Senchal

Senchal has a languorous quality for its kind. The spice is somewhat damp, muffled, but in an alluring, insouciant manner, beyond the cellophane of aldehydes. The floral heart is like being presented with a bouquet where I am tasked to pick out the real flowers from the plastic flowers and in the process the aromas of both mingle—"oh, a carnation, surely its real, but wait, this rose, it isn't"—pulling out each one by the stem, feeling for that tell-tale artificial texture, but then the petals turn out to be soft and melty. It's the sensation in a number of drugstore classics that I find so nostalgic. The amber is juiciness dried down to stickiness, the kind that makes me want to dig my nails into it. Benzoin and musk are too tired for razzle-dazzle, rather ready for a nap, and it all feels so bittersweet. Its older sibling Enjoli brought home the bacon and fried it up in a pan, but in the eight hours of Senchal, it reads Jane Austen and refuses to marry altogether. For that, I find it endlessly more fascinating, like the unconventional beauty one can find in a pair of sensible shoes, or the spine-tingling sensation when hearing an 80s synthesized shakuhachi flute.

a powerhouse oriental from the 80s.. In the same family as Tabu and Mackie.. Minus their fruit notes. Senchal opens with a burst of aldehyde, carnation and citrus (I get a lot of alcohol also but that may be because its kinda old).. Warms up to a nice benzoin, amber, musk and tuberose with a touch of cinnamon and some light florals, I detect the orange blossom and jasmine. This is not really sweet, can barely get the vanilla. Sillage and longevity is great on me.

This is more spice than floral IMO.

Senchal by Charles of the Ritz is a particularly bold type of oriental fragrance, being both heavily powdered and distinctly animalic, to the point that some unlisted civet must be inferred. As for the rest, the aldehydic opening bridges nicely with the orris, amber, and spice (carnation/cloves/eugenol). This is a well-blended brew, with both the civet an eugenol staying within the bounds of decency and pleasure. So overall, this Senchal is a pleasantly rich and complex oriental/amber perfume. Certainly worth considering, though there are many vaguely similar fragrances. By way of facile comparison, perhaps imagine this as a much powderier version of Tabu, though only inexactly so. As for the name, 'seneschal' does mean an elderly head servant or stewart, ...but 'senchal' is apparently only euphonic exotica, born of a Madison Avenue marketing campaign.

I haven't really had a chance to smell Senchal properly (yet!), but based on my first dabbing from a little carded sample I found stashed in the toe of an old Christmas stocking, Senchal promptly went on my 'must buy' list. Soft, smooth and oh-so-friendly (not very much like my vtg Tabu!). Even the name, Senchal, sounds to me like COTR was playing with the American pronunciation of the word 'sensual', and that it is. This perfume (and I am reviewing the perfume version of this scent) gives me that little thrilling rush of oxytocin whenever I breathe it in-- just like nuzzling one big, furry kitten- yummy! *tho ymmv;)