Ravissa

One may be familiar with Maurer & Wirtz as the German perfume house responsible for the classics 4711 and Tabac Original. However, there were a number of other releases that had faded to obscurity over time. One such release is the ravishing Ravissa, an enchanting potion that reflected the outdoorsy zeitgeist in perfume throughout the 70s, beginning with Aliage in 1972 and culminating with Yatagan in 1978. Ravissa is a myrrh-heavy composition that would embarrass the many myrrh-centered fragrances in 2023. One would think there was a bumper crop of Commiphora myrrha resin in recent years given all the releases, but smelling them can leave a myrrh cognoscente feeling baffled and betrayed by all the hyper-vanillic and synth-amber let downs. Ravissa is what I would dream a modern niche myrrh fragrance would be, not too dissimilar to Les Indemodables Oriental Velours, but even more daring, and with that 70s élan that is hard to reproduce today. As with Oriental Velours, Ravissa pairs the myrrh with conifers, in this case a dry, green, pine instead of a chewy, damp spruce. As another layer peels back, peach lactones and herbs draw forward and something my nose detects as a dreamy, sexy costus/civet flirting with all the myrrh and bittersweet woodiness overall. A jasmine peeks through and tickles the pines (I've noticed the two harmonize, with jasmine somehow bringing out the best qualities of a pine accord). Hours in, Ravissa slinks and simmers as it settles into a darker hue of foxy, animalic amber, almost somnolent, almost driving me to my bed to just daydreaming about frolicking through the trees, maybe fall in and out of sleep, while listening to some Can or Cluster. Maybe Ravissa is the krautrock of perfumes. Maybe I am just delirious from just how great this is, like its a motorik beat chugging away to bliss.