Venti

Here's what happens with Venti. Top notes (first minute or so) wonderful but also a little 'home' fragrance for me. Then it settles and the florals get dank and pretty awful on my skin becoming almost a scrubber. Venti just about retains enough interest and beauty to give the drydown a chance and when settled, although still with elements of both...basically...good - bad + okay = Okay. That opening does have a nice mandarin, peach and blossom feel but is then ruined with strongly concentrated jasmine and tuberose, which once past a mere whiff because musky and bitter on my skin. It's complex green but warm at the same time. There's a salty sweetness in the base which is kinda seaside like and could well be ambergris, and a hint of patchouli might account for some of the dirt. I actually get the non existant to begin with geranuim and vetiver with a hint of vanilla as it dries down. Just not a combination of notes I can get excited about really! For me it's a strong brew which doesn't appeal to me for wearing but is definitely not boring and the concentration is banging projection is pretty heavy and longevity was good.

It does match quite we'll its description, salty sea air and trade winds thick with fragrant commodities acquired from faraway itineraries. However, smelling it up close smells a bit like the space between someone's toes - I think that may be the vetiver and ambergris in a accidental cabal. And almost slightly like dried bananas. But that aside, very pleasant. Dry and teaky, but with a salty sea air, this is the scent of a heavy chest that to and fro has carried patchouli infused pashminas, vetiver faggots, scented teas, consignments of spices, and posies of unusually shaped dried flowers etc from port to merchant and back. Very pleasant and tranquil, like hot flat sand on a deserted beach, but it isn't going to set the world on fire.

Patchouli peaches & ambergris. It's an interesting blend of myrrh, ambergris, smoke, peaches, within an aqua note.. Thank GOD the aqua wasn't strong, it would have ruined this blend. There is a weird mix of orange blossoms, myrrh, geranium, & cinnamon powder that adds some insatiable effect that makes me wanna sniff the plotter more and more. Now, this blend was quite weak on the plotter comparing it to "Incitatus" & "Amber Aquilaria", that doesn't mean that it's weak but weaker than the above mentioned, so do yourself a favor and never sniff this one after the upper mentioned, just sniff it first if you are going for the whole line as this is quite complex specially with the aqua, cinnamon, and the peaches added. Very cute.