Soma Panorama

When Sebastian Jara first told me he was collaborating on a new fragrance with someone, my expectations were already ridiculously high. 54 is one of my all-time favorite perfumes. So I kept pestering him to sell me a bottle LOL. Oddly, my first impression was not a big love at all. I did not spray it on a blotter to test out and I did not sit an analyze it. Instead, I just kind of dove in, feet first and sprayed it all over my clothing, and off to work I went. In all honesty, the beginning somewhat reminded me of Estee Lauder's Bronze Goddess. BUT thank Source I stuck with it. Well, I had to- I had already left the house and there I was, all over my clothing- I was committed for the day. About 10-15 minutes later, I began picking up a slightly marijuana like note, but that was fleeting. Next thing I knew, it started to unveil a beautiful floral woody note. I remember standing in line for my 1/2 almond, 1/2 oat milk latte thinking, "OK whoa. This perfume is totally fucking blossoming." I started getting these amazing wafts that were like head-shop memories and then later I got a Roja Dove Sweetie Aoud vibe that was very comforting. Don't get me wrong; this is not a dupe of Sweetie Aoud at all. But I did get the feeling that I was walking by a patesserie shop Paris. So, please do not judge this perfume by spraying it onto a piece of paper and thinking what you see is what you get. You would be missing the show. This perfume needs to be WORN. It needs your skin, your clothing, the air around you, and most importantly, TIME. The fun part is in catching those wafts hours later and being in love with how you smell, and how you are vibing with this. Soma Panorama is almost like watching a burlesque performance. The curtain goes up and you think you understand what you are looking at, and then layer after layer the essences are revealed. You will begin and end in a totally different spot. If Soma Panorama were a person, it would be the secret billionaire who could not care less whether anyone knows he or she is a billionaire. Think Keanu Reeves or Lenny Kravitz. They are wearing an old rock T Shirt, beat up grunge jeans and looks like he might wander into a head shop later that afternoon. But hidden underneath his sleeve is a Patek Phillippe. He has nothing to prove to anyone. He's extraordinarily successful, quietly sophisticated and slightly eccentric. Totally comfortable in is own skin, and yet he is totally kind, giving and non judgmental to everyone he meets. There is tremendous sophistication here, but it does not scream wealth. It whispers it. none of it is desperate for attention. It is not trying to convince you that it is expensive or important. Just cool as hell. And underneath all that effortless coolness is extraordinary craftsmanship. I feel that this is a fragrance that an experienced perfume collector may appreciate differently that someone just beginning their journey. This has surprise, contrast, texture and evolution. This perfume challenges your nose and rewards you for staying with it. So don't rush this one. Do not judge it in five minutes. Put it on. Walk away and live your life and let the curtain slowly rise. The show is in the unfolding. Thank you Sebastian for the journey.

Picked this up at the inaugural ScentFest SF, signed by both Angelos Balamis and Sebastian Jara — so it carries a sentimental weight for me before the juice even factors in. The concept is a portrait of two sister cities, San Francisco and Angelos's native Thessaloniki, and it's billed as a green cannabis gourmand (cannabis is not listed on Fragrantica) . On skin, though, nothing reads literal. I can't really pick out the cannabis yet — maybe with more wearings — and the "gourmand" side comes across as a soft, doughy, bready warmth rather than anything sweet or dessert-like. That's what makes it genuinely unique to me: a bready warmth like that, in a composition going for green and coastal, is unexpected, and it never once tips into sugar. If you know Angelos's other work his hand is unmistakable here — I keep catching flashes of Karíkia in the base. Clearly a single perfumer using his own vocabulary, which is exactly what I want from an artisanal house like this. Foggy, a little smoky-romantic, quietly unusual, green and doughy. It's already locked to San Francisco in my memory — which, given the brief, is the whole point.

The opening is really nice with the soft green floral vibe. I get what people mean when they mention the “doughy” or “baked bread” like accord, its actually really different and I’d love to experience that all the way through. But this was all for about 30min till I was hit with jasmine and I suppose the Chamomile which makes this lean pretty feminine in the heart imo, maybe tying even more into the “sister city” theme? By the dry down, luckily the heart softened into that caramelized cashew direction. Cheers to Sebastian on this new release. Edit* Just came back to say how this is starting to grow on me. An interesting way to describe the dry down...... Apple Jacks with a floral touch.