Pale Fire

Naming a perfume after a novel is always a fraught endeavor - or, in this case, naming it after Nabokov's masterpiece that combines both prose and poetic forms, which is less like a novel or a poem and more like an intellectual exercise in subverting literary structures. Having a perfume follow a literary work, particularly a novel, always sounds like a futile effort on paper; how do you condense an intricate plot and complex individual personalities into a scent that only lasts a few hours? The answer is that it never works. Not even with Portrait of Lady, a stunning work of perfumery art full of symphonic complexity and grandeur, did Malle and Ropion fully capture Henry James's work, or even the character, Isabel, who was the focal point of the perfume's inspiration. Perfumes based on films also don't work. Perfumes based on operas or symphonies also don't work. Apoteker Tepe referencing saudade as an additional source of inspiration for Pale Fire, a distinct attribution to Portuguese culture and their current or former subalterns, is another dubious connection to a highly complex and multi-faceted construct not easily pinned down. The need for the existence of talented editors is never more apparent than in these cases; artistic types frequently have a habit of letting their creative visions force them into a conceptual sprawl, wanting to say everything all at once, when they should really just pick out a few trees rather than trying to capture the whole forest. Apoteker Tepe's Pale Fire isn't an exception. It is also breathtakingly beautiful. Ignore the Nabokov and saudade references, and focus instead on one single sentence, the one stating "deconstructed amber." Boom, nailed it. Pale Fire opens with accords of bourbon and bitter chocolate. The chocolate accord is a fine, bitter, dry cacao powder, removed of any confectionary characteristics that make one think of sweets or baked goods. It is rich, earthy, round, and powdery smooth. The minute bourbon accord supporting it in the background is of a slightly sweet mash, highly refined yet immature in age, it adds a slight pepperiness and golden note of cooked corn. That's not all, though. Very quickly this silken string appears, a bow tied around the cacao and bourbon, of one of the best labdanum accords I've smelled in a long time that slowly strings it way down. It's gorgeous. Slightly sweet in an earthy way, woody, and perfectly and gently animalic. It has the thinness and lightness of silk, but also silk's supple and smooth density and texture that is palpable in the nostrils. The silken thread pulls up from the depths, after a bit of time and body heat, a supermassive vanilla accord at the base. Seriously, this vanilla is huge. It rides just-up-to-the-line of being sweet, emphasizing its more aromatic earthiness and mouthwatering qualities. Simply, it is shiver-inducing and knee-buckling delicious. I wore this to the office, and a coworker whose office is two doors down from mine noticed it (yeah, it's that strong). He said, "I don't know if it's you or maybe it's your coffee that has that vanilla aroma, but it smells amazing." He's correct. Though this vanilla base is a massive bomb likely noticeable from space, at this point and at every point in the life of Pale Fire the style of Holladay Saltz is what distinguishes this amber from nearly every other new age amber. In another review I likened Saltz's style to that of JC Ellena's: light weight, endlessly breathable, diffusive, erring to minimalist structures, and luminous. There are some distinct differences between their two styles; Saltz's is more like the feel of a persistent, cool breath and the luminosity is a dusky glow, compared to Ellena's slick and elastic mist, and noon-day burn. This amber perfume is done so many favors by Saltz's style. In most other hands for most other brands this perfume would likely be cloying, thick, disjointed, sickly sugary syrupy, and completely unbearable. Saltz's style seemed to let down (a bit) some compositions for Apoteker because they had a feeling of lacking confidence through low tenacity and durability, but, in Pale Fire, that confidence is a tangible force. Saltz's style - light weight, endlessly breathable, perfectly diffusive, minimalist without being spartan, a cool glow at dusk - is finally complimented by materials that don't just breathe over your skin, they breathe life into the air around you. It's a stunning piece of work.

I saved this scent for my 1000th review... Without a doubt, my favourite scent ever made. No question. I first smelt it in mid-late 2016, and it was indeed a slow burn. At times, I loved it, at others, well, I'd smelt 'this particular element' in something else. Anyway, I ended up getting 2 mls decanted, and I survived off that until early-mid 2017, by which stage, I'd decided to go ahead and get a bottle of it. By that stage, it was sold out, and only the oil remained. After I ummmed and uhhhed some more, it was ALL gone, and Apoteker Tepe had wound up production, and packed it all in and ceased operating. Immediately, sometime in early 2018, I got the remaining 16 mls from Perfumed Court. I subsisted off those 16 mls for two and a half years until after a LOT of jerking around, I managed to get a full bottle from someone off Basenotes. I know this particular gentleman still stalks me after all this time, so if you're reading, hi mate. I managed to get another full bottle a year later (the result of obnoxious cold-call emailing people who listed this as a scent they either owned or had sampled), and so now I have more than enough to last me an entire lifetime. Please don't message me about this, I've put too much time and energy into this to let one go, it just won't happen... Pale Fire begins with an unmistakable burnt frankincense note. It's unmistakable. Think Avignon, that's what this taps into. On good days, it's booze, chocolate, amber, frankincense and a damp-sticky oakmoss. On average days, the frankincense overwhelms the whole mix, but even then, it's heavenly. The chocolate in this is amazing. Delicious. Mouth-watering. Also, the elements (booze - choc - resin - moss) are in perfect balance. The dry booze adds to the fatty chocolate, and they create this amazing accord that I have not been able to get out of my mind for nearly six years. This stuff is god-tier stuff. No, it's god-tier stuff in the pantheon. It's that good. It's that heartbreakingly good. LOVE THIS.

I've been wearing this for the last few months, and what better way to bring up review #1453 than with what is likely my favourite scent ever. In the cold, the frank marries itself to the chocolate -- it's hard to put this into good enough words, but in the dry down, I feel like I'm sniffing a resin that I haven't experienced yet, that's how much these two elements fuse together to create a super accord. The whiskey booze note is amazing, too, never domineering, never meek, always in perfect proportion with the other characters. It's only been in the last 2 or 3 years that I've started experiencing the oakmoss and fresh green aspects. It might be the cold weather, or maybe my developed understanding of the scent, given I've worn it that many times, but I also think it's a sign of the vintage -- the sample I'm currently draining is from 2017-18, and I imagine it's matured to the point that it comes out to play a bit more. I love this scent, I REALLY love this scent. So much so that when I secured my second bottle of the stuff back in 2022, I took a pic of both bottles and sent them to the official IG and Halliday responded to me! I love that I was able to find a scent that speaks to me as much as this one does, and I also love the fact that I still appreciate it, almost a decade on...

After reading muzzbait's exceptional review I sought this one out. As luck would have it, Apoteker Tepe has reopened with its full line. Pale Fire is one of Nabokov's 20th Century masterpieces which is composed of many layers. This fragrance hommage has many layers too, even if the listed notes are few. Is it as the perfumer Holladay Saltz says "a fragrance that captures what the Portuguese call saudade—the feeling that remains after a disappearance."? I cannot say for sure, but I know this is a scent that also has a powerful and artful presence. Sillage and Longevity are both strong. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of ambery boozy scents. I love a number of them, such as Black Phantom. This one, however, does not remind me of them. I am not sophisticated enough to describe why it is unique, but it sure is. I am so glad I found out about this one and would advise anyone looking for an intense adventurous scent to get a sample or a full bottle. Just in the time I have written this, I have brought my wrist to my nose 8 times and each sniff was better than the last.

I had the pleasure of wearing this on a recent trip to a waaay colder climate than my own, and loved this even more. I know I return to reviewing this scent every few years, and I'm not exactly breaking any new ground here, but I find even more facets of this scent every time I live in it -- more elements reveal themselves to me and I find myself just loving this scent even more than usual. This time, the oakmoss played a lot more with the chocolate to give off a funky, gourmand aquatic vibe -- I know this isn't the right way to describe it, but it is the best I've got. The chocolate was muted and the whiskey behaved itself. The chocolate didn't dominate like it does sometimes, and it was just revealing a different side to itself. It was amazing. I love this perfume so much.