Sparkling Sand

#1592 in my "Tour de Fragrance" Got this as a decant from scentsplit.com. Nice find for me. Several years ago, Xerjoff acquired one of the most amazing fragrances houses I've experienced: "Kemi Blending Magic." Unlike the L'Oreal ghouls who acquired and utterly destroyed Thierry Mugler, Xerjoff kept some of Kemi's masterpieces alive and un-reformulated under the Xerjoff brand. But sadly, they also did some "bait and switch." They kept the name of Kemi's fabulous "Luna" alive in what they call "The Kemi Collection", but it's a completely different scent that now bears the name. This Jacques Zolty is very similar to Kemi's "Luna" as the incense, orris and apricot in Luna and the incense, iris and apricot in this Jacques Zolty make the scent for me. Kemi "Luna" was more "fruity tropical" with mango, current, apple, but this is nevertheless as close to the Kemi "Luna" as I've found. So, I just ordered it from Maxaroma for my collection. I think if you're a fan of scents like Stephane Humbert Lucas 777 "Soleil de Jeddah" or Penhaligon's "Legacy of Petra", this is the sort of non-oudy Oriental that's right in your wheelhouse, and $80 is a bargain for this kind of niche quality. It's carpool, elevator, small office safe. Okay for casual wear, but it's definitely not a club scent. It's an overt but non-aggressive masculine scent. Not dad juice in the least, but I think it works well for a formal office setting, also for date night, especially if you want to be taken seriously. Good Luck and Good Hunting!

Very nice, powderic, slightly green, with nice longevity. I usually have issues with apricot note, but here is very nice. Pleasant surprise. In dry down is going slighlty sweet, gourmandish. Edit: great longevity, 8+ on skin, more on clothes. Projection also great!

From this I distinguish a pleasant opening with large doses of mugwort. I get a very sweet powder from a 60's dresser ... Not bad, clean, serene and ... nostalgic. The mix of leather, iris, chamomile, apricot and vanilla is quite sweet to my nose but not really gourmand. In my mind I have pointed hints of hairspray that tire my nose. The trail that remains is however rather singular, interesting. More feminine, during the day. Melancholic.

Why?! All I get is this herbal, heavy, bitter artemisia smell. Where are all the other notes I counted on to develop over time? Why Zolty, why? I have no idea in which weather and occasion to wear this perfume. On my skin, really bitter and horrific artemisia smell. Herbal is ok, but this is too herbal. And not much else...

I loved it from the first sniff, then i thought "hmmmm.... i have sniffed this somewhere! it's quite familiar!"... then i realized it's another copy of "Soleil de Jeddah" by Stéphane Humbert Lucas 777... Mystery SOLVED.

Literally smells like my Chinese herbal medicine...