Rahele

Tavernier, Bernier, and Thévenot may have gone a bit too far north east in their explorations of Asia, or so is the impression I’m getting from Rahele. It’s one of the more striking presentations of osmanthus, the most ubiquitous of far east Asian roses, that I’ve smelled in a long time. The rich aromas, colors, and vibrant energies of India - that are so well depicted in Vermeire’s perfumes - aren’t present here as my nose interprets it; I find something much more proper, prim, quiet, soft, and detailed, fit for Chinese royalty perhaps. This is a good thing. Vermiere has shown she is capable of giving us very symphonic, colorful, and rich stories with Duchaufour as her narrator, and Rahele kicks-off that way, but the heart takes the opposite approach. The bitter orange, cardamom, and violet leaf opening is gorgeous. Oranges, beiges, greens, yellows and purples swing around you like stiff saris in a Holi festival dance. The osmanthus joins in almost immediately. In most depictions osmanthus comes across as gently floral, guava fruity, a touch leathery and woody, silky and slightly sweet. Here, the characters of the top steer the flower into a dry, stiff, and green presentation that is as captivating as it is energetic. Then the movement to the heart brings the osmanthus directly into pink, powdery, rose territory backed by an enormous amount of dry and starchy orris. The osmanthus and the orris keep the perfume balanced between blushing cheeks and a gentle smile, and cool formality. It's quiet, restrained, and has no desire to be opulent, pushy, or grandiose - quite the opposite. However, smell it at a distance; with a bit of air this heart diffuses quite gently but also quite powerfully into the air in a very beautiful way, but stick your nose straight to skin and be ready to possibly get a headache. It can be a bit tough to deal with very up close. We finish up with the NVC standard of a lactone heavy sandalwood base that has been directed to follow the heart’s mandate of providing some quiet spaciousness and restrained richness, with cedar and a big dose of mosses giving the otherwise thick and heavy sandalwood some stiff and aromatic pepperiness, and damp, airy woods. The moss does a lot of the heavy lifting. This is one of the least nuanced and detailed of NVC’s perfumes I have smelled so far; normally every one of NVC’s perfumes has every nook and cranny filled with some note or texture that gives an incredibly rich opulence. Not Rahele, but, again, this is not a bad thing. What you can smell is still very rich and sublime, but it leaves you with plenty of space to fully enjoy it without distraction. Relatively speaking, this is not a light, airy, effervescent and translucent perfume, but it is for an NVC. It's lovely. Rahele is one of the most elegant presentations of osmanthus I have smelled in a long time, but it is also one of the least compelling NVC perfumes of the NVC perfume line. This is a good thing, again; sometimes, a perfume simply should be pretty - no statements or grandeur needed. Vermeire and Duchaufour seem to have stepped out-of-line to give us a perfume a bit atypical but yet very familiar. Every smell of it is one that I enjoy, and it makes me quietly wonder what might happen next, even at the points I know that the journey is over. You cannot ask for much more than that.

This is lovely. It has grace and balance, you can tell there are high quality natural essences and it's quite an abstract blend that feels very refined. After the green/citric opening, which has noticeable cardamom, the general impression into drydown is of softness (osmanthus) and depth (leather and woods) with the freshness of cardamom woven into this softness to lift the perfume and lend it a green mildly spicy piquancy. The violet and violet leaf no doubt lighten the perfume. Not that any of these notes stands out individually, it's so well balanced. Jeca (review below) is right that it doesn't feel the same as Vermeire's previous creations, this feels more low-key, more reserved, slightly powdery (possibly iris effect and ambery notes) and generally less sensual, spicy or sweet than Trayee, for example. There are no sugary, ice-cream or vanilla notes here, which is welcome as sweet notes would spoil the subtle sensual mood of Rahele. I think it has something in common with Lubin's Black Jade, in the touch of cardamom, cinammon and the green edge against a rounded texture, but I find Rahele far lovelier. Also, there's something here that reminds me of the drydown of Coco Chanel, but not the wan, pasty soup that passes for Coco these days! It's the refined spices and osmanthus (those of you who knew Coco and Opium from the 80s will remember the way Coco was a subtler blend, where Opium was definitely 'in-your-face'!) It does feel more typically feminine to my nose, though it could give a dandified air to a gentleman in similar vein to, say, Penhaligan's Hammam Bouquet, though Rahele is less masculine than that. I think this would be perfectly suited to Autumn, with its warmth, soft texture and subtle musk. The mood is warm, refined and gentle in far dry down. Sillage soft to medium, longvegity many hours though it becomes low key after an hour or so.

I think this is my fave from NVC. It has some character. It's quite a mix of notes. First osmanthus, then leather then spices and fruit. The violet leaf and oak moss bring an intensity to the whole. It's a Chypre with an oriental twist. It's like the chiming of oriental bells in a warm humid tropical environment. This one could easily be worn by a guy more so than the rest of the range. It has delicacy yet is not weak. Spicy, bright, osmanthus and leather. With time the violet leaf fades back and it becomes a little sweeter. There is something about it that makes me think of the ineke and jana scents. I get average longevity and sillage at the most in this cool temperature room. A shame NVC is so expensive as I might have saved up and gone fb on this one.

Rahele opens sharp and citrusy-green, and then delicately floral. It feels like a springtime tree just barely starting to bloom. It’s distinctly “perfumey” too, in a Frenchified way. Then I get a sheer layer of wood and spice, a little peppery, a little cardamom-y, vaguely tan in tonality. It blends interestingly with the florals and citrus – French feminine perfume meets Indian spice and fragrant wood. Duchaufour’s signature heavy/light effect is in evidence here; it feels like many layers of sheer gauze, dense enough for the “color” to show clearly but light enough to feel weightless and modern. A few minutes in, the florals progress to a poignant rose, like a concentrated ruby tear of some mythical tiger that weeps pure rosewater. Now we’re in cardamom-rose mode: ruby-red and tan, still with that sheer-yet-vivid gauzy texture. Yes, the rose is damasconey and the cardamom is legible, but this isn’t really a “spicy rose” in the Marrakech Intense style; it’s far more delicate and nuanced. Finally, Rahele warms up a bit with some resins and a nod to “patchouli” – it’s a (sheer) mellow brown aura, still touched with that ruby-red rose. The whole progression is over in about three hours, but it’s beautiful while it lasts.

As a long-time lover of Daim Blond, I really like the rather similar Rahele by Neela, though there are a few notable differences between them. Rahele was seemingly an attempt at the now rather oft-repeated osmanthus+leather fragrance, but on account of the fruitiness of osmanthus landed in the stone fruit leather genre which is a lineage very distantly related to Mitsouko, Femme and so on. Here, amidst Bottega Veneta and Daim Blond, Rahele is notable for its somewhat terpenic quality, again likely coming from osmanthus absolute, which gives a faintly smoky-medicinal "edge" to the scent. The floral is more complex than I really allow, with a soft bubblegum-like violet/rose backing up the thoroughly tanned base. It's surprisingly masculine for what I'd ultimately designate a feminine scent, but overall I prefer Daim Blond for being both fruitier and more leathery and less bogged down in what feels like supererogatory detail.