Drseid
1
She Came To Stay, But I Left With Vendetta pour Homme...
She Came To Stay goes on with a highly aromatic natural smelling lemon spiked basil spice with hints of underlying clove before quickly transitioning to its heart. As the composition enters its early heart the deep, smooth clove remains, now as co-star, joining slightly sharp, aromatic natural cedar wood as the focus, with cinnamon-like nutmeg spice, woody vetiver and earthy patchouli support. The composition stays highly linear through the late dry-down, as the clove and cedar remain co-stars through the finish shedding their supporting notes as the development runs its course. Projection is average, as is longevity at around 8 hours on skin.
She Came To Stay is somewhat tough to evaluate for this writer. On the one hand, the composition smells superb, with its lifelike approximation of cedar wood and deep clove spice, not wholly unlike a personal favorite underrated Edouard Flechier perfume from 1991 called Vendetta pour Homme by Valentino. This is not a copy, but it does have the two primary notes that dive that one, with She Came To Stay also having a couple key supporting notes of basil and patchouli, then swapping similar nutmeg for the cinnamon in Vendetta. Similarity aside, another thing She Came To Stay lacks is any real development. This is not a major weakness (especially since it smells incredible), but Vendetta, while similarly incredible smelling, has much better performance, is the more complete perfume... and it came first. While discontinued, Vendetta pour Homme also can still be had on the aftermarket for a relatively inexpensive sum in comparison. The bottom line is the $160 per 60ml She Came To Stay is a fine all-natural perfume effort by Mr. Timothy Han, but it comes far too close to a superior release from a superior perfumer to earn higher than a "very good" 3.5 stars out of 5 rating and an avoid recommendation due to the similar, but superior smelling and performing Vendetta pour Homme being easily obtained for less.