1# nota di viaggio (rites de passage)

This is so gorgeous! When I spray it on my hand it turns my hand into a resinous pine tree log. I sniff it and sniff it and can't get enough. It smells somewhat different on my cotton T-shirt but it is just as good there too. I was so surprised when smelling this scent -- that there is something like that at all. After I had watched the introduction videos in the producer's website I marked those that would interest me. This was not in the list. And I don't know yet how those I marked will smell to me. Their big tester set will be a very interesting journey in the world of Meo Fusciuni. The start is very promising. This scent reminds me the very woody and resinous Uduviir (means Blanket of Fog, by Estonian HURM perfume) where benzoin is also in the list of notes. Edit: I only dared to finish this small sample 6 months later... I noticed someone had marked this as similar to Cowboy Grass. Really? I thought for a second. Yes, they are similar, I have a full bottle of CG. But I wouldn't have thought these two are similar by myself. Interesting how comparing scents works and doesn't work. The similarity was most probably hidden from me because I read the stories behind these scents written by their authors and these are very different stories and pictures. There you go, telling a story changes one's perception. Edit2: bought a full bottle despite the price. It is just so amazing, amazing among amazing.

Instant brilliance. A powerhouse pepper. Not pink pepper but black spicy pepper. Mixed with patchouly and oud. Some people say there is star anise which I pick up and understand. I quite like it. It's adventurous. It's almost exciting. Titillating to the wearer and subtlety alluring. It's similar to psychedelique in that the patchouly is pungent and enveloping to the point of almost intoxication. It is a powerhouse as I mentioned before. You can tell this is created from a real connoisseur. He cares about his work and this is more than just a job to him. It seems like an autobiography. This is what you want. If you are a true collector finding something like this is exciting. Perhaps this is the whole idea behind the name Rites Of Passage. It is an olfactory maiden voyage according to Giuseppe, hence why it is number one in the trilogy. It's about finding yourself and testing yourself. And this fragrance gets you in the mindset. A true artisan. This is the first in my samples and I'm excited to try the next of them. Stay tuned.

Bright, fresh, very natural gem from Giuseppe Imprezzabile. Every single note he lists for this perfume is detectable, yet I was still surprised with this blend. On opening, it’s very crisp and citrusy- black pepper grapefruit and bergamot, but that very quickly makes way to let the Ylang Ylang and frankenscense shine through until it settles into a Vetiver base. With exception to the pepper and bergamot, all the notes are present throughout most of the wear. It reminds me of a very natural hotel spa. Or like leaving the spa after you’ve showered with their amenities, and you feel relaxed yet very alive. Actually, come to think of it, it reminds me a lot of the Aesop skin care line. Very rejuvenating yet calming. Very beautiful. It’s listed here on fragrantica as a chypre, but I don’t get that at all. It’s very light and refreshing. Morning Daytime wear outdoors, but def an at home or bedtime fragrance as well. Very pleasing, but performance is not great.

I'm sure you all are aware of a cooking spice that we use at home: tellicherry black peppercorns. Very bright smoky sour bitter opening. It overpowers everything else that is in this fragrance and is so unbalanced at the start. Wait for the drydown in 10 minutes. It later dials back and shows a facet of very earthy resiny citrussy patchouli piney, slight woodiness. That wood is not your typical sandalwood. Quite a dark, piney smell yet with slight soft nuances with it. Still, big bad smoky tellicherry black peppercorn is bigdaddy all the way. A walk through a mysterious dark pine forest only to stumble upon a tellicherry peppercorn farm run by the indian cartel type of smell. I'd wear it to public or at home. Gives off a different impression. Very bold, a bit polarizing with the smoky black pepper. Statement maker. I'd give it a solid 8.5, definitely not breaking an 8.5. All season except for summer.

Sampling all of the brands scents at the moment. Sprayed twice on one arm and once on the other. The one spray didn’t last long, faintly lasted a couple of hours. The arm with two sprays lasted around five hours. I could smell the grapefruit throughout this time. It’s not a powerful fill a room scent but it’s not trying to be, you want to keep sniffing your arm because this is just so attractive and I’ve enjoyed wearing it so much. The patchouli and vetiver along with that grapefruit stood out for me. It reminds me of being somewhere (can only imagine Istanbul as I’ve never been) where it’s hot and you are taking a morning walk (for me it would be a coffee hunt!!) and just the smell of shops opening up, citrus fruit being juiced, maybe a little stale skin that hasn’t yet showered, it’s really evocative of warmth in a city. Really enjoyed wearing this.

Opens with a peppery/fresh fantastic rosewood note. The blackpepper will calm down to let a legendary vetiver note (the main player in this fragrance) lead the show. In the base, the vetiver is still there, but will get support of a noticeable patchouli and a bit of incense. This stands on the same shelf with AdO Cuir Sacre, Jovoy Private Label, but most of all Monsillage Pays Dogon, that I might replace with this one at some point, since #1NdV does it probably (a tiny) bit better, and can be found for a similar price/ml. Projection is good, but falls after the 2 hours-mark, and the only issue I have with this one is the longevity: totally gone after 3 hours total. Might have to retest it further, as for now, I find it a bit shortlived for a $200 fragrance. Note: this is a review for the EDP.

I really love this fragrance. I was looking for something spicy, with some vetiver, geranium, and some citrus. This delivered in spades. It also includes some nice woods and incense along with the prominent pepper. Seriously, you must like (or have nothing against) pepper to enjoy this fragrance. Like most Meo Fusciuni fragrances, performance is excellent. I get 8+ hours longevity, and sillage is great at 3-4 hours. It leans masculine and I would say it is for someone 25+. The pepper and incense demands attention and is mysterious and serious. If you like geranium or vetiver based fragrances, you should give this a look. This completely supplanted Pays Dogon by Monsillage for me.

This is one of those rare scents due to its originality, depth and quality. It is also polarizing as it is harsh, dark and peppery in the beginning, over the incense undertone at first. What that means is that some might not like it at first but do give it a try as it is a truly beautiful scent. A love for me. Also, this is definitely EDP level of concentration. Very strong and long lasting!

Genius, the definition of a man's scent. A combination of Music for a while /F.M./ with a bit of Byerley /PdM/. Private label / Jovoy/ no resemblance.

It has a weird anise note in the beginning, but mellows out into a smokey grey scent. Smells like New Bedford, Mass.

Sometimes I can be fooled into believing that I am immediately falling in love with a perfume. Then I come to realize that I simply enjoy it, or in the least, I need to spend more time with it—really figure it out. Such is the case with this Nota di Vaggio - Rites de Passage. First on paper it reads as shadowy, peppery rosewood, accented with geranium. Just the sort of thing that would appeal to me. Now on skin: it feels far more oleaginous, like mahogany polished with linseed oil through a mentholated haze. It's strangely somewhere between a clinical space and a curio cabinet. I'm transfixed. I am almost fooled into falling in love. Yes, it's dark and mysterious. There is a vague fleshy layer. It's usually a good sign if I keep sniffing. I pick up a lot of cinnamon. Then it becomes more obvious that vetiver does much of the heavy lifting here, which I certainly do not object to, but it does leave me a bit cold. I simply enjoy it, but I am not floored. This theme has been explored before with more certainty we will say. I would rather seek out a more dynamic creation from the early Diptyque years or the Santa Maria Novella catalogue.

A fresh, lively black pepper and geranium opening with a leathery patchouli. Vetiver carrying grassy, hay-like, dry, green feels in every sense, and of course an incense feel. These are what I pick up the most. If the vetiver were a bit stronger, the atmosphere would head towards the forest, but here it's heading to the cathedral... Beyond these, there's also something with a dominant citrusy side that gives a slight turpentine feel (I usually sense this in perfumes that contain elemi), but what I get most is the patchouli, and it's above everything. The moment I close my eyes with this one, for some reason dark and abandoned historic buildings come to mind, and for some reason the times I wandered through the back streets of Prague at night. Something makes this scent dark, desolate and sorrowful... Even though the drydown reaches a slightly warm powdery softness, the leathery patchouli weight never subsides. This is the seventh scent I've tried from Meo and it's never disappointed me. Same here, it fills my atmospheric scent gap in every way. Tag(s): dark but lively, leathery, patchouli dominant, moody, sorrowful

What a great profile. Sharp burst of pepper with a hint of citrus in the opening. Develops later into a nice woody profile with geranium mostly for me. In the base, I mostly get vetiver and some incense. Patchouli is very faint on my skin. This is magic. And by magic, I mean it disappears around 3 hours. Not sure what is happening. I picked up a few samples from this house through Ministry of Scent. On test strips, I wasn't impressed. On skin, I like it. Just wouldn't pay the cost for something that barely makes it to 3 hours. Shame. I find the profile rather enjoyable.

From my ScentXplore samples. Starts very lemony with piny frankincense then slowly transitions into a green patchouli and vetiver. Takes you back to the original Ottoman-style colognes when they were deep and rich and not just a citrus bomb. So well blended and crafted. The perfumer it seems has a clear intention in this series; to bring out the depth of the original colognes from these three locations (Istanbul, Sicily, and Morroco) through artistic interpretation, high quality ingredients and vintage perfumery. Will try to smell the rest of the series.

Mossy earth and cold cobblestone, as an incense wafts through the air at midnight, on the silent walk to some ritual.

This smells like eucalyptus-citronellol-based essence oil to me. It is very sharp at opening. I get why this fragrance is loved and renowned for its drydown. It is a pretty drydown, but the scent does not last. 3/5 because the longevity is a total letdown. If you want a similar fragrance that lasts longer, I recommend Diptyque's "Eau Duelle", the Eau de Toilette edition. While the enlisted notes may be different, the scent profile is much the same.

The ylang-ylang is fairly pronounced on my skin. I'd likely prefer it on someone else. I do find it interesting that many feel it's more masculine-leaning. Fairly close on the skin, like a scented lotion. I can see why someone could feel it's slightly medicinal. Likely pleasant enough to be someone's signature scent, day or night, in the workplace or out, spring and summer.

There is a romanian brand called Matca (not present on Fragrantica yet). This smells 90% like their fragrance called "Lurra". The notes from Lurra are presented on the official site as: Top Notes: Grapefruit Middle Notes: Neroli, Cinnamon Base Notes: Cedarwood, Frankincense, Vetiver

🌅 Dawn at the Constantinople Bazaar 🧿 It's five in the morning, and I'm walking through the still-empty Grand Bazaar. Ahmed, the spice merchant, is untying his burlap sacks. He opens the first one with black pepper - the grains spill onto the counter, and their sharp scent fills the narrow passage. On the counter lie grapefruits, still damp with dew. Ahmed cuts one in half - the juice spurts out tart and mixes with the pepper in the air like the first, sharp conversation of the day. But this scent has a life of its own. After several minutes, the pepper mellows, giving way to something more refined. From the depths of the shop emerges the aroma of dried ylang-ylang flowers and geranium leaves. They smell sweet, but orientally so - geranium stings delicately, ylang-ylang wraps like a silk scarf. Everything changes, transforms, as if this bazaar were awakening with the sun. Where the light doesn't reach, a different atmosphere prevails - earthy and deep. Patchouli and vetiver emerge from canvas bags like the smell of damp earth after rain, roots slumbering in darkness. This is the darker side of the bazaar, places where they trade in what's not immediately visible. And then, when I think I know everything about this place, I spot it - a small niche in the wall, barely visible between the stalls. A figurine of Jesus, an Orthodox cross, lit candles. Incense rises in heavy clouds, benzoin mixes with smoke, and sandalwood smells like old floorboards polished by thousands of footsteps. Suddenly the same scent that began with sharp pepper in the sun ends mystically - deep, dark, sacred. The first Nota di Viaggio is precisely this journey through history. From screaming spices to quiet prayer, from commerce to spirituality. Constantinople - Istanbul in one bottle, with all its complexity. @the.scent.files

Black pepper, ylang, and grapefruit blast on a wooden convas. It's oily, creamy balm of roots like pepper, where you can sense patchouli, grapefruit, rosewood, slight incense, ylang, and doses of black pepper that mingles with the crew later on. I can't detect any benzoin, but vetiver & geranium are crystal clear. It's more on the spicy side, i just don't see it presenting Istanbul and bazaars in general as Giuseppe is seeing! remains peppery.

~several hand test/global wearing You may think I went mad, but opening is literally Beau De Jour Tom Ford. Right after that it goes more into patchouli and woody territory with spicy nuances (so far). Patchouli is slightly minty and together with incense creates mystic yet classy masculine aroma. I don't detect >that< much pepper but citruses are present. Longevity is not the best, so is projection.

Lemony frankincense. 1# nota di viaggio (rites de passage) is a fresh/transparent incense composition with green undertones. Aromatic during the opening due to a remarkable geranium note, slightly more earthy in the drydown with the addition of vetiver. Sits somewhere between Diptyque's L'Eau Trois and Miller Et Bertaux Spiritus/Land. Nice but not exciting. Rating: 6.5/10

Peppery, serious, sombre. It comes at you, very strong opening, definitely not safe blind buy. Amaricant, refined, good sillage, a bit medicinal. Man, 35+ and you need the right attitude to wear this perfume or it will definitely wear you. I can imagine it would be quite sensual...

Reminds me a mix between Bracken Man Amouage + Ambre Sultan Serge Lutens In dry down it's exactly BMA and I prefer Bracken Man Amouage :)

Too sharp and astringent for me. Very strong