Oranzo has the natural greeness that I was craving but perhaps goes a touch overboard with it? The opening is a bit like galbanum maybe and heavy petitgrain/neroli with this characteristic green vine, and creeping ivy sensation. This is more in the vein of a 4711 Cologne. It’s lightly spicy too even with a vague black pepper/coffee nuance...seriously. It reminds me of Goutal’s Ninfeo mio in a sense too. Then the orange note kicks on and the orange blossom accord reveals itself but still veiled underneath an overgrowth of green and still a faint coffee. Very nice. Like a classic petigrain/white floral but more Interesting. I was diggin’ it.

Helicriss opens herbal, a bit dry like thyme or something? Then it settles to a very synthetic, woody musk, more masculine if you like, with hints of citrus accenting ISO E SUPER and soft curried spices, coriander seed, cumin that sort of thing. These instantly bond to my skin sitting nicely over uber modern, clean musks giving a more lived in feel. I really like this and it's quite familiar from escentric molecules, Ormonde Jayne, a few others. I liked it.

Immediately the name gives it away somewhat and I'd say the usual trifecta of 'exotic' floral accords (when I'm not sure what I'm smelling) I have a stab at Jasmine/tuberose jazzed up with a bit of Ylang? and nine times out of 10 I'm correct. This is cleaner though and less banana peel, waxy and more fresh, watery, bright and musky with signature vanilla. It's nicer than many perfumes in this genre but crucially not the sublime Embruns d'Ylang by Guerlain. Sorry to keep bringing up Guerlain but SD asked for it really by mentioning the fact she's ex Guerlain and that would be a perfume I'd inevitably compare it to, and sadly it doesn;t even come close for me. It's a meh.

This one freaks me out a little bit. It's an uncomfortable smell and I can't see me wearing it due to a combination of powdery florals and a strange almond note. I'm sure I heard once that some poison like strychnine or Cyanide smells/tastes sweet like almonds (am I making that up?) but this has that deadly darkness to it, despite being a mild, appealing musky vanilla on the surface. Wouldn't surprise me if there's heliotrope in here as I always get a little creeped out by it. This is strange thing like a siren beckoning a weary sailor, you know you shouldn't but but something in you lusts after it. Having said all that, there's a lot to love, the opening had me pretty floored with a lovely almost fruity notes. My tastes just won't allow for it as I ultimately find it repellent, cloying and unwearable. It's funny because most of the time bases aren't the issue and even the worst top and heart notes can subside to a nice base but when it's the other way around there's no escaping the fact that I don't enjoy it.

Dovana was a tale of two halves really and here's why... It's rare that I spray a fragrance and say that it's instantly 'Too feminine' (whetever that means?) and ultimately not for me, but this is one of those occasions. It's also, slightly acrid in the opening resembling the throat gag of hairspray and too much of a cleanly assault. Boy is it strong JEEEZ!!! Settles to a much more pleasurable, touch of iris perhaps? Rose hips, apricot aldehydic, powdery, lightly soapy, Talcum. Reminds me a little of a Chanel or Hermes I can't place...perhaps Faubourg? Maybe? In hindsight I actually would wear it, if the opening persisted like that for too long though, I definitely wouldn't. Dries down to smell like a freshly shampooed head. So some harsher, 'cheap' elements followed by more classically likeable stuff. adds up to 'meh'

Okay so...Let's review the musc collection from Sylvaine Delacourte and I have to say on the whole I found all three collections to be slightly lacking. At first I thought, good craftsmanship, realtive value for money, mild Guerlain derivatives but you could do a lot worse than to emulate Guerlain...however on balance for the few that are good there's some here (mainly in the Vanille collection) that are plain unwearable. This was my first outing in collection muscs and it's a cozy musk lovers dream come true I'd say. I'm in a phase of loving warm,clean, fuzzy, hazy, diffuse, collection of paint samples with names like 'Sugared Almond' 'Gentle slumber' and 'Cappuccino foam'. This is a gently swaying barley field of a fragrance but not before it opens with a positively fresh, juicy fig like note, giving a fruity and uplifting start to what is a lazy Sunday morning of a scent. I need to be sure not to run out of analogies because I've a feeling the entire collection is going to be like this. Descends into a touch of fruity aldehyde musk powder and a mild balmy amber and then BANG!!! Sweet, vanilla clouded, ambrette type of base but the heart is vaguely floral and sticks around. In fact the 'base' is fresher and less ambrette like as the drydown changes yet again to a transparent resin and almost aquatic, Angelique Noire. For lovers of low impact, pretty and personal musks this is a delight.

I'm not the impartial person to review this perfume because I love both the perfumer and the brand and respect the mastery of Givaudan perfumers some of whom are viewed as the old guard, or a new generation of the old guard at least. There's a perception of them churning out minimalist pieces, based around tired and well trodden paths. Playing devils advocate.... that's exactly what She was an Anomaly is. If you're familiar with Andrier's work you'd know what to expect here, iris, gentle musk, powdery, warm and very minimal. To me this smells like a Grosjman accord based, ionone and woody musk base. The interesting twist is that this formula was created with the help of 'Carto' Givaudan's AI machine which makes suggestions to perfumers and allows them to create perfume in an intuitive and interesting new way. I welcome this sort of innovation, some might say it's a gimmick or be against such things, but the geek in me finds it really cool. Apparently Carto recomended overdosing certain materials to make it more iris like, encouragement I'm sure Daniela doesn't need to be told twice, favouring it as she does. Opens with that kind of violet, iris effect, quite dry, powdery and Iso E super like, a kind of soft wood. Then settled it's a much warmer, faux orris, buttery and musky maybe even a little ambrette like? It's not overly warm but it's balanced. I think what makes it is the story passionately conveyed by Etienne and Olivier from ELDO. I still don't get what it's about but... haha!

I think this is something expected from Beaufort if you are familiar with the brands aesthetic. Smoky, brooding, naturalistic, earthy it's all here in abundance. As spiky as a Hawksmoor church spire with a rougher incense accord, Papyrus, birch tar smoke and black pepper but there's something inherently creamy and rounded about it. This doesn't have the dynamic, juxtapositions of Tonnere or Iron Duke but everything is complementary and a pleasure to wear. It's not a fragrance where the notes are masked in smoke, the Tar element being handled with a deftness of touch. Kyphi is a Ancient Egyptian incense blend I believe (I've seen a odour historian selling it) seems to have a light camphor and sharpness of Frankincense and the cream of sweeter soap myrrh. Vetiver is ever present and even though much more rounded and clearly better than anything I could do, it's similar in style to something I've been working on for several months. Heartening as it's clearly a good direction and my first experience of British perfumer Pia Long. It's decent.

Personally, my least favourite of the collection but only a taste thing really, although I did describe it as 'Orange shake n vac' in my instagram review. This subsides and it becomes quite a pedestrian, femme floral, but soapy clean jasmine approximation. Much nicer when dried all the way down because the creaminess of the orange blossom, effectively the 'base' of this perfume comes out to play and is actually very pleasant indeed. Not my bag though, the bit I liked is masked in stuff I found very passe.

This opens poorly for me, either showing how carefully crafted Orange flavour ‘shake n vac’ is or how this isn’t? I can’t decide? Clear orange note opens a clean musks & sharply soapy sort of floral scent, drying down to something which emerges as a nice Jasmine approximation. It’s a more ‘designer’ feminine affair you’ve smelled a million times, at least to my sensibilities...Does get much nicer after a couple of hours when it’s a soft Jasmine and you can actually smell the creamy Orange blossom, very pleasant indeed but can’t forgive masking that with an altogether cheaper vibe, still Not my bag.

So this is really nice. I was reluctant whether to state that Osiris wasn't the most traditional orange blossom but having tried the rest of this line I'd have to say it's the most conventional of the lot, giving light citrus and waxy, white floral creaminess at it's core. The element that threw me was the sweet, powdery, vanillic nature of the opening and first hour or two. It's very sweet but then there's a nice balance of true orange note and chalky, aldehyde normally associated with peach or apricot notes but on this occasion, firmly an orangey vibe. The orange blossom accord actually grows as it dries down into more that classic, fatty waxiness, but it's very subdued and never to the point of a truly heavy floral orange blossom. Osiris still has a vanillin, custard sweetness, a theme that's a little L'Art de la Matiere, something I will touch on in other reviews of this line, because the Guerlain ties are pretty glaring....in a positive way. This is an enjoyable wear for me today. :)