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11/28/2013
Epimedes
9 Reviews
Epimedes
2
Tobacco in a fine company
I have only a tiny sample of this gem … and no idea how to procure more. Since releasing O Alquimista a few years ago, its creator Konstantin Mihov has seemingly moved away from perfumery; his website is all about photography these days. Maybe this talented man will come back to mixing perfume one day, who knows? I certainly hope so.
O Alquimista is a fragrance built around tobacco absolute which has been captured, tamed and groomed to an absolute perfection (pun intended). The tobacco leaves here are mellow and thanks to the ingenious blending have a delicious, honeyed quality. What I also immediately notice is an unusual resinous quality in the scent. It may appear like we are moving in the amber direction, but the amber never reaches a dominating position.
Interestingly, Konstantin mentions in an interview on Perfume Shrine that he used propolis in this composition. Propolis is a natural product that I am familiar with; essentially, it is a mix of tree resins that are harvested by honey bees. The scent of propolis captures the resinous quality of its plant source and has a distinctive waxy aspect with perhaps a hint of honey. (Or it could be the other way around: honey, while still in the hive, absorbs scents imparted by the beeswax and propolis; this ephemeral aroma unfortunately is lost when honey is processed or stored for more than a few days). I know that some people don't like the smell of pure propolis, but that in itself is a quality shared by many perfume ingredients anyway. Well, an inclusion of propolis in this composition was a masterstroke, in my opinion. I believe it is this unusual component that explains the smooth and waxy undertone that I find so attractive in O Alquimista.
All in all, this fragrance is not terribly complicated, but that does not diminish its quality; every piece here falls into the right place. O Alquimista is one of those well-crafted compositions in which you don't want to zoom in on every minute detail. My curiosity, of course, made me check what information the Internet had to offer about the note breakdown. After reading the list, I started to notice rose absolute and plum, which coexist with tobacco and resins in one happy union. Atlas cedarwood is also listed, but is pretty invisible to me.
O Alquimista is a contemplative, introspective scent, devoid of pointless flowery frills or aggravating animalic elements. I find it close in tonality to Vera Profumo's Onda with its restrained, almost ascetic kind of elegance. The perfume is named after a novel by Paulo Coelho and follows in the book's path of insight and simplicity.
O Alquimista is a fragrance built around tobacco absolute which has been captured, tamed and groomed to an absolute perfection (pun intended). The tobacco leaves here are mellow and thanks to the ingenious blending have a delicious, honeyed quality. What I also immediately notice is an unusual resinous quality in the scent. It may appear like we are moving in the amber direction, but the amber never reaches a dominating position.
Interestingly, Konstantin mentions in an interview on Perfume Shrine that he used propolis in this composition. Propolis is a natural product that I am familiar with; essentially, it is a mix of tree resins that are harvested by honey bees. The scent of propolis captures the resinous quality of its plant source and has a distinctive waxy aspect with perhaps a hint of honey. (Or it could be the other way around: honey, while still in the hive, absorbs scents imparted by the beeswax and propolis; this ephemeral aroma unfortunately is lost when honey is processed or stored for more than a few days). I know that some people don't like the smell of pure propolis, but that in itself is a quality shared by many perfume ingredients anyway. Well, an inclusion of propolis in this composition was a masterstroke, in my opinion. I believe it is this unusual component that explains the smooth and waxy undertone that I find so attractive in O Alquimista.
All in all, this fragrance is not terribly complicated, but that does not diminish its quality; every piece here falls into the right place. O Alquimista is one of those well-crafted compositions in which you don't want to zoom in on every minute detail. My curiosity, of course, made me check what information the Internet had to offer about the note breakdown. After reading the list, I started to notice rose absolute and plum, which coexist with tobacco and resins in one happy union. Atlas cedarwood is also listed, but is pretty invisible to me.
O Alquimista is a contemplative, introspective scent, devoid of pointless flowery frills or aggravating animalic elements. I find it close in tonality to Vera Profumo's Onda with its restrained, almost ascetic kind of elegance. The perfume is named after a novel by Paulo Coelho and follows in the book's path of insight and simplicity.
