Pepper Jasmine Gaiac Wood Passion Fruit

Beeeea-uuuu-ti-fullll! Love at first wear - I could hardly move my nose from my wrist. Like others, I have put off reviewing this fragrance because it is hard to pin down such an ethereal scent that seems to convey such a wealth of feelings to its wearer. Rebella describes a "golden aura & feeling" - it really has this wonderful, rich glow. SCJS describes it as "haunting" - quite so! Kastehelmi speaks of a "velvet cushion". When I first sampled PJGWP an image flooded my mind - a large crystal glass of ruby-red wine spilling over grapes & purple fruits on a silver salver atop a rich dark wooden table before the juice dripped & tumbled over a burgundy velvet cushion with gold silk piping. It would, indeed, be fit for "fantasy creatures". In terms of notes it is hard to separate the threads from which this esquisite cloth has been woven. A rich, mellow red-fruit opener studded with pepper somehow remains mid-weight, fluid & free from the fashionable "froootiness" that sickens other scents. There is a mellow muskiness that makes itself known right from the start - yet it, too, is a strange beast. This musk is not clean, soapy or animalic. It is like a cloud or a sigh in a forest. Whirling & swirling around the soft fruits are wafts of sweet cherry pipe tobacco, oh-so-smooth woods with that resinous spicey kick of guaiac & a vanilla hug. It ages gracefully leaving you with whispers of itself many hours after your first encounter. Although I find it a very womanly perfume there is a male element that makes me think of old B&W pictures of gals dressed as guys in top hat & tails....quirky, unusual yet very alluring. It is a languid look from under heavily fringed lashes. It is a reclusive eccentric artist. It is the pulse of blood under a pale ivory wrist. It is the music of a silent forest. It is the dilation of a pupil in eyes of avarice. It is simply beautiful. Surreal, harmonious and so very wearable. Want, want, want. (Kastehelmi - thank you SO much for this introduction!)

For sure this is a perfume giving you a golden aura and feeling. Really, I am not sure if I want to write this review since this is such a beautiful, glowing, unique and comforting scent, that I rather have it for myself. This is a perfect scent this time of year, it has a late summer/early autumn feel to it. It ́s spicy, woody, oriental but in a very soft, caressing and happy way. Not at all heavy, but kind of a silent power house anyway. The top note are really beautiful, anise and orange and vanilla, reminding a little fo SLs Douce Amere, but a little fresher, happier. The heart notes are gorgeus, amazing. Like imagine a jasmine plant with sprakling golden flowers instead of whites. The gaiac note is kind of subdued, more giving a deep to the jasmine and passion fruit than a strong woody note. Like I am smelling of some kind of super lush, fruity, mouth watering jasmine. The scent is really personal, different but also familiar and very easy to love. The pepper note in it give the scent a little and interesting edge, just enough never to much. The dry down may be the best part tough, or... The dry down is so cuddly, soft, sensual and comfy. Anything about it is golden, glowing, creamy, delicious... It is a woody, no a gourmand, no a comfort, no a floriental... It ́s all this, without getting to much of anything in my opinion. It isn ́t even so sweet on me, perfectly sweet. Good sillage, not so long lasting tough, wich is the only minus in my opinion. This good I could smell forever! Msut try for anyone looking for a personal, unique fragrance experience. I haven ́t yet tried it on my husband, but I think it works well on men to. It should be interesting to find out how it smells on my husband, I suspect this one can be a shape shifter on different kind of chemistry. Excuse me while I kiss my wrist.

I tried this on a few days ago, and today I had to run back to get it since it has been haunting me. It's not like any other perfume I've tried, either. With that said, the opening reminds me a bit about the woodier Chanel Egoïste (which is just as fantastic on me as this one, so don't hesitate to try Egoïste on simply because it's marketed as a men's fragrance) - they have the same tint of woodsy, sweet, burnt vanilla hiding under the sandalwood. After three hours, I get a slight tint of cinnamon blended with the vanilla. It slowly unwraps the absolutely gorgeous white chocolate, which peaks about five hours after applying the perfume. Someone found the white chocolate "not sweet", but the chocolate notes are rather sweet on my skin. Luckily enough, they are not synthetic, girly girl-bubbly, though, but hidden in powdery, mature, burnt vanilla and delicately combined with a slight touch of pepper. White chocolate-time is when I start to question the unisex label on this one... I can easily imagine this on a man, but he has to be old and sophisticated enough to pull it off, and wise enough not to combine it with the smell of deodorant, hair wax... or anything else. This fragrance needs its space. Oh, of course I might allow a whisper of tobacco smoke. After seven hours I can still smell it close to my skin, and it's still beautiful, but almost silent and the white chocolate has turned the sandalwood (I'm afraid I can't detect the guaiac wood - I simply don't know what it's like) into an entirely different version of itself. Imagine the difference between a garden bathing in sunlight and the same garden during sunset. That's what the white chocolate does to the other notes. A wonderful and complex fragrance that will change a lot from the opening to the last remains.

Discovered this perfume has now been discontinued. What to do?! Email from Korres: Regarding Pepper jasmine Gaiac wood fragrance, we decided to discontinue this product, as part of rationalizing our product portfolio. The product had a trusted yet small clientele, thus the sales figures were not high enough in order to support a viable and continuous production. In the last few years, we have been revising our product portfolio taking into account a series of parameters, such as : - New customer needs - Current and future beauty trends - New product development technology - New launches coming up - Sales figures/ commercial aspect of existing products, in order to stay with a rational and viable portfolio covering a wide range of beauty needs. It was not in our intention to create any confusion with this commercial decision, nor to damage a faithful relationship with our customers. However, it was a decision based on actual facts and not one taken lightly. Should this situation change and in case of a future re-launch or launch of a new and similar product, we will keep you posted. Again, many thanks for your support and apologies for any confusion this decision has created.

A beautiful scent from Korres. I do get the reference to Burberry Brit, especially in the tangy-sweet top notes. However, this fragrance is earthier, deeper and woodier than Brit...and much less vanillic. It also has a little more spice going on. While there is no patchouli here, the combination of sweet and deep woody-earthy notes recalls something of Chanel Coromandel for me. I haven’t read Turin & Sanchez's infamous fragrance guide, however I recall hearing that Turin had described Coromandel as “powdered white chocolate.” Given the prominent white chocolate note here, the parallel to Coromandel doesn’t seem so surprising. This doesn’t smell particularly foody even with the white chocolate note. There is a warm balance of woodiness from the gaiac and sandalwood, spice from the pepper and anise, and sweetness from the white chocolate and vanilla. The fruits bring a hint of juiciness and pleasant astringency in the background, offsetting the drier wood notes. Jasmine Pepper Gaiac Wood has a lush, sweet, smooth feel...but never does it lose that underlying earthiness to anchor it. In my books, a perfectly comforting and casual fragrance for cold weather.