CHI

CHI opens with an incredibly beautiful floral that has a touch of beet in it thats just perfect!! The warm Peru balsam with this floral (is it the oud?)w/ that touch of beet is just gorgeous. So innovative!! Honestly I’m in love with it. It’s not like anything else I have. The way this perfume behaves is different too, it stays moderately close to the skin but wherever you smell in regards to distance from your skin there are different aspects of the notes that come forth. It’s so cool! Playful young at heart 10/10

Mallo's perfumes are getting more complicated. The original modus operandi of the perfumer-led outfit - the seemingly one-man show of the immensely talented Antonio Lasheras - was, to my nose, to present minimalist concepts through a minimalist number of materials of exquisite quality and detail. WAM seems to have been the brand's watershed moment, taking on a change of creative direction that is steering the character of the brand at its core. And... seeming to want to focus a lot on food... oddly.... WAM was an edible rose-leather idea via a caramel and fruit glazed smoked ham; REA an edible tuberose white floral of fruit and vanilla chocolate; SOD was an exercise in earthy-resinous cocoa and cinnamon flecked vanilla; ZAR a tribute to sangria; and CHI conceptualizing Samurai body tattoos via semi-sweet earthy-citrusy beetroot, turmeric, and ginger. INK, ORA, and VAR are the only three releases since 2023 that, to my nose, are not trying to convey concepts through culinarily olfaction. No less to my point, it seems the majority of the perfumes over this period were inspired by big, non-minimalist, abstract ideas, traditions, or people as well. This makes me nervous. I love food. I am a foodie, I cook all of the time, and I haven't eaten food from a restaurant in nearly six months at the time of writing this review; I love abstract concepts, and trying to capture them in comprehensibly sensorial ways through smells with perfume or food, the eyes with writing or film, or the ears with music or spoken word. But the minimalism, and the rules of that form and function, made Mallo unique and extraordinary. I would like to see what makes the brand extraordinary and unique continue. The most memorable artists work within restrictive confines, whether it's Pablo Picasso's unique cubism, Shakespeare's own grammar and vocabulary, or the White Stripes's restriction to only the three instruments of guitar, drums, and voice. It is when artists force themselves into creativity through restriction that the truly compelling manifests, which is why it is extraordinarily rare for an artist to have any sort of following if they obey no rules of form or function - their work usually interpreted as voiceless, unfocused, and confusing. And the brand's name is Mallo, not Comer; please do not change that either. Creative direction changes require a very deliberate and light foot. I hope my worry does not prove itself out. With CHI, we find another beautiful perfume in a line full of beautiful perfumes - and another of the new set that is complicated and mostly food-centered. The concept driving the perfume is "an ancient Samurai warrior getting inked with body tattoos", which is a fallacy. In feudal Japan tattoos were taboo and socially forced derogations, as it was seen as "unholy" to mar the temple of one's body, and therefore tattoos were only used to mark criminals, social deviants such as gamblers and addicts or other outcasts, all of which the Samurai were far from in their high station. Since there was a complete lack "artistry" in this practice, this also means that the intentionally "colorful" components of CHI don't really have a place in this concept because tattoos in feudal Japan's didn't have color. (Oh dear... so far, I am not being proven wrong). The opening of the perfume greets us with earthy fruit notes and a "skin accord", and let's start with this last one because it is the easiest to explain. The "skin accord" is simply the musky animalic high notes of the bottom layer oud material playing upwards but toned down a lot compared to the musky animalics we would normally get from an oud material. It is quite gentle and pale, and a very pleasant connection to the earthy fruit elements. The fruit is actually a vegetable mélange of beetroot, turmeric, and ginger. Beetroot is detectable via its semi-sweet, earthy, musty, slightly white oak woody aroma, which actually has a lot of overlap with turmeric, the latter being sort-of distinguishable in the group by its stronger cooked-carrot type facet. The ginger stands more independently in the group with its earthy citrusy piquancy. The heart layer, in so much as it is, sees the food and the musks dispense to focus on the oud material, which - as suspected from its high notes - is quite gentle in this layer as well. It has a meditative and resinous character full of dark brown and black colors of earth, and trailing, thin wisps of rich incense. The base layer focuses on incense in the form of resins, putting forward the kissing-cousins of elemi and olibanum for pale yellow and green notes, freshness, lemony citrus, peppercorns, mild earthiness, and balsam woody notes. The foody sweet citruses and peppercorns are front and center of these materials. I really like CHI. It is quite pretty, and one of the better examples of oud+incense resin handled in bright, refreshing light, that I have smelled in quite a while. The fallacious creative concept and the dubious linking of bright food notes, bright resins, and bright and gentle woods to the "spiritual" and "foreboding" create an effect of misunderstanding for my nose and mind, but, at the end of the day, it smells very nice and I enjoy wearing it. Maybe that's enough. It is certainly enough for me to want to wear it repeatedly, but yet enough for me to say it is also one of the least compelling offerings from the brand.

By chance i came across simillar scent or scentprofiles at simillar time. CHI and Muskara Boswellia from Fueguia and VAR and Muskara Vetiveria from same brand. I can test them side by side and see difference approaches. In first minutes of opening of CHI is prominent Frankincense, not so thin, citrusy and airy and travelling to upward direction as in Muskara Boswellia, but more bold, anchored to the ground. Its clean and balsamic, this clean profile is corresponding somehow with VAR, but where in VAR im perceiving this “clean” as masculine, here in CHI is for me more feminime. The skin accord reminds me a skin, but brown type of skin. The scent profile is playing with me on erotic side, i can imagine this on a beutiful brown/dark skined woman and due to this reason im perceiving it more like feminine fragrance. I said it in case of ARA and ARC as perfumes for partners and its same in case of CHI and VAR. They will be ideal fragrances for couples. At this point i cant say more, will need to spend more time with it.

CHI opens - defensive, alert. An elegant authority. As the tattoo ritual commences, you participate in something more intimate, sacred. The notes develop from peppery, woody, almost abstractly floral as if Japanese roses were blooming outside - into something more sweet, subtle and balsamic as the tension releases and guards are relaxed. The perfume perfectly presents its story. A dry down that smells of intimacy and the experience of being the only one permitted to have skin to skin contact with an honorable warrior. You catch a glimpse behind private screens, witness the gentle beast. Musk and incense are some of my favourite notes, and this scent resonates. As unique as the olfactory experience is the divine colour of the perfume, a shade of light red / pink. Congrats to the noses for another successful chapter of the INK concept.

CHI is a super smooth and appealing creation! It's not only unique but incredibly potent. It starts with a strong, pungent ginger accord that's very sharp and natural. Oud, olibanum, and elemi oil shine through with deep smoke and rich balsamic aromas, and beetroot adds a fascinating twist. The deep beetroot red hue is just as irresistible as the scent itself. Performance is exceptional, even as a 100% natural perfume with perfect sillage. It's a must-have for Mallo enthusiasts, as it won't be on sale for long.

I blind bought it unfortunately I didn't like it. If someone is interested please let me know.