Io Non Ho Mani Che Mi Accarezzino il Volto

Why do you buy fragrance? If the answer you give to that question even hints at compliments, dropping panties, boxers or whatever else floats your personal boat or involves a gym, please save your time and stop reading now. This one is not for you. Still with me? Let's revisit the initial question. Why? For me, the answer is complicated. Fragrance is art in a bottle when done well. The best bottles are also great design elements and at their pinnacle, are art themselves. Scent is more strongly tied to memory and emotion than other senses. But a blend of smells can be a deeply cerebral experience. It is the beauty of the scent coupled with how a scent makes me feel that makes certain fragrances appeal deeply, almost spiritually, to me. A great sounding advertising blurb, a cool or unique bottle, a good review by someone I trust or past positive experiences with a perfume house's products (or a combination of some or all of these things) might get me to try, or even blind buy, a product. But the real reason I continue to buy fragrance, and to regard it as my favorite hobby, is that every so often, I discover a fragrance that really, deeply moves me. Filippo Sorcinelli's Io Non Ho Mani Che Mi Accarezzino il Volto by Italian niche house UNUM, is one such fragrance. I hope to never be without a bottle. In reviews prior to this one, others have set out the poem from which the name is taken, described the photo shoot and resulting photographs which inspired the perfume and provided context necessary to understand the striking bottle in which this fragrance is presented. The note pyramid above is spot on in terms of what notes have been used to compose this exceptionally well blended fragrance. The notes exude quality. I won't repeat all of that good work here since this review is already getting too long. Suffice it to say, if you want to learn about these things, it is all here elsewhere on this page. So why do I love this fragrance? Simply put, for me, this composition triggers a flood of emotions, some happy, some very dark indeed. This fragrance is high art. This scent is, again for me, because this reaction is intensely personal, a heart-stopping thing of terrible beauty. This is an inescapably churchy scent. Persons who have not experienced the incense-heavy, floral intensity of an old (Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Coptic or Anglican) church during a "high church" service will probably not resonate as strongly with this fragrance. But they will still be able to appreciate it. In Io Non Ho Mani, there is a bitterness of citrus and galbanum in the opening, a cinnamon tinged incense throughout, and from time to time florals, leather and woods show themselves. It smells like the aforementioned sort of church, with a hint of celluloid (doubtless an olfactive reference to the film in the camera that took the photos of priests that got this whole thing rolling). When I smell this fragrance, I can feel contemplation. I can sense struggle and longing. I can also, ultimately, feel uplift, rededication to vocation and contentment. Wow, that seems like an awful lot to get from an odor, right? Yep. Remember how I mentioned that smells are the most strongly linked sensations to memory? I get so much out of this fragrance because it triggers specific memories for me. This triggering effect is why some folks might be drawn to scents that remind them of a perfume worn by a parent or grandparent or repelled by a cologne worn by an ex. That this fragrance can consistently conjure up these feelings continues to astound me. Of course, if anyone is still reading this review, they will most assuredly not experience Io Non Ho Mani the way I do. But I cannot imagine anyone wearing this fragrance and not being struck by its depth and wonderful incense driven beauty. This scent is a must try for all folks who like incense scents. Don't worry, it probably won't bring a tear to your eye, just a beautiful smell to your nose. This fragrance is not for the immature, the compliment-seeking or the shallow. It is best suited for cooler seasons. Start with one or two sprays; for the first couple of hours, this is very strong and heady stuff. Ideal for a cold rainy day at home alone. Most highly recommended.

Smells like asexuality, inability to be loved, lonliness, regret and very very old things long expired & made of unattractive old withered trees. I have no hands that caress my face, (heavy is the weight of these words that know no love) I don't know the sweet pleasure of abandoning you I had to be the guardian of your loneliness Me, the savior of lost hours. A poem that this perfume has borrowed its first sentence; And shares its soul with. The presentation too, is taken from Mario Giacomelli's project with the same name and concept (also inspired by the same cold and catching poem). Those pictures to me act as a prequel to the poem, and share the vibe with the perfumes opening hours of warm denial in a cold emptiness that will inevitably catch up. Review: I initially had wrote a review explaining notes and their progression hour by hour, but how pointless is that for such a parfum which is more art than fashion and more melancholia than art. Beyond the notes listed here, which are accurately listed and are shed layer at a time, great pyramid and accurate votes, you will exactly get the dominant votes of each layer in with your first inhale an spicy (cinnamon) punch of incense and myrrh, half the sweetness of the full-bodied myrrh leaves and the almost edible Christmas treat gets into an spanish leather accord with now more dominant styrax added to the cinnamon and the omnipresent Incense, it's an spanish leather, an old withered one without any fat or musk left in, and finally it gets hardcore on the Incense and it's not a one dimensional one, with a divine touch of myrrh... The scent reminds me of very old home libraries, soaked old Spanish leather, wet carpet, expired church Incense and even beyond all the resembling scents it evokes certain feelings of being outdated, forgotten and alone in the modern world. It should be exprienced and it will ruin your shiny smile, darken your bright day and put you in the shoes of a manifestation of all that's been lonely. To whom do I recommend? If you like perfumery and scents as an art, try this, doesn't matter if you'll like to wear it or not, you'll enjoy its haunting journey, if you like the idea of a sad Kouros, damp woodies, old books, old damp Spanish leathers, church Incense, smokes this is for you, if you enjoy a little grief or the thought of death comforts you here's a cold dark welcome, eerie and melancholic, it's also a great parfum to layer and add smokiness. If you don't like Lars von Trier features, can't stand Schubert and are looking for sth to smell attractive stay away you're probably not ready. The sweetness isn't cute, the spices aren't playful, the Incense isn't passionate, the leather not kinky. It lasts a very long time (at least 10, probably 12+) and projects almost too much for first 3 hours (1 spray) and stays noticeable for many more after that. The transition starts with losing top notes and showing warmth of middle notes before presenting her full beauty with the undeniable darkness of base notes. Again a well done pyramid to represent the scent accurately. After many wearings I see a damp smoky Incense and cedar throughout as the main star which gets darker and less sweet and I love it more every passing hour. 🤎

Sorcinelli is a great storyteller, inspired by his native Marche region and its Catholic culture. In this fragrance, he captures the essence of a great story. A group of student priests, dressed in their black clerical robes, erupt from the chilly confines of the seminary to have a snowball fight. They dance for joy in the snow. The scene is captured on camera by Mario Giacomelli and when the seminary rector discovers the incident, the photographer is banned from ever entering the hallowed grounds again. He retreats to his darkroom, swathed in tobacco and goes on to create iconic images of the young men cavorting in the snow. Some time later one of the young men, now a priest, writes a poem capturing the human cost of the denial of desire, whose poignant opening line provides the photographer with the title of his portfolio and the perfumer with the name of his fragrance. In English translation it reads : " I have no hands to caress my face ..." Repression and subversion, agony and ecstasy, censorship and artistic creativity. These polarities seem to fascinate Sorcinelli as he expresses his own artistic freedom as perfumer alongside the demands placed upon him by convention. Like the seminarians, he wants to play and surprise. Like the photographer, he wants to create something unconventional. Like the priest-poet, he wants to give a voice to the thrill of 'sweet abandonment." So he creates a fragrance like Io Non Ho Mani. He takes the conventional pyramid of an Amber fragrance and turns it into a circle, like Giacomelli's famous image of the dancing priests. The opening has a huge cinammon-and-clove heft. Then resinous myrrh makes an appearance, entwined with a sweet floral note, until styrax and incense arise from the base and complete the sense impression of barely-suppressed sensuality. At each stage, the fragrance conjures images from Sorcinelli's narrative: the gloomy myrrh of the cloister, the spicy energy of the dance, the photographer's beloved tobacco and even the leather cape with which he covers his camera and works his creative magic. The whole thing is enveloped in dark and musky incense, with spices flickering forth every so often to lighten the mood. The dry down is a masterful fugue, interweaving the threads of the story to give a long-lasting impression of complexity, warmth and sensuality. Heart of Spice, Soul of Incense, Work of a Master.

🤦♂️ wow some of these comparisons are just so wrong. I like the comment below ‘Catholic Gourmand’. Other than that clove and cinnamon comments are misleading. The note table here will completely mislead you.” Though clove in part my be relevant to a degree as an analogous description to a small degree. One of my favourite most challenging scents I know. Most definitively not for everyone. Some people even voted this as unisex - oh my god no. A woman smelling of this 😂 So, it’s a bizarre ride more so related to Norne By Slumberhouse than anything else. It’s a phenomenally strong (it’ll make you cough - it even makes me wheeze sometimes - it’s so strong) camphorous, mentholic, dusty, green, dry herb, incensy, ambery oily syrup with a mix of god knows what else that makes you look at the note table and go WTF. About the only thing my brain can agree on is the dustiness and camphorous over tone (that makes me wheeze) is likely achieved with a phenomenally high quality cinnamon. Not that this smells per se of cinnamon. Yet somehow I’ve held onto this bottle. It’s not for professional presentation. It’s not for comfort. It’s not for feeling fresh. It’s not even for impressing people. It’s somewhat unsettling and I think that’s why it works for me. It’s kinda like a reset switch. It’s just borderline offensive - not that it smells like something traditionally offensive like faeces, urine or garbage etc but rather gets your brain thinking what on earth is that. Something medicinal, something ‘out there’ churchy or medieval or some undiscovered boggy marsh plant? Maybe another way to explain it is Dior Sauvage Elixir that’s be kidnapped by Dr Frankenstein and gone green, camphorous, dusty and incensey. Maybe Sauvage Elixir meets a vacuum cleaner dust bag and chilli oil lol. It’s a winter warming scent reset. Perhaps it’s grounding - classic Scorcinelli where he creates something that you’d only get if your mind is on his level. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not being facetious- this is just one of those scent in thousands that have come my way where the weirdness works - unlike so many that are marketing hype. It might grow on you if you persevere and you’re patient. Otherwise it’ll either work for you or won’t.

Thoughts on a sampling... * Been liking this quite a bit as I try to form my thoughts on it. * Tried it a half dozen times now and liked it every time. * Early on I get a predominant tobacco that caresses my face just right. * In the background there is a soft hint of cinnamon. Not of your spicy potpourri variety. Once again just right. * The Sage seems to act as a bridge between the Tobacco and the Cinnamon. * There is a hint of Ylang Ylang that gives it some dimension. * I keep bringing my wrist up to my nose and inhale with such a good feeling. It brings a smile to my face. * I guess I could say the scent caresses my face rather nicely. No need for hands here. * Having a hard time deciding if I like this as my favorite of the Unum line by Filippo Sorcinelli. * His fragrances along with the bottles are real works of art. I think that I am becoming a fan. * As with everything I've tried from the Unum line longevity and silage are a little sub par. * I wish Filippo could could find a way to increase the all around potency to his fragrances as they seem to come short of the finish line. * On the other hand (no pun intended) I am being quite honest in saying that the fragrances I have tried from this house so far are all superbly done. ** Final thoughts. It is a spectacular scent for no more than 3 hours. I am left wanting more. Instead I kind of feel cheated. Regardless I can see myself picking up a bottle some day when I have a little extra cash on HAND. But until then it is to be admired from afar. *** I have since purchased a full bottle and was pleasantly surprised by the way both potency and duration have doubled. It must be that there is a difference between sample dabbler and spraying it on. - The packaging novelty and bottle are superbly done.