EauMySoul

Well, third time is clearly the charm. I admit, I’m curious about anything Luca Turin rewards with 5 stars and try as many of them as I can. Miyako was the recipient of one of Mr Turin’s glowing 5 star reviews (and an exceptionally glowing one at that) and on top of that it was an Art & Olfaction winner, so I had to try it.

Ave Parfum was kind enough to send me a sample some months back but for whatever reason I just didn’t get it. I tried it once again sometime after, and nope, nothing happening for me. Since then, I have developed a real love (almost obsession) for osmanthus so I decided to try it again today just to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. And, boy, was I missing something! I have no idea what has happened other than my newfound love for osmanthus but this stuff went from “meh, don’t get it” to “what do I have to sell to get a bottle of this NOW”.

Wow, it’s LOADED with osmanthus, and if it’s not absolute it certainly smells like it. I know Auphorie uses mixed media (naturals enhanced with synthetics) and it doesn’t matter to me if it’s “real” or not, it smells real, it smells fantastic and that’s all that I care about. The natural peachy leather scent of osmanthus is enhanced with more peach and leather, and also apricot, and together it’s like this world class osmanthus rivaling almost any osmanthus note I have smelled (including the legendary Nombre Noir). There are delicate and fresh notes added (green tea, yuzu) that give a slight brightness to the otherwise dark notes of osmanthus, leather and patchouli. Together with jasmine and woods, Miyako is this perfectly balanced bliss with such an underlying richness it creates a slight gourmand tone, almost like a blanket of caramel is added to the mix. How I missed all this the first time, even the second time, is beyond me. I don’t know, maybe it was my nose, my mood, or my preferences at the time but I’m EATING MY WORDS. Miyako is worthy of all the praise it has received, it’s magical, mesmerizing and quite extraordinary.

Splendiris is not the typical iris we have come to expect from “perfume iris”, there is no lipstick vibe, no excessive powderiness, nor that typical dusty, earthy, rooty scent of synthetic orris that has become “iris” in our minds. The heart of Splendiris smells more like the actual iris flower instead of just the orris butter to my nose, especially the mid dry down phase, which is an entirely different scent from the iris root. I get a botanical iris flower with the leaves, created from an accord of orris butter, violet, violet leaf, carrot seed, rose and fig leaf. It smells like a hybrid of the violet flower and iris flower combined, which are both similar in scent, and both can only be smelled by pretty much sticking your nose into the flower. If you have done that then you will recognize the iris scent more so than the standard orris we come to expect in an iris perfume.

The opening of Splendiris isn’t blue-like to my nose, the blue, green and purple notes combined with orange, mandarin and rose, gives it an energized multi colored scent initially. As the notes settle during the dry down, the blue aspects take over and become more prominent and the sweet orris butter becomes more noticeable, and this is when I begin to smell the iris flower recreation. The earthiness from the vetiver starts coming through later, along with some muskiness from the ambergris and warmth of vanilla and it has a sort of waxiness, sort of like sniffing a candle burning nearby. There is no smokiness or anything like that, but like the scent emanating from a candle which is slightly different from perfume. I even get a slight paper like feel, almost like turning the pages of a book near a calming botanical candle.

For me, Splendiris starts out bright eyed and energizing like a sunny morning with flowers opening, and transforms into a garden of soft blue irises in the afternoon, and ends with candlelight under the moon, and irises just outside the window, ending somewhat bittersweet as the irises start to close for the season.

Perfume opinions are subjective. So are the opinions of those opinions. And maybe this review is positive. And maybe it’s negative. You decide.

Jungle Jezebel. The perfume with either an adorable or hideous bottle, depending on your personal tastes. Again, subjective. I’ve been in the “it’s hideous” camp from day one. I found it shockingly horrible. And because of the bottle I had no interest in trying the perfume. I tuned out all the reviews, I literally had zero interest. Then about a week or two ago, I learned it was inspired by Divine, the famous drag queen who died in the 80s. Hmm. This changes things a tad. I googled Divine then looked at pics of the bottle again. It was strangely starting to appeal to me. Even starting to look kinda cute. I googled. Watched videos of Divine. And googled more. And read VERY mixed reviews on Fragrantica and Facebook. Some downright frightening.

Okay, I want to smell this thing.

I tried Ebay and had no luck. Googled sample sites and still no luck. So, I reached out to a generous fragrance friend who had told me previously to let him know if he ever had anything I wanted to try. I asked if I could buy a tiny sample of Jungle Jezebel and he insisted on sending it without charging me anything.

The samples arrived last night but I had to go meet a client and there was NO WAY I was putting this on before going to meet him after reading those reviews. So, I had to wait until today. I can’t recall being quite so curious to smell anything in quite a while. I literally woke up thinking “oh boy I get to try it today!! ”. Almost a Christmas morning sort of feeling. I’m excited but also scared, because let me tell you, some of the reviews are NOT flattering lol. Yikes!! A few semi-traumatized me. But this feeling of excitement was thrilling.

Okay, so here goes. I go to the little taped up box of samples, lift the lid off and find it. Heart semi pounding, there it is. “Jungle Jezebel”. I really don’t know what to expect but I’m feeling pretty positive and brave, so I go ahead and spray on plenty on the back of my hands and bravely dab some on my neck. Okay, okay, not so bad! It’s sweet...bubblegum and banana. Not so scary! What is so scary about this?! I’m happily sniffing this banana Bubble Yum scent and something else starts happening. Something that’s not so yummy. Ah boy, it’s the civet. And it’s the type I have issues with. While I love vintage civet immensely, there is a synthetic type used in modern perfumery that sends me for the hills. I just can’t abide. It smells too butt-like, too funky and it’s just not the good kind of funk. It’s just funk. For me at least. So, I’m like okay, I see what they mean, this stuff is just not wearable. It stinks. It’s embarrassing. Like how could I get around people smelling like this? Musty butt and banana. I mean....just no.

So, while I’m sniffing it, I decide to listen to the Divine song, Jungle Jezebel, her trademark song, so I can experience it fully before scrubbing it off. See if I’m missing something somehow. I sat there watching this 300 pound actor, dressed in drag, sweating up a storm, spewing profanity, just generally acting vulgar....and it hit me, this perfume “is” Divine. It’s vulgar. It’s trashy. It flashy. It’s over the top. It’s embarrassing.

It’s a work of art.

It tells a story. It describes a human. The good and the bad. The sweet and the sweaty. It’s not pretty. Neither was Divine. But he thought he was. And “she” convinced us she was. Right up until she dropped dead. That’s what Jungle Jezebel does. She’s not pretty...but she bats her eyelashes and makes us believe she is.

So...I’m left trying to decide if Jungle Jezebel is an absolute disaster or if it’s a masterpiece. I wonder the same thing about Divine. And I think the answer is the same for both:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.


(Harris Glenn Milstead aka Divine. 1945-1988. RIP)

First of all, is that not the most beautiful name? And the name reflects what is inside the bottle, a dreamy evening of white flowers, with tuberose and gardenia being the star to my nose, but there is an earthiness to it from the vetiver, musk, resins and sandalwood but with an animalic sweetness from the honey, ambergris and castoreum. This is a very complex fragrance initially, with the multiple florals and layers almost competing, but gorgeous white florals win initially on my skin but it settles down to more earthiness after a few hours with the florals taking the background. Even with all the white flowers nothing about this feel like “daytime” though. Moonlit Reverie is beautiful outdoors during the day, and while it’s beautiful and floral, this fragrance was meant to be smelled in the night air where the magic really happens. There is something introspective about this scent, I can’t explain it, almost melancholy. Not that it makes me feel sad but it makes me think about things. Meaningful things. Very hard to describe but if a perfume can create a scent that brings about forgiveness, I would describe it that way. It sort of opens your heart and makes you see good in the world. Is that possible? It gives me this beautiful sense of peace within myself and with the world.

Top notes are tuberose, gardenia and aldehydes; middle notes are tuberose, sandalwood, orange blossom, jasmine, orris and narcissus; base notes are siam benzoin, bourbon vetiver, castoreum, ambergris, sandalwood, cassis, musk and honey.

Have you ever smelled something so good that it felt like a drug? That is Sultan Pasha’s Ensar Rose for me. There is something about it that is simply magical. I'm a rose lover and the rose in this (rose alba otto, Persian rose otto, Bulgarian rose absolute)) is just exquisite. It’s honeyed and smooth and luscious and I almost want to eat it. The overall feel of Ensar Rose is exotic but tamed. It's super smooth and seems a bit clean but also has this underlying slight dirtiness to it. Which must be coming from one of the smoothest ouds I've ever smelled (Oud Yunus, a rare Hindi oud from Ensar). In addition to the mind blowing rose and oud, it has equally amazing sandalwood (aged Mysore) and swoon worthy ambergris. Gorgeous, sigh worthy stuff.

Full note list:

Top: rosa alba otto, Persian rose otto, Tahitian vanilla.

Middle: Haitian vetiver, honey, tuberose absolute, Bulgarian rose absolute.

Base: aged Mysore sandalwood, ambergris, amber, Oud Yunus by Ensar Oud (a very rare Hindi oud).