Lapis Lazuli

I received my small bottle from Paris today, it's gorgeous and so unlike anything else...much like the stone is far more beautiful that the lazurite, sodalite, calcite and pyrite are alone. This is woody AND aromatic AND balsamic shot through with shimmers of floral sparkles and fine veins of musk and vegetation. Its balance of warm tones and cooler ones makes this something truly breathtaking. NOTES written by Olivier Durbano's own hand: TOP-Artemisia, cypress, tea tree, clove, rose oxide HEART-Thyme, plant milk, spelt, iris BASE-vetiver, cedar wood, ambergris, elemi, tolu & musk It has the same mineral aura only it is denser in its composition but smooth as if polished on a fragrant lapidary wheel and buffed until it shimmers. Its gorgeous jus is a rich cyan hue and despite that, it is nowhere near "aquatic" or fresh-other than the herbs' greens and vegetal components. I have only sprayed it quickly and had to run errands and do a lot of housework I had been neglecting but it did definitely give me a lift and the more I moved and worked the more aware I was of its scent and the better it got! On the whole I seem to like the more opaque stones in this collection (tourmaline, jade, lapis, heliotrope) but all of them have a definite magick and glow to them that is unlike any other house I have encountered. More to come, after a full wearing on at least three different occasion! Smell swell & be well, GP xo

The fragrances of Olivier Durbano are like really good poems where I reread the most beautiful lines and just savor each word, ponder each passage and allow the imagery to unfold in my mind. In Lapis Lazuli, there is the shimmer of impressionistic vegetation, at one moment indistinct, and at another, lucid and outlined. I am reminded of this huge swath of mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) that grows at a nearby sanctuary called Broadmoor. Mugwort is a relative of wormwood, emitting a bittersweet camphor, reminiscent of sage, spruce needles, and of course its aforementioned close cousin, Artemisia absinthium. In the sanctuary it grows among yarrow, milkweed, and dogbane. The combination of wormwood and thyme in Lapis Lazuli reminds me of walks through this patch of land. I also pick up on the grain accord here, which is meant to represent spelt, with a nutty wheat sensation, which melds the grassiness and the herbs with its warmer tolu and resins in its base. The merging of such contrasting facets is ambitious for any perfumer as it risks clashing and dissonance, but here it works so well, really setting an evocative scene: a retreat among the wild brush, perhaps after a rainfall. I file this under fragrances to wear when one plans to daydream.

The notes show us something else than what i get on the paper, i get a beautiful minty spicy scent with resins, its seriously a hidden gem! Try if you like Amouage Memoir Man, this has that vibe but more oceanic, in a way better way than most oceanic releases. More masculine, but honestly, unisex.

This is a very worm rock so is the blend, most probably it's hot. The dominants are the richness of thyme and rosemary blended together, adding elemi and some balsamic note & cloves. It reminds me allot of his other creation "Jade". Quite medicinal and herbal.