So Mona di Orio was one of the early niche/indy brands I tried, certainly dating back to the older flacons which I think I remember seeing in Harrods possibly?. However, due to my overload and frankly the saturation of the market, I never really bothered to revisit them and frankly back then I probably didn't understand the sophistication of the works by the late Mona di Orio. However, visiting them afresh with discovery set in hand, I'm being treated to a masterclass in perfumery vibes which don't conform to stereotype. This is a later release, and is it really an Osmanthus or an oud? Well it's sort of neither and it's sort of both. Yeah. What it is, is a pretty perfume which opens with a fresh, powdery, chalky, fresh, lightly peachy osmanthus which is immediately unlike the style of a recent osmanthus I tried, the latest from Crivelli. However, it immediatley reinforced with a hazy, creamy woody musk accord, and light ambery effect. It's blending of the very best, not a angular jut or a steep slope in sight. It immediately makes me scan about for oud and it's a very well behaved oud, anyone expecting anything hardcore will be disappointed, but the tenacity and undercurrent just points in an oud direction, and while you don't get the characteristic 'cheese on the breeze' of even the most politely behaved work from a Ormonde Jayne containing real oud, you do get the sense that it's there but never manifests completely, and some will be happy with that. I actually thought of M7 myself, so to see others think too (plenty of down votes as well) is completely understandable. It conjures the same vibes while smelling nothing like it, so don't get your panties in a bunch it's not misleading to compare to the YSL in terms of style. As I wear this today, I'm really falling for it, truly I think while it's instantly impressive, it's also a bit of a quiet grower, steadily charming me. It's as a perfume should be, every present, evolving but never overstepping it's bounds and I think the orangey/peachy freshness and floral quality (which permeates top to base I feel) in there gives this a really lovely feel. Very Impressive stuff.

Okay so Immediately I said, ooooooh I like that!!!! Because this is a real blast from the past. My past the 90's my formative years immediately I proclaimed with a degree of certainty "Santal Volcanique smells like Gucci Envy!" I stick to that but as I think back with jaded and faded recollections of Envy, another fragrance (from the same era) looms into view and it's D&G By for Men.because they are both crudely, milky, luminescent sandalwood's from an era of hope, an everything's gonna be alright sort of time. These came after the aquatic, goldrush and have been touched on in niche and peripheral designer scents since, but never really had a full-on renaissance. This is fantastic and immediately transported me back to a trip to Scotland as a teenager, amazing what fragrance can do. I get lime (and perhaps the listed ginger??) in the top but it's not a caricature or even very prominent, and a kind of gentle spices I associate with Kenzo Jungle (also sort of of the period) on a majestic sandalwood, it's musky powdery but with a masculiity, creamy woods given masculine bite with cashmeran or something perhaps? The blending is superb and the fact it evokes two great fragrances in Gucci and D&G but this is even more refined I feel. Take Floris Santal for example a fragrance with similar attributes this seems to be much fuller and thicker. This one and the iris are both top spot from the house for me. Brilliant!

So here's the thing I don't like this kind of papyrus fragrance, it's that wet, fresh, but with a haunting background of incense type papyrus, rather than a big dark nagamotha/cypriol. This vibe/accord was made popular by Santal 33 from Le Labo and the association is instant and it would be so easy for Crivelli to copy, however I'd actually say that this has a different character. It does! It's a wholly palatable and in depth study of this note/accord and whether my tastes are changing or what I don't know, but I can appreciate it for what it is without wanteing especially to wear it. There's a fresh cucumber/celery note in here with coriander seed, it's oddly spicy, herbaceous fresh and just like santal 33 gets better the more it wear on. I think if you're a fan of this genre you'll appreciate the similarities but also the differences.

Again, I'm blinding sniffing at this and the name made me expect carnation (no Idea why?) but no. You are however treated to a really beautiful floral, not quite watery or green enough to be flower shop or hyacinths nor is it indolic or characteristically exotic or waxy enough to be anything else. Not having a great repertoire of florals I'd say this is a white floral, muguet, gardenier perhaps? in the opening at least because as it wears on becomes more like a light jasmine but I've got to say it's cliche free. This kept my attention and excitement throughout, in the centre in leans towards a kind of benzaldhyde, cherry/almond note, which comes out of nowhere frankly. Then into that pale aloof jasmine that real jasmine lovers probably won't dig because it's not full blooded enough. As a modern 'white floral', I found it excellent, truly worth checking out and a fresh, floral I'd gladly wear in the height of summer or something? I wouldn't buy it though. Bertrand and Crivelli have done well here.

Hah!!!! No way! I haven't smelled Feminite du bois for years, but I did recently acquire a formula for it and made it up. Bois datchai instantly reminded me of it and I made the comparison to FdB in a recent review on IG not knowing whether the formula I had made really did smell like the Shishedo/Serge fragrance (I recalled a much more plummy cedar but like I said genuinely couldn't remember it) but seeing others have made the connection here makes me feel vindicated and props to my pal who sent me the formula. Anyway, this is clearly much more refined and subtle than the one I knocked up, but the overriding sense is of a black tea in the opening and a progressively spiced wood, based around that kind of Sheldrake, cedar architecture. The freshness and greener quality is essentially from rosewood, which is rich in natural linalool which works across the board with everything in this. ie: tea/wood I really like it, I love that it doesn't rely on musks (particularly) or sweet or pleasantly palatable perfumery notes, and yet it's not challenging either. The Femininte du bois references could be reductive too because I've not smelled it for so long but this stands it's ground and regardless revisiting that era/corner of perfumery might not be such a bad idea? If you're a fan of L'Artisan perfumer or Serge Lutens this is nod in your direction.

Wow! My sniffer is spot on!!! Fenugreek! Sorry for blowing my own trumpet, but I'm like a cold reading psychic, when I hit, I have to brag about it. Immediately the top notes of this perfume are extremely muted. It's a grower not a shower, and this bergamot/lime smell has no really typical citrus tropes, it's not lend sharpness or sweetness by it's surrounds. That's a good thing for me, makes it a different prospect from your average citrus. I think it has an aspect of lime pickle (the Indian condiment) it's a flat bergamot impression like a dhm or bergamal. but again I like it, it's different.

Okay so a total blind sniff for me, I made a video last night and the notes here seem to correspond with what I thought, and seeing Artemisia here I'm like 'of course' the herbal elements of this are obscured from the traditional by the presence of artemisia. Basically this is a lavender forward, fougere fragrance, complete with a warm coumarin development. It's very modern though and a brilliant twist on the genre. I mean me saying 'it's a lavender fougere' while true and immediately apparent, doesn't do this perfume justice. Bravo to the perfumer and the house, taking a classic genre and giving it more than just a little tweak. I really liked it. UPDATE: 02/10/21 This is a reminder to myself that I should really wear all perfumes before reviewing them, (I sprayed on my arm and strips a few times to do the above review) especially when they are delicately nuanced, as is the case here. Well I wore it today and the freshness of the opening is truly very nice, a kind of zing of lemon, and a brush of lavender sage, but sort of hazy. I was reminded of the 90’s (as is the case with a couple of other Crivelli’s) you feel the herbal nature of this perfume but don’t get the spice until (well I didn’t) until I walked outside of my house, into cooler autumnal air. I get that comparison to transparent, Ellena type work, and it’s praise indeed. I think it’s a very accomplished and enjoyable fragrance. I can totally take onboard each of the herbal elements listed in the notes but the blending is biased toward not one individually, which I guess is the best kind of perfume. I think absinthe fans could be mislead by the name (but love it anyway) because it’s not characteristically wormwoody. It’s great though, it’s dry and aerated like their osmanthus one or that tea like Feminite du Bois type one, I’m really enjoying it today, top marks for a top brand.

One of the most complex things I've smelled in ages, the notes seem to have effected the fabric of the space-time continuum and are running out of order. By that I mean I'm experiencing green, sharp, resinous, galabnum notes right in the heart of this perfume evoking French Lover by Malle. YES!!!! IT DOES. Enough about that though the opening is unlike any cacao I've smelled but is that of orris butter or resinoid, giving a mixture between, chocolate, sweet, powdery, leather and carrot notes. Then it becomes cloaked with a peppery Virginain cedar note which grows and grows (reminds me a little of natural base from PCW called cedar/iris funnily enough) then as all this is going off the galbanum I mentioned above starts to pop, then all bets are off!!! Leave it on your skin for several hours and you'll be treated to the dirtied, vanillic base, which is long lasting and subtly beautiful but modern. What a fragrance! Absolute tour de force. I want to buy it. I think I need it in my life.

Woah! This is brave. and polarising I suspect. You have to like ozonic air and aldehydes for sure. Specifically Aldehyde C11, which has an incredible, fizzy, soapy, top note character to it, and it's evident in this perfume for sure. What I like about it is the fact that when you use small amounts of C11 it can still penetrate and easily be recognised and in fact is very easily overdone. To have a perfume where there's really nowhere to hide, it's not being added in traces to give citrus a little push (although this may have a citrus note also) or give some sparkle effect to a fruity accord or top note. This is a laid bare, green/blue ozone perfume which to me does represent a spectrum of primary colours, so in that way it's clearly quite clever. I'd never opt to pick something like this up if I had prior knowledge of what it was all about, well I wouldn't be drawn to it, put it that way. I was pleasantly surprised by it. I haven't worn it enough properly to experience how the musks behave in the latter phases and such but I think this perfume stands out.

On Essential parfums: Every now and again a brand comes along that really hits on every level. Essential parfums is one those brands. Superb perfumes, nothing superfluous or irrelevant in the lineup, a nice number of releases, Frederic Malle style focus on perfumers (all of which are fantastic master perfumers) with their name (and picture) pride of place on the bottle and marketing materials. A commitment to sustainability, in terms of perfume materials and packaging, transparency about natural naturals used and their source, and the really important thing to most consumers an pledge to keep prices affordably low without sacrificing quality. So a brand that truly adds value and brings a lot to the table. I have huge admiration and respect for them and they should be applauded for the whole concept of the brand. Nice Bergamot? Nice? What like Nice the place in France? or just like.... Nice? Either way it works. This is a pleasant, citrus floral, very well blended and lovely and all that. However, it's not quite what I like in a bergamot, I like a touch more zing and bite, This feel a touch muted, which is fine it's a lovely thing and a subsequent wear might have me loving it, and I'm not one of these people who finds it impossible to get up for a simple citrus scent because getting them to behave like this take a lot of skill from a perfume, more than moronic so called critique, gives them credit for. I think my ultimate citrus scents, well the best Bergamot lets say is Le Labo for me which is simulatiously sweeter, sharper and perhaps more musky or something? However, AGAIN, Look at the price and what you're getting here, if you love citrus don't pass this by! Despite how obsequious and what an arselicky shill type I've seemed over this brand (yes it makes me sick too!!!) I don't secretly work for or have any affiliation with them whatsoever. I paid for my discovery set and bottles, & gladly to be honest. I'm bigging them up so much because I genuinely want folks to get the scoop on perfume which isn't reinventing any wheels or breaking new ground in terms of the smell of the perfume itself but I want to pass on to you the value for money on the good (and sometimes great) perfumery and products on offer here.