Narcissus Orientalis

A White Floral Gourmand - heady and indolic, creamy and narcotic narcissus with a gloriously pongy, and yes, chewy beeswax base - SWOON If I try hard enough I can pick out most of the wonderfully high quality ingredients, but I’m not so interested in dissecting this one - I just want to lounge around all day, reapplying Narcissus Orientalis every couple of hours for the amazing indoles in the opening and the gorgeous pongy little furry animal beeswax dry down. I feel like I’ve slipped down a rabbit hole into a fantastical realm; I’m having tea with cacao dusted fuzzy bees - we’re feasting on nectar and funky beeswax. We’re enjoying our spoils so much that, distracted by our orgiastic gluttony, we don’t realise we’re being enveloped by mounds of sweet, waxy narcissi and leathery osmanthus, smothered beneath their fragrant, heavy petals. What a wonderful way to go. Edit: Wearing this in the warmer weather, the citrus and green galbanum are more pronounced and longer lasting - it's working for me as a Summer fragrance too.

Narcissus Orientalis opens with a very realistic narcissus, its floral spiciness amplified with orange blossom, bergamot, mandarin, warm beeswax, sandalwood and a bosomy jasmine. It's a walloping narcissus note, warm, fuzzy and overpowering. There's murkiness in the base from the cacao, lending a darkened touch and combined with the orange, reminding me of Fry’s Orange Creme chocolate bars. A delicious, thick galbanum makes its appearance as the perfume turns greener and less white floral. On the heavy side, this is no perfume for wallflowers. My favourite stage comes after an hour or so when the cacao base settles and the creamy florals return, becoming slowly softer, more ambery, balsamic and heavier, but still streaked through with greeness in the final stages. A floral love, perfect for late winter / early spring.