Solano

As soon as I tested this in my elbow last summer, I knew that I loved it. The box had this beautiful illustration of sand dunes and a cheetah. But to me, the opening has a salty and windy note that brings me to a beach. Davana and Ylang are dancing barefoot in the fresh ocean air, Patchouli is there in the background, a little shy, very soft footed. This lasts on me for about an hour. The scent gets creamier as Patchouli steps closer and Tonka shows up and they melt into the dance. They remind me a tiny bit of chocolate and caramel, but not in a gourmand way. It's just a perfectly sweetened (not too sweet!), delicious touch. The longevity is really good, the projection as well. Yesterday I sprayed my elbows in the morning, in the afternoon I could still get wonderful whiffs. Before bedtime it was a skin scent, and when I woke up today it was still there! On clothes it stays for days. On the really hot days the scent is still fantastic, not cloying, but fades away faster. I would have to respray before going out for dinner. I think Solano can be great for layering, especially with woody notes. I will experiment and come back to tell you how it went! In the meantime, please give this one a try if you enjoy the notes! It's such a special and beautiful journey. IMO, Solano is a luxurious high class unique gem of a perfume, at a really good price. EDIT: As I knew the inspirations of the Remarcable Perfumes line from Le Couvent are the travels to faraway places, I was wondering where Solano is. I searched and found there is a place on the Philippine Islands, which made no sense, as they mentioned Sahara on the box. Then I found that Solano is a wind, travelling from the North of Africa to the South of Spain. That explained the windy, oceanic note that is so beautiful in this fragrance. This is what it said in Wikipedia: "The solano is an easterly to south-easterly wind, a regional variation or extension of the sirocco that refers to the relative position between the North African coast and southern Spain and not any of the other countries around the Mediterranean Sea. In the spring and summer, from June to September, it carries hot air, often with rain and sometimes with dust, from the African coast over the Strait of Gibraltar and the Andalusian plain, affecting cities such as Seville and Cádiz." As for now, the scent is so rich and wonderful, with great projection and longevity, so I haven't found the need to layer it with anything yet. It's a real treasure by itself.

I just got this by the mail... and it is absolutely gorgeous! Like if you open a box made of some expensive and exotic wood, and inside you find a bottle with a creamy perfumed lotion or oil, sweet and lushous. I feel the ylang-ylang, I feel the tonkabean. The patchouli is warm and comforting, and not like the dark rainy clouds I find in Cacharel's Eden. Also like shoe-shine, in a really nice way!! :) I'm sure this can be suitable for a man too, but I enjoy this very much for myself as a woman! Now I will test the sillage and longevity. It feels really cozy today, as it is raining, and it will be winter for yet a couple of months. But I imagine it will be really nice for warm weather too, at least for evening wear. Will be put on top of my dresser, both for the lovelyness of the very fragrance, and because of the lovely bottle! And of course I keep the beautiful box, black and velvety. I always do, for safe keeping and caring of my fragrances, but especially if they are beautiful. I only bought a 50 ml, but I could easily buy a 100 ml of this later on. A successful blindbuy for me!! 😁

Ahh! This is dreamy! The davana is unmistakable here, prominent but not overbearing. Unusual note and I really enjoy it. I detect the ylang-ylang and tonka, patchouli is here a backing - this is very, VERY nice. Somewhat, coconut comes to mind... I wore it 3 days in a row and can't get enough of it, and the fact that it's cruelty free makes me even happier. Wears light but projects well on my skin, beyond arms' length, and longevity is 6-8 hours to go skin scent. I therefore tested on clothes and it's still there on 2nd day... absolutely lovely, worth the full bottle for me. Unique, balsamic, lightly powdery but in a herbal way - if it makes sense... - and lingers around like an aura. I love it! 8/10 and will surely repurchase... this will go fast.

This one surprised me! I went on a limb with ordering this, since I typically don't love floral-forward fragrances, and have never enjoyed soaps or scented candles that smell like ylang-ylang. But this! Oh my god! After the initial five-or-so minutes it melts into this wonderfully rich blood orange tone, and after an hour the floral stepped out in such a deliciously delicate way. I'm intoxicated. I can't stop smelling my wrists. I want to bathe in this. I feel like I can wear it to bedtime, for a lunch in town, for sexy date night... It has a sense of sexy without being on the nose about it. Mind you, those initial 5 minutes made my physically recoil, but I've yet to find a single fragrance that didn't smell much too sharp on the first spray.

This is a TREASURE. To start off, I understand the comparison to Alien Essence Absolue. Yes, they are similar but Alien is a lot more heavy. This is a tad bit lighter, but it holds the same combination of almost herbal initial blast and smooth sweetness. If there was jasmine in here and the base was vanilla, they would be IDENTICAL. But overall they are similar. The scent itself is a bit green in the opening, but not overwhelming, it doesn't smell like grass, it's not medicinal. The base is sweet ylang ylang and tonka that turn into this welcoming sweetness that is smooth. This is absolutely beautiful and I hope they don't discontinue it anytime soon.