Izmir

This immediately brings memories to mind for me. If you've ever eaten at an Ethiopian restaurant and have a coffee ceremony after your meal, they bring incredibly fragrant, sometimes gently spiced coffee, and usually frankincense resin incense. It's not a contrast you might expect to bring out something magical in the coffee notes, but it does, and it's truly unique. For me, it doesn't overwhelm the senses, but fills them, and that's what this fragrance also does. I'm literally four fragrances into exploring Neil Morris's collection and they've each impressed me and resonated with me in some way. They feel very much like experiences-- like a really good movie soundtrack that communicates itself in leitmotifs across the course of a film; immersive, distinct and memorable, teaching you its language if you just listen. Izmir conjures a place, a state of mind, and memories of that aforementioned ritual, bunna. It's soft-hitting but stronger than you might expect (I'm sensing a pattern here lol), so go easy on it. First applying, I got the slightest burst of cinnamon spice and a hint of citrus, but then it bloomed on my skin as a wonderful, spicy coffee floral. You're at that cafe, you're having your coffee, and a bit of dessert, rosewater lokum/Turkish delight, and they've set flowers at your table. Someone in one of the overhead apartments nearby has incense burning through their open window. You sip the coffee and it's not just damn good coffee, but they've spiced it just enough. Everything slows down, and maybe you're chatting with someone, or enjoying personal quiet in the susurrus of the city, but it feels like your table is a cozy little bubble where you can enjoy your cuppa in a moment of peace. Re: projection, you will fill a room at a slow-to-moderate pace, so less like a wall and more like an aura. Sillage, there's a decent but not overlong trail. I'll update later if I find myself incorrect, but so far every NM frag I've tried has been long-lived to some degree, and I wouldn't be surprised if this lasts 12 hours on me. (Update: around 8 hours I could barely smell it, but others could. We're at 11.5 hours and it's still not actually a skin scent, and I can smell it very faintly in the air, and decently still on skin. Yep.) I put this on about three hours ago and it still smells about as strong, and similar. Err on the side of underspraying, since it will take a moment for the fragrance to bloom into strength. Izmir has backbone and is velvet covering steel. Wearing this, it feels like a cooler weather fragrance to me. This would overwhelm me in the summer, but this would shine in fall or winter. I can see why someone might prefer this at night because it's so chill, like a blanket, but I think this is good for day as well; I would say not so much if you're running around and things are hectic, because this fragrance feels comfortably slow to me. If anything, and maybe this is because of my association of it with the coffee ceremony, I like this as a morning smell, because that's when I make my coffee, and it's one of my daily "enjoying little things" rituals I enjoy. I think this scent is wearable regardless of how you present yourself, feels very flexibly unisex to me, though I think by numbers, I would guess more men and somewhat more confident women might opt to wear it. The impression I get from this is grounded and sensual, mysterious at a glance, but not particularly hiding itself, like meeting someone who makes easy conversation and gives off calm vibes, but you can't quite pin down. There's something steadfast but soft at its core that suggests strength, without making a big thing about it. It's the opposite of manic, but in a completely different way than say, something on offer at a spa. Focusing on its smell feels almost meditative. Anyway, yeah. If you like to brew coffee, don't just enjoy the coffee note in Izmir, but give yourself a light touch of this and then make your cup, with some chill music if you're inclined. See if it doesn't put you in the same headspace.

You'd think this cardamom rose coffee fragrance would be heavy. It is strong, but there's an undercurrent of freshness that keeps it from being weighed down. Like most of Neil's fragrances, it's complex and beautiful, and I like it more with every wear. I can smell the intent here, a bustling city center shadowed with old buildings, an outdoor cafe with each person that walks through the square sending a waft of some part of the city through the breeze.