruitiness. It's an unsual blend and I for once have hard to find other scents that I think it resembles. The opening peach have some similarities with Parfums MDCI Peche Cardinal despite PC also has a plumnote in it's top and I percieve 1969 as a cleaner peach but not as airy as the springlike By Kilian Flower of Immortality.

1969 Parfum de Revolte is a good fragrance for evening but I also think it's proper to wear at daytime during the cold and grey months in fall and winter. The fragrance has a great longevity and remains almost unfragmented until the next morning.

Rating: 5

Notes: Peach, rose, white flowers, caramon, clove, patchouli, coffe, chocolate, musk

UNUM - Rosa Nigra

Picture: From the medevial Källa church
on the island of Öland, Sweden
Photo: Mr Parfumista (c)

Rosa Nigra is the latest installation in the UNUM perfume line. Rosa Nigra is as the other UNUM fragrances LAVS and Opus 1144 created by Filippo Sorcinelli. Rosa Nigra is created as a variation of the retro powdery smelling Opus 1144.

Rosa Nigra starts with an very intriguing accord which reminds me of a windy, chilly, grey, cloudy day, cold stone, chalk, earth, tangy greenery, like the steem and leafs of a rose. There are some traces from the flower of the rose too, it's a rose from a wild rosebush, not tamed to perfection, I can imagine the rose growing outside an abandoned small medieval countryside church. The tangy, green, dark spirit note of absinth is clearly present, blended with the rose and the chillyness of freesia, balanced with a pleasant peach. This is a combination thet could also be found in Burberry Body but in that one the accord is in a higher octave of the scented notescale and also a bit sweeter. In the topnotes I also find a note that reminds me of honeyed incense and I suspect someincense is involved even if not mentioned in the notelist.

Picture: Rosa Nigra
Photo: PR Unum (c)

As Rosa Nigra dries further down the blend is clearing up after the initial storm and the flowers, peach, absinth are shining also as individual notes interacting in an intricate pattern. One can recognize Opus 1144 but without the thick powdery and dusty lemony smell. The peach is the mainplayer in the second part of Rosa Nigra, the peach has a vintage vibe which make me think of a brighter and cleaner version of the peach in Guerlain Mitsouko. Later on Rosa Nigras also reminds me of the contemporary fruity chypre EnJoy from Jean Patou.The floral-fruity accords are highlighted by the well balanced woody, muksy base. The longer Rosa Nigra dries down the more rosy it becomes, once again. This time there is much more of the rose petals and the perform in a pleasant, pink, creamy version but it's well contratsted with the tangy greenery but in a smaller dose than on the topnotes. Once again the similarity of something that could be a luxury variation of Burberry Body is obvious.

Just as the incensebomb  UNUM LAVS, Rosa Nigra goes from a dramatic, imaginative opening to a much more polished and orderly second part. In the case of Rosa Nigra the fragrance goes from a medivial feeling to a polished contemporary version of a 1920s/1930s fragrance and in its latest stages to a contemporary musky rose.

I find the opening most interesting but in the second part, Rosa Nigra transforms to a very wearable (around the year), really good smelling (at least in the rosy part) and elegant fragrance. Rosa Nigra is classified as an unisex scent but to my nose that applies to the first dramatic part of the fragrance. The elegant second part is more feminine. Sillage is medium and longevity good, for 24h at least.

Rating: 5

Notes: Anise, absinth, freesia, sandalwood, peach, vanilla, cashmere wood, musk, ambra

Ramon Monegal - Dubai Next to Me

Picture: Dubai Next to Me
Photo: PR Ramon Monegal (c)

Dubai Next to Me is a limited edition from Barcelona based perfumehouse Ramon Monegal. The fragrance was (at least originally) distributed only in Dubai.

Dubai Next to Me starts peachy, not the atrificial, chemical peach, but an accord which feels quite natural. The coconut is very smooth and also feels natural in style. Soon the peach is offsetted with smooth spices and later in the dry down also smooth, velvety flowernotes appears as also balsamic and a very smooth leather note. The oud is very soft and acts as a deep woody ingredient in the base, not recognizable as a distinct note. Dubai Next to Me, even if consisting of deep and thick notes, appears as somhow refreshing and transparant, there is an almost cold, metallic vibe to it, probably from the combination of rose and some of the spices. The fragrance is very well blended, made of high quality ingredients and it performs as it is fleeting in circles seamless around the accords, Dubai Next to Me seems not to be built in the traditional pyramid structure of accords, to experience this fragrance gives me associations to the Hermès scarf/shawl De la Mer au Ciel with its eternal circles of life.

Picture: Beautiful Hermès De la Mer du au Ciel,
140x140 cm cashmere/silk,
designer Laurence Bourthoumieux
Photo: PR Hermès (c)

Dubai Next to Me is not a traditional, middle eastern perfume, it's a fragrance which is most certainly appreciated in any part of the world and it could be worn in most occasions except for sports. I think this fragrance demands much warmer tempratures than swedish spring (+10 C) to really bloom with its beautiful fruity, floral, spicy notes and I will test it again in the summer heat to confirm that. Silage is very close and longevity is good, for at least a day.

Other fragrances that I come to think of wearing Dubai Next to Me is Naomi Goodsir Or du Serail which is similar in style. Also Aqaba Midnight Sun even if stronger and more flowery, has something in common with Dubai Next to Me in the overall expression.

Rating. 4

Notes: Coconut, peach, melon, saffron, nutmeg, black pepper, jasmine, rose oil, rose absolute, frankinsence, cistus labdanum, oud, sandalwood, cashmeran, spanish leather, tonka, ambraceme absolute

By Kilian - Flower of Immortality

Picture: Peach Blossoms  (1878)
Oil on canvas by Winslow Homer
 Wikimedia commons

Flower of Immortality is the third installment in the By Kilian Asian Tales line. FoI is, like most of the Kilians, created by Calice Becker. The Asian Tales line is aimed to the asian market and features subtle, transparant fragrances as these type of fragrances is said to be preferred there. The first two fragrances of the line were the elegant but in the same time refreshing Water Calligraphy and Bamboo Harmony.

Flower of Immortality starts with mouthwatering topnotes of peach (the fruit) accompanied by a note that feels like peachblossom. The peachnote is very realistic and I havn't smelled peachblossoms but I can image a scent like this. This is the best peachaccord since MDCI Parfums Peche Cardinal even if that one is denser and a bit darker in its peachy loveliness. In the middlenotes the peaches calms down but is still clearly present when the contrasting, cool iris accompanied by a subtle rose appears. There is not the carrotsmelling earthy iris, which surprises me as according to the list of ingredients there is also carrotseeds in the blend, the iris is clean, powdery and polite, just as the texture of FoI in the middle and basenotes. I also think that the tonkabeen mentioned among the ingredients adds a powdery warmth to the fragrance.

Picture: By Kilian Flower of Immortality
Photo: PR By Kilian

Flower of Immortality is a polite, elegant, refreshing, officefriendly and easy to wear fragrance, perfect for spring and summer especially for days when the only wish perfumewise is to be ensured smelling very good. In some way FoI is almost too perfect, it smells so good, is so wellconstructed and is so wellbehaved that I suspect the wearer could be a bit bored if wearing this to often. The only drawback is that FoI fades away quickly and is just a too faint trail of the scent after a few hours.

Rating: 4

Notes: White peach, carrot seeds, iris, black currant, rose, tonka bean