QuercusAlbus
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QuercusAlbus
Bright & Rounded
The aroma of this is very bright, & also very rounded in the sense of there being no sharp corners or vorsprungen (somehow that word seems to fit better than 'prominences'). It' s one of those 'fumes that seem °slender° on first assay, but transpires well hefty in course of actual wearing; & it's a long time ago now that I learned not to be putten-off by that, whereas had I not learnt it I would have boughten ~Layton~ instead.
I do think this could plausibly be deemed an °oakmossless chypre°. In its particularities it is a tremendously unique fragrance; and I wonder whether its uniquity proceeds from the use of the bitter-almond (presumably cyanide-free (otherwise the IFRA ^might just^ get involved!)) ; but whatever it is, the synergy of it and the lavender engenders a really quite lovelily astringent quasi-chypre effect. And the muskiness is 7 to 8 on the muskiness-richter scale, and a surpassingly thoroughly polished & spirity muskiness at that!
I do think this could plausibly be deemed an °oakmossless chypre°. In its particularities it is a tremendously unique fragrance; and I wonder whether its uniquity proceeds from the use of the bitter-almond (presumably cyanide-free (otherwise the IFRA ^might just^ get involved!)) ; but whatever it is, the synergy of it and the lavender engenders a really quite lovelily astringent quasi-chypre effect. And the muskiness is 7 to 8 on the muskiness-richter scale, and a surpassingly thoroughly polished & spirity muskiness at that!
Outside the Standard Scheme
Thameen is one of those perfume provenancers I consider to be pretty much unequivocally superb. Their range is not large; but I don't think that apart fræ Xerjoff there is any other provenancer of whom I can safely say that ^everything^ they put-out is superb. Thameen is a little different fræ Xerjoff in that apart fræ the extreme outlier ~Palace Oud~ and a slight glitch in the case of ~Regent Leather~ their 'fumes are the same price - well into high-end brackett but not extreme. Bascally, fræ the very first moment the first whiff catches you it just ^yells^ at you that it is several floors above the mainstream standard price-brackett 'fumes in the tower of song (analogy courtesy of a certain Leonard Cohen song (may the great man's soul be at peace)). This is ^any^ of them I speak of when I say this; so basically you could just randomly select one and it wouldn't matter all that much. I haven't had anywhere near as much of a problem with ^any^ other provenancer with changing my mind to-&-fro at the last moment. And another remarkable quality of this range is that it just ^utterly evades^ the usual system of categorisation. With most ranges you can say "oh there's the °irisy° one ... there's the °rosey° one ... there's the °salty musky° one ... there's ... ..."; but with these Thameens you just ^cannot^ do that!
Anyway, this one is a ^colossal^ chameleon of a 'fume - you just don't know where you are with it. It just goes here & there & everywhere olfactorily speaking. One moment I thought "its like Malle's ~Musc Ravageur~; another I thought "like Mazzone's ~Hard Leather~"; sometimes I thought "now it's an oud+rose combination"; other moments I made other comparisons, most of which I could not name; sometimes it seems bright & juicy, other times dark & smokey. I think it's one of those that cunningly succeed in occupying the dead centre of a hitherto unoccupied olfactory space with its most closely related 'fumes (non of which however are ^very^ closely related) - and in this case the 'fumes I have named, & those I could not name that I alluded to - at it's periphery. I had the experience of someone suddenly standing up & walking away near me (^not^ because of this 'fume!) & thereby creating a fleeting slight draft; and in the draught was the most gorgeous aroma, and I thought "what 'fume is ^she^ wearing?"; but it quickly transpired upon summary earching-out that it was in fact ^my^ perfume, which is to say, this one, and that the slight draught had °dislodged° a new aspect of it.
It is a ^somewhat^ oudy 'fume; and the skankiness of the oud is marvellously fleeting & elusive, and never quite prevails making it a skanky 'fume per-se. It is also ^very^ intensely musky, the musk being of a rich & ^somewhat^ °sweaty° kind (I have carefully & lengthily explicated this term elsewhere). And very often it comes across as ^anything but^ skanky. It is ^surpassingly^ superbly integrated: don't imagine for a moment that the varying face of this is simply the constituent notes being perceived serially! There is orange listed as being in this, and its effect is discernible. In fact, it's possibly wellsayable that the orange note is actually the °fulcrum° or °centre° of mass° of this 'fume. Yes, I do think it might be wellsaid that this 'fume is essentially a °fugue° on the orange note; and one that really ^very^ boldly extendeth the scope of just how sundrily & far-reachingly this note might be be-fuguen.
And it created a ^big^ stir when I went out wearing it last night. Nowhere near as big as that created by ~Ceylon~, but still big. Pœps loved it: it broke down that psychic barrier against compliments that I seem to project, and a few wanted me to luge them with it, whereunto I obliged. My bottle has thus gone down a fair bit; but the littleness of its going-down relative to my obligingity (by reason of which I sometimes get called 'Osmophor' or 'Pungifer', depending on whether one prefer Greek or Latin, either of which means ~bringer of aromata') testifieth mickle to the intrinsic heft of this 'fume.
Anyway, this one is a ^colossal^ chameleon of a 'fume - you just don't know where you are with it. It just goes here & there & everywhere olfactorily speaking. One moment I thought "its like Malle's ~Musc Ravageur~; another I thought "like Mazzone's ~Hard Leather~"; sometimes I thought "now it's an oud+rose combination"; other moments I made other comparisons, most of which I could not name; sometimes it seems bright & juicy, other times dark & smokey. I think it's one of those that cunningly succeed in occupying the dead centre of a hitherto unoccupied olfactory space with its most closely related 'fumes (non of which however are ^very^ closely related) - and in this case the 'fumes I have named, & those I could not name that I alluded to - at it's periphery. I had the experience of someone suddenly standing up & walking away near me (^not^ because of this 'fume!) & thereby creating a fleeting slight draft; and in the draught was the most gorgeous aroma, and I thought "what 'fume is ^she^ wearing?"; but it quickly transpired upon summary earching-out that it was in fact ^my^ perfume, which is to say, this one, and that the slight draught had °dislodged° a new aspect of it.
It is a ^somewhat^ oudy 'fume; and the skankiness of the oud is marvellously fleeting & elusive, and never quite prevails making it a skanky 'fume per-se. It is also ^very^ intensely musky, the musk being of a rich & ^somewhat^ °sweaty° kind (I have carefully & lengthily explicated this term elsewhere). And very often it comes across as ^anything but^ skanky. It is ^surpassingly^ superbly integrated: don't imagine for a moment that the varying face of this is simply the constituent notes being perceived serially! There is orange listed as being in this, and its effect is discernible. In fact, it's possibly wellsayable that the orange note is actually the °fulcrum° or °centre° of mass° of this 'fume. Yes, I do think it might be wellsaid that this 'fume is essentially a °fugue° on the orange note; and one that really ^very^ boldly extendeth the scope of just how sundrily & far-reachingly this note might be be-fuguen.
And it created a ^big^ stir when I went out wearing it last night. Nowhere near as big as that created by ~Ceylon~, but still big. Pœps loved it: it broke down that psychic barrier against compliments that I seem to project, and a few wanted me to luge them with it, whereunto I obliged. My bottle has thus gone down a fair bit; but the littleness of its going-down relative to my obligingity (by reason of which I sometimes get called 'Osmophor' or 'Pungifer', depending on whether one prefer Greek or Latin, either of which means ~bringer of aromata') testifieth mickle to the intrinsic heft of this 'fume.
I Intraspire Thereof Presently
I am intraspiring of this fragrance at this very moment. I have a dab on my wrist. It is oudy, but ethereal. There is no skank (unless perhaps it be ^exceedingly^ subterranean). Presumably this is sinking-grade oud oil fræ some particular piece of agarwood, fræ which the 100 30ml bottles of this were made. It had better be! Not that I actually ^possess^ a bottle; but as a matter of general principle, it had better be. I think it probably is, as the aroma does fit the various descriptions of the aroma arising when a piece of sinking-grade agarwood is ignit in the censor of the temple. And the dab was so very small! Yes, it may well be that this is the aroma that greets the woodman when he cuts down that ancient agarwood tree - and lo! it ^is^ a long-term infected one!
... about half-an-hour later ...
Of course, I mean it is the ^chief^ note in this wherewithal the woodsman will be circumspirated: there is other stuff in it; so obviously it isn't going to be Thameen's ~Palace Oud~ ^precisely^ that will be delighting his grateful glands.
Keep getting whyphs of this far stronger than an intraspiration at my wrist would give me to prognose. They have that certain way of seeming to come fræ nowhere that any 'fume-head must mark as an indicator of a superb 'fume. I keep wondering about the skank: "is it there? ... was that it?" I think it ^is^ there, but so very surpassingly exceedingly transfigured. And it's somehow °salty° & °mariney° unprecedentedly puissantly. There it goes again catching me askance. And it's always ethereal - so very ethereal: I think perhaps °ethereality° is its prevailing characteristic. Soapiness is there also. Soapiness, marininess, woodiness - all bound together & suffused with a most lofty ethereality, and be-tinctured with a grain of the most excruciating and yet unnethe perceptible skank here & there.
Just clicked the 'wearing' button! Might never be able to do that again!
... about half-an-hour later ...
Of course, I mean it is the ^chief^ note in this wherewithal the woodsman will be circumspirated: there is other stuff in it; so obviously it isn't going to be Thameen's ~Palace Oud~ ^precisely^ that will be delighting his grateful glands.
Keep getting whyphs of this far stronger than an intraspiration at my wrist would give me to prognose. They have that certain way of seeming to come fræ nowhere that any 'fume-head must mark as an indicator of a superb 'fume. I keep wondering about the skank: "is it there? ... was that it?" I think it ^is^ there, but so very surpassingly exceedingly transfigured. And it's somehow °salty° & °mariney° unprecedentedly puissantly. There it goes again catching me askance. And it's always ethereal - so very ethereal: I think perhaps °ethereality° is its prevailing characteristic. Soapiness is there also. Soapiness, marininess, woodiness - all bound together & suffused with a most lofty ethereality, and be-tinctured with a grain of the most excruciating and yet unnethe perceptible skank here & there.
Just clicked the 'wearing' button! Might never be able to do that again!
Pseudo-Animalic Powerhouse
This to me conveys a very strong impression of being a animalic bad-girl; but according to the note-list there is nothing animalic in it. I think the cypress might have a lot to do with that, as it is certainly a note that at least I perceive very accutely. But I am not convinced that there isn't some unlisted subterranean quasimusk accord supramitting its subtle seismic disturbances surfacewards; as when I first tried this I was really quite stunned, and my resolution to acquire it begat instantly - a rare occurence. In fact, I was in a sense repelled by it - the sense wherein is conveyed a paradoxical attraction mightier than the superficial repulsion. This kind of deep olfactory string-pulling is customarily the province of the animalics.
Whatever: this is to my mind one of those radical strong-statement-making 'fumes - in fact, I count it amongst my °shockers°. I know people I could seriously taunt with this one! I don't know whether to describe the aroma as floral or woody or balsamic or what - it's a consummate side-stepper of that scheme of categorisation. But as I have said, the nett effect is that of an animalic, by virtue of the principle of °accord°. In fact, it may be said to be an object lesson in how an animalic effect can be created without the use of actual animalics per-se. Unless that subterranean quasimusk is real afterall. And, of course! I nearly forgot 'medicinal' again. Yes, it is indeed ^medicinal^ - very much so.
Some people strongly detect a °baked° or °grainy° note in this - by which I mean the kind of grain grown as a crop; some even to the point that it becomes prevalent for them, tending to eclipse the other notes. "Corn tortilla" is a figure I have seen broached unto conveying of this idea. I detect it, sometimes; and on my first wearing of this it ^did^ become prevalent. The second time, though, I merely detected it as a discreet presence. I suppose it's the chestnut note that does this. Another example of this kind of thing is the way some people translate the papyrus note into a dill-pickle one (which does ^not^ happen for me, I am ^very^ glad to say!).
Whatever: this is to my mind one of those radical strong-statement-making 'fumes - in fact, I count it amongst my °shockers°. I know people I could seriously taunt with this one! I don't know whether to describe the aroma as floral or woody or balsamic or what - it's a consummate side-stepper of that scheme of categorisation. But as I have said, the nett effect is that of an animalic, by virtue of the principle of °accord°. In fact, it may be said to be an object lesson in how an animalic effect can be created without the use of actual animalics per-se. Unless that subterranean quasimusk is real afterall. And, of course! I nearly forgot 'medicinal' again. Yes, it is indeed ^medicinal^ - very much so.
Some people strongly detect a °baked° or °grainy° note in this - by which I mean the kind of grain grown as a crop; some even to the point that it becomes prevalent for them, tending to eclipse the other notes. "Corn tortilla" is a figure I have seen broached unto conveying of this idea. I detect it, sometimes; and on my first wearing of this it ^did^ become prevalent. The second time, though, I merely detected it as a discreet presence. I suppose it's the chestnut note that does this. Another example of this kind of thing is the way some people translate the papyrus note into a dill-pickle one (which does ^not^ happen for me, I am ^very^ glad to say!).
Haunting Photo-Realistic Coal
The title is really just a retrodiction of that of my previous review; and whereas in that case it was meant in full earnest, in this it is a tad (and some) hyperbolick! However, when I first picked up the sample-bottle of this & squirted from it, my thoughts went something like "anthracite? ... yeah right! ... how is a perfume going to smell of ... oh my dark angels! it does too!". How it is rendered I do not know, but this is a stunning piece of perfumery innovation.
I think these TF ~Noir~-themed 'fumes are very much a trade-off between performance & originality, with the see-saw falling very much on the side of originality. Having tried this one ^and^ ~Extreme~ really quite thoroughly, I unfortunately cannot but agree with those reviewers who scathe these 'fumes for having rather weak performance; but in exchange uw ^do^ get originality, & that in generous measure. Both are ^extremely^ °interessante°, and a delight to wear going out. That sweet powdery coaly note is just a total salvager of any other deficiency it can reasonably be said to have - and I think sheer weight-of-metal-brought-to-the-field is indeed the ^only^ index whereat it is weak, forthat in every other respect, like ~Extreme~, maugre its innovativity, it is a perfectly plausible reasonable & °proper° perfume.
A little aside if I may in connection with this: when I was a youngster in the seventies, occasionally as one was a-walking down the street, a tar-truck would go past on the way to road-works, with smoke billowing out of the back. I would always intraspire deeply on such occasions, loving the aroma loving it. In fact, I find the smell of petrochemickals in general pleasant. It seems to me that persons might be divided into two distinct categories of those who like such aromata & those who don't (& I ^extremely^ heartily deplore the modern fashion for suffusing petrochemickally produce with cheapo aromachemicals, the result being that it just smells ^stupid^!). I think quite likely this 'fume will be liked or disliked according as the putative °liker° is in one category or the other, the way-round being self-evident. I am willing to be wrong about this; but I am very curious apropos the matter.
... a day or so later ...
I'm reconsidering what I said about heft & durance in this case. Wearing it another day (coz I ran out if time for selecting a new one) I found it really quite stupborn, in that it just wasn't going away °any-time-soon°; although it did dry down to something that, quite frankly, smelt even more of coal-type stuff (in fact, much like the aforementioned espirations of the tar-truck) than it does in the opening. And this was fine by me - I love that sort of thing. ^Not^ a safe acquisition for anyone who is not into °maverick° 'fumes!
What's this ~macassar wood~; has that got something tæ do with it?
I've just remembered: another 'fume that smells kind of similar in the dry down, but ^much^ more unexoectedly, is Kilian's (no! I'm ^not^ saying 'By Kilian''s!) ~Incense Oud~: but I say 'kind of' because that's more evocative of smouldering wood than of smouldering petroleum-type produce.
I think these TF ~Noir~-themed 'fumes are very much a trade-off between performance & originality, with the see-saw falling very much on the side of originality. Having tried this one ^and^ ~Extreme~ really quite thoroughly, I unfortunately cannot but agree with those reviewers who scathe these 'fumes for having rather weak performance; but in exchange uw ^do^ get originality, & that in generous measure. Both are ^extremely^ °interessante°, and a delight to wear going out. That sweet powdery coaly note is just a total salvager of any other deficiency it can reasonably be said to have - and I think sheer weight-of-metal-brought-to-the-field is indeed the ^only^ index whereat it is weak, forthat in every other respect, like ~Extreme~, maugre its innovativity, it is a perfectly plausible reasonable & °proper° perfume.
A little aside if I may in connection with this: when I was a youngster in the seventies, occasionally as one was a-walking down the street, a tar-truck would go past on the way to road-works, with smoke billowing out of the back. I would always intraspire deeply on such occasions, loving the aroma loving it. In fact, I find the smell of petrochemickals in general pleasant. It seems to me that persons might be divided into two distinct categories of those who like such aromata & those who don't (& I ^extremely^ heartily deplore the modern fashion for suffusing petrochemickally produce with cheapo aromachemicals, the result being that it just smells ^stupid^!). I think quite likely this 'fume will be liked or disliked according as the putative °liker° is in one category or the other, the way-round being self-evident. I am willing to be wrong about this; but I am very curious apropos the matter.
... a day or so later ...
I'm reconsidering what I said about heft & durance in this case. Wearing it another day (coz I ran out if time for selecting a new one) I found it really quite stupborn, in that it just wasn't going away °any-time-soon°; although it did dry down to something that, quite frankly, smelt even more of coal-type stuff (in fact, much like the aforementioned espirations of the tar-truck) than it does in the opening. And this was fine by me - I love that sort of thing. ^Not^ a safe acquisition for anyone who is not into °maverick° 'fumes!
What's this ~macassar wood~; has that got something tæ do with it?
I've just remembered: another 'fume that smells kind of similar in the dry down, but ^much^ more unexoectedly, is Kilian's (no! I'm ^not^ saying 'By Kilian''s!) ~Incense Oud~: but I say 'kind of' because that's more evocative of smouldering wood than of smouldering petroleum-type produce.
