Antiquity II

A deep and rich dark powder (natural musk) and leather fragrance, replete with a gorgeous herbal twist tucked deep into the heart of the composition. It's so elegant and evocative of old Russian ballrooms left to crumble into dust. During my initial wearings I felt that perhaps it was missing something, something to add more complexity as initially I mainly smelled nice patchouli and peaty oud, and not much else. However, during my last wearing everything seemed to click and I got even more layers than I had smelled before, including a fantastic fruitiness I had not really appreciated before and it was, frankly, intoxicating to me. My favorite from the collection, and my second is Inverno Russo (which gave me the finest fragrance experience of my life when I wore 6 sprays to a museum trip of old Renaissance paintings). The patchouli is the finest I have smelled in a fragrance yet and it's not even close. It's very dark green, dusty, almost chalky, and extremely smooth. Les Indemodables Patchouli Noisette is a good raw patchouli, and this blows it out of the water completely for me. The natural musk really helps makes this smell very unique and beautiful, even if it is a small amount. The musk doesn't blow your face off with powder yet is remarkably present in every whiff I take, sometimes almost smelling like iris, and extends the heavy fragrance to a satisfying yet discreet sillage with about 3-4 sprays. There’s a great sourness here, not bitter at all; just sour, like you coated an antique table in peach reduction and then polished it with varnish. It also smells much better in cool weather.. Antiquity II is a perfect five star perfume, a perfect composition in my eyes and I will be very sad when I finally run out of my juice. For my tastes it is quite versatile and the easiest to wear of the collection. I put on 6 sprays for a party and it was a little hard to wear just because I knew the musk and oud was so strong but I enjoyed the experience-however, I think this is a scent to wear for yourself. If other people like it it will be because they “get” it. I think 3 sprays under the shirt is the best way to wear this beauty. It reminds me of a secret garden in some beautiful dream at night. Really good patchouli musk composition...

Wow. Simply wow. Sniffing this from the opening blast for the first time, you just want to close your eyes and inhale it deep. This would be the scent you would smell as you peer into the past. As you see a kaleidoscope of images all the way back to the Paleolithic era, this is the scent profile that is appropriate for it. It truly feels ancient. I have quite a few of Russian Adam's works (about 15 and counting) but this for me stands amongst the pantheon. They're all exceptional in their own way. This though feels like it belongs in a museum someplace. I can definitely imagine getting whiffs of this from my arm, admiring the tranquil beauty of a snowy landscape, as I sit rocking back and forth in a rocking chair on the veranda, and get immersed in some classical Russian literature by Tolstoy. This is for pure enjoyment, meditation and reflection. In fact, I would just wear this at home as I allow my mind to wander. I would so love to sample the original one to see what that was like but sadly, that's very hard, almost impossible to come by. Being an avid Cuir de Russie fan and having many iterations of it, from the earliest of works to the most recent, this is so right there, if not better than the earliest Cuir du Russie you could find. I'm talking Chanel's version to Guerlain's. If Russian Adam decides he wants to make many iterations of this, I'd probably get all of them. The scent is absolutely gorgeous, almost antidiluvian. Russian Adam should truly be celebrated because he literally brought back one of the most sought after, vintage form of Cuir de Russie for people to enjoy. I say this knowing there's no rose in this. I can't imagine how his Cuir de Russie is. I just ordered the second iteration of his CDR from a secondhand seller for a pretty penny (almost obscene) and am eagerly waiting it's arrival. If this is this good, I'm sure that's going to be something to marvel at.

It's less important to me now but Areej le Doré's take on the fruitchouli genre keeps things decidedly oriental while departing plenty from its predecessor. Whereas the original reminded me of old newspapers and even evoked a medievalist revival of stonewall castles or Rochas-like vintage glamour, this new iteration's reinvigorated by zesty, musky, and earthy notes that turn this chypre into spilled peach juice. Add some oud from Cambodia whose terroir is known for producing "red," fruity oils, and just enough carnation and angelica to veer from a fructose bonanza, and you've got a grown up, tasteful version of Montale's Black Aoud since both are sharp, sour, and Middle Eastern-oriented. Given that the concept of antiquity is primarily one of periodization to begin with, I'm not mad at Russian Adam's ironizing when a fragrance behind everyone's scalping fervor and forum theorizing is actually ahead of its time. To quote Gertrude Stein: "Those who are creating the modern composition authentically are naturally only of importance when they are dead because by that time the modern composition having become past is classified and the description of it is classical. That is the reason why the creator of the new composition in the arts is an outlaw until he is a classic, there is hardly a moment in between and it is really too bad very much too bad naturally for the creator but also very much too bad for the enjoyer, they all really would enjoy the created so much better just after it has been made than when it is already a classic [...]."

In the opening, I get some peach, incense, deer musk. It is also aldahydic and airy, and I also slightly get some patchouli. It definetly reminds me of War & Peace III because of the deer musk. When it starts to dry down a bit, the peach becomes more prominent, although the incense and becomes more subtle, whilst getting sweeter. In the dry down, the peach starts to fade, but is still prominent during the entirety of the perfume. The patchouli becomes more prominent, and the musk also starts to come forward, once more. The longevity and projection was amazing, and was fitting for this type of perfume. I would say it was prominent on skin for 16 hours, but I could still smell it for around 30 hours. It was constantly projecting of from my arm for around 10 hours, which was pleasant. In the end, I could only smell the deer musk. Note that I only sprayed it once in my arm. I place this as the second best in the whole collection, but it still gets a 10/10. Totally the best peach fragrance out there, and I was amazed how the peach scent could last for so long. It even survived a shower and excercise.

I must say I expected more from Antiquity to be honest. I get some patchouli, musk, in a weird way an aldehydic feeling, fruit. I should probably try it more tho. It is to my nose simple but elegant, very wearable all year round. We will see what my thoughts are later on. Edit: WOW! after trying this again I absolutely adore it, it's like it has been macerated and everything just pushes through now, it was airy before but now it's so rich and dense. Fruity patchouli and musk? Hell yeah