Capite

Pane Pro Capite from O'Driu by Angelo Orazio Pregoni. An anti-gourmand perfume of powerful contrasts showcasing the most accurate bread accord I've come across while rooting a deeper message like all O'Driu compositions. When I say bread accord, I mean the stuff baked in a clay oven, not the one you find at your local store. It is an anti-gourmand because, in opposition to the savory aspect, there is a darker side underneath, with a meaningful message. The perfume is built on two layers. On the top, you get this mouthwatering buffet serving bread, cherry and strawberry jam, hot coffee, bananas, the finest cigars, and beans. The base layer is structured in antithesis to the top one—rusty metal (trash can), a dirty ashtray, and spoiled food/organic matter. A few elements link the two: vivid violet, faint jasmine, and smoky olibanum. The perfume stays rather compact, with these two sides in perpetual opposition. As such, you always get the edible and the unedible, at the same time. A gourmand that is not a gourmand. In my opinion, the composition is meant to ridicule the overabundant. The people who buy more than they need and then wastefully discard the excess, while the less fortunate ones scrap at their scant loaf of bread, which only gets less sufficient by the day. It is my favorite perfume of the last collection of four, and the most avant-garde, I would say. Someone once commented, "It smells beautiful and disturbing, at the same time". I could not agree more. I think all perfumes should aim to achieve a bit of that. After all, if I wanted to smell pretty or nice, I'd stick to the good old soap. Cheap and efficient. IG:@memory.of.scents

#1571 in my "Tour de Fragrance" I chose this scent to test and review on Christmas Day, not realizing it would be ironic as this scent is fruitcake and frankincense. Got this as a decant from scentsplit.com for $11.99. They are also the only source I see for a full bottle at $340. It is a unique fragrance. Silage was potent the second I opened the vial. At first the fenugreek was overwhelming for me. I've never enjoyed fenugreek as an ingredient in cooking. No garam masala in my spice cabinet. I have tried other scents that include fenugreek, like Amouage "Lineage", "Opus VII" and "Opus XIV." But I wouldn't consciously know fenugreek was in those scents without reading the notes. Still, it's probably why I passed on getting full bottles of them. In this scent, for me anyway, the fenugreek announced itself with a bullhorn. So this was going to be a hard fragrance for me to like from the get go. The strong fenugreek odor passed in a few minutes to be replaced by a hint of Christmas fruit cake, which in most instances I also find kind of nauseating (except for Gethsemani Farm's Bourbon Fruitcake. How those Trappist monks make deserts all day with that marvelous Kentucky bourbon without becoming raging alcoholics is a bigger mystery to me than transubstantiation). A half hour in this smells like like Guerlain "L'Homme Ideal" more than anything else I've tried. I liked the Guerlain when I tried it, and bought a bottle, but I never wear it. Same with other cherry scents. Same with raspberry scents. I save the jam for PB&J. This isn't for me. That said, strong silage and longevity. Not office wear or warm weather wear. Go easy in tight spaces. If your date's a fan of Indian restaurants you could get away with this as date wear. Definitely try before you buy.