DEV #2: The Main Act

Sote: Dev#2 by Olympic Orchids by Indie perfumer Ellen Covey, who has a lovely fascination to orchids. But what started with orchid fragrances has turned into a much bigger platform for non-orchid perfume gems with time. This work-of-art scent contains the notes of: three different kinds of labdanum, tolu balsam, black agar, woody base notes, musks, castoreum, civet, cistus oil, incense, immortelle absolute, cade, davana, and leather. It’s spiced up with a tiny dab of rose, clove, cardamom, cinnamon, and cinnamon leaf (official site). Well the perfume is based on a theme. Five chapters of the novel: Quantum Demonology by Sheila Eggenberger. This is the the no.2 in the series hence the name Dev#2: The Main Act. It represents the dangerous attraction of an innocent lady to the devil....and the artist has chosen apt ingredients to put life into words....the premise is interesting.... As soon as you spray this complex hellraiser....your olfactory receptors will be stunned by the spicy musty dirty stingy powerful combination of dry incense tolu balsam and the animalics...the skin feels the warmth of it....as if you are an innocent lamb staring into the eyes of the devil engulfed in holy fire....and as the imagination flies.....the skanky castoreum gives way to a beautiful sensual civet musk a la civet monster diaghilev (close to dirty deer musk minus the complexities) and the clove, mentholic and sharp, providing a sense of coolness as if the devil is convincing your spirit to douse the flames and save the devil's soul.....it's reflecting your own innocence in its eyes....and trying to fool you...with the dry burnt very tiny hints of rose....and as you move closer to him....you can feel the smell of burnt leather and the remains of the holy ritual....the mentholic clove and musk.... and the sweet cinnamon in the background now are obvious....is this some sort of trickery....is the devil playing tricks.....the story shall continue in the third chapter or the third scent in the series.... This perfume reignites my belief in the talent of humble perfume makers who put passion above profits. The ingredients and the expertise of blending is pretty obvious to the most refined and experienced noses (compare Taeur's LADDM). At a humble price point of 65 dollars for a 30ml (5ml,15ml available too) parfum concentration you do not get a jewel studded relic but a piece of olfactory art. A dry spicy leathery smoky animalic gem which does not seek attention but will be a perfect companion to souls who need more than just a crowdpleasing scent. The experience lasts a very long time. 2 sprays can stay 16+ hours with good projection leaving a nice texture on skin. All I say is don't let the humble presentation fool you. Grab this if your olfactory greed seeks a joyful medieval dream inducing magic potion. A pleasant weather is needed to enjoy the whole experience. I thank the artist from the core of my heart. This is an advanced scent and definitely a full bottle worthy for my needs and prefernces.

I was waiting for this to come up on Fragrantica to write this review. This is absolutely amazing, however you have to be considerate with this one, because the clove/cinnamon combo is not for everyone, and unfortuantely for me, that someone is my wife. I would otherwise wear this as my ideal signature scent, it performs amazingly and it lasts an eternity. Let me start with the bad parts, then the good. For me, the smoke note used in this, acutally smells more like a smoked meat, I dont really dig that, but that part does stay in the background. Then in the very deep drydown, around the 8 hour mark, the cinnamon turns a little bit to a more syrupy kind of smell, and I also dont dig that. But what is amazing about this, is the longevity, and I do LOVE that clove note. I like to do outdoor work whenever I can, and since my wife doenst like this one, I sprayed this on my work gloves, it combined with the leather to form an everlasting fragrance. We are talking last summer is when I sprayed this on, and you can still smell it on the gloves and in fact, after taking the goves off, my hands are lightly fragranced by this concoction. And whats amazing is that it only took the best parts of the fragrance, and kept them, that syrupy cinnamon was gone, as well as the smoked meat. The rest of this potion is absolutely stunning, and I LOVE absolutely LOVE 1 spray of this, and for 8 solid hours, it is heavenly. If clove was not such an offensive note to some (cinnamon has that effect as well) I would wear this everyday. If you can get past the smoked meat and let it settle, and if you enjoy clove, this is for you.

Deep, dark and dirty in all the best ways. Huge cinnamon and spice burst at first, but definitely not in any sort of cutesy Christmassy-gourmand-baked-goods style - rather, a serious walloping with great rough burlap sackloads of raw cloves and pepper and cardamom, along with a billowing bark-like aura of the cinnamon sticks. All very savoury rather than sweet, throbbing with lusty botanical attitude. And the animalics give it even more heft, taking the whole thing to an even funkier, sexier, more beastly space yet. On me, the dry down goes even slightly bitter (juniper and artemisia maybe) while the immortelle is mercifully held in check. Those who hate the dark will loathe this, for there's an unmistakeable edge of really growly, grunting stank in the bottom end - possibly even verging on acrid or sweaty, depending on your chemistry and perception. Definitely conjures up shades of a lover's armpit after a hard night ... but personally I don't mean that as a criticism. This one's possibly as dark as I would want to go - any further and you'd be in Black Afgano territory - but it is absolutely magnetic and charismatic if this sort of thing is your bag. Nothing remotely artificial, cloying or ugly about it - but rugged? Hell yeah. A sexy beast for sure. Definitively unisex I think - its female wearers will generally like other grunty, un-sweet scents, while its male ones will be anyone who loves properly dirty spice. Sillage is firm but not dramatic, longevity is near-epic. You need confidence to take this one on, but roll with it and good things will happen.

Amazing and definitely one of my favorites based on incense and it is very likely that Francesca Bianchi copied it by creating Byzantine Amber. Because it is based mainly on natural oils, it has this characteristic opening that many creations of this house have, reminiscent of olive oil with vinegar, which does not last even a minute and immediately begins to evolve and takes on a lively sensation of aged red sweet wine, to reach its center which is a bomb of honey labdanum and incense, supported by leather, sweet spices, full of resins and animalistic suspicions. Bold fragrance with an intense style of mystique eroticism, something between a Dionysian orgy and an ancient Tandra union ritual! If someone sees it from a distance and more cynically, they might associate it with those hippie shops selling dreamcatchers and incense sticks. It literally sticks to the skin, 8 hours after I put it on and after a shower, I can still detect it on me! I really want to try the rest of the "Devil Scent series", as it is a pentalogy of Dev #1, Dev #2, Dev #3, Dev #4 and LIL, inspired by Sheila Eggenberger's novel, Quantum Demonology, which all combined represent a scent that evolves and tells a story! Unique and beloved Ellen Covey who never compromises and creates not just perfumes, but art!

I love this perfume, but I have come to realize the packaging probably needs an upgrade, because the perfume is evaporating noticeably. The sprayer top is screwed on tight and the lid is on over it, all in a dark climate controlled cabinet. After I became suspicious that this was happening I marked the liquid level with a sharpie on the bottle to confirm I wasn't imagining it, and without spraying it since then the liquid level is now almost 1/8" lower in about 6-8 weeks. I have never had this problem with any other perfume. I suspect that the sprayer top is not a tight fit with the threads on the glass bottle. Does anyone else have this issue with 30ml Olympic Orchids spray bottles? Edit: I am going to try teflon tape on the threads of the screw-on spray cap. I will update after enough time has passed as to whether or not this worked. Edit: the teflon tape works!