Derwish

Dominant on a (soft) musk and very powdery, but in a very positive way. It's non-sweet, definitely clearly leaning feminine to me. Reminiscent of retro makeup. I'm not quite sure what the perfumer had in mind when naming it. To me it's almost a kind of archetype for a posh well groomed lady's perfume. This will fit well while wearing a blouse, a cashmere turtle neck or a stylish woolen winter coat, heeled boots to go with it. Either way, I like it quite a lot. It feels like a grown lady's perfume. Classic, stylish and un-obnoxious. I'm realizing I make it sound so boring, but it's really not. It makes me feel wonderful every time I wear it. A bit like you feel a bit better when you go out with your 'good purse'. The good quality, uni-color, classic leather one without frills that other women recognize as pricey instantly. Anyway, I've had it for a year now and sadly don't get to wear it all that often. It's clearly a cooler to cold weather scent and I live in Mumbai, so... It comes on travels to cooler countries with me. Btw. it doubles as a Madrid souvenir for me. Aquaflor Firenze has the most beautiful outlet in Madrid. They've put it up beautifully in a historic bakery. Amazing interiors. If you ever go to Madrid, it's a must for any fragrance lover!

Sileno Cheloni joins the realms of incense spiritualists in this lovely, subtle perfume. The advertising copy for Derwish in the Nobili collection is actually right on target: "Soft mandarin, sacred fumes of incense and myrrh rotate with the profane iris in a whirling dance, in a continuous quest for the Absolute. Vanilla and musk envelop the base notes in a white robe. Derwish is a pure perfume, light as a puff." The idea of motion, the whirling derwish, has a certain plausibility in that, especially at the opening, one does inhale the beauty of the different notes, the churchy incense and resinous smoke, and the serene beauty of the vanilla musk and mandarin, in waves of difference. Like Pathos, to which Derwish could be a sibling, Derwish is exceptionally wearable, and would be an amazing choice for environments where you want people to be unsure whether you are wearing perfume, although you sure smell good.

I bought this on impulse when visiting the beautiful Aquaflor shop in Florence. If you ever in the city you must visit, it's an amazing place and the staff don't mind you spending over 30 minutes trying every fragrance! I settled on Derwish because I've been looking for a nice sensual church-y incense scent for a while now. Initial notes are a burst of citrus, like peeling a mandarin orange. Sharp at first and then very sweet and very orangey. As it starts to settle, the incense becomes more apparent. I think I was honestly looking for a perfume with a stronger church-like frankincense so I possibly should have chosen Ex-Tasis from the brand instead. That said, taking Derwish on its own terms, it dries down to a very pleasent, very light, musky, powdery iris, with sweet incense notes. As it settles over an hour or so it becomes reminiscent of Turkish delight. It's a complex scent with enough powdery classic sweetness to be reminiscent of early Twentieth century classics from Chanel and Guerlain. Sure it wasn't exactly the scent I was looking for, but I've come to really like it and definitely recommend a try!

This has more of a candy scent to me than others are describing! Like kind of a more vanilla, musky version of Prada Candy