Intrigant Patchouli 08

When I first tried on Intrigant Patchouli, it looked at me, smiled and whispered in my ear, "I'm the one you've been searching for all this time..." It was one of those moments we've all had. I have been on a patchouli bender for a little while now and have experienced some truly amazing examples, but when this hit me, I knew I'd found what I didn't actually realise I was looking for. And even more surprising to me was that the subconscious link for me to this was quite lowbrow, historical and almost forgotten entirely. This is definitely the most I've been hit with scent memory by a fragrance and where it took me was right back to the late 1980's Melbourne bong shops (Americans seem to call the 'head shops'), at I time I was just discovering hardcore punk music and this was pretty much the only place you could buy the coolest band t-shirts, demo tapes and pick yourself up some incense and maybe some metal studs for your leather jacket or some punk jewellery etc. As a newly blooming teenager, these were the coolest of times and the love of all that discovery for me, must be well rooted in the smell of these places. But enough of that. The fragrance itself is beautifully layered and crafted, with a triple dose of patchouli being clearly the mainstay. I also get a refined but subtle sandalwood in the base, and a smokey benzoin rounding off the effect. It lasts really well and wafts nicely around you at an arms length for a while before returning to base where I enjoy wafts of it all day. Smells great on my clothes too. If like me, you've ever opened up a fresh box of Nag Champa incense and thought, "man, I wish I could smell like that", then get your hands on Intragent Patchouli, because to me, this is that smell totally nailed. Not for the first 10-20 minutes mind you, when the more complex top notes are burning off, which is gorgeous too, but afterwards....that dry down. I absolutely love it! As I said earlier, that may seem a tad low brow and I wasn't ready for it to smell like it does, but when it hit me, well... Let's say I think I may have finally found a signature scent. I could easily wear this every day, for ever and ever!

I absolutely love it! I've sampled tons of patch perfumes, and this is the only one that seems truly unusual. It does smell purple--like grape a little bit. I can't believe I am saying this, but it reminds me very much of Elizabeth Taylor's Passion. There is so much patchouli at first that I didn't have high hopes for it to turn into anything exciting. I was wrong. Benzoin (one of my favorite notes) quickly crept in and was very strong. I adore the heart of this perfume. While it's a resin and patch-heavy perfume, it's never too much. There is a certain powdery aspect that saves it from becoming dark and gothic. It's well-behaved, kind of ladylike. It does still have a darker feel to it, but there is also an irresistible softness that reminds me of my favorite pair of black leather gloves that I lost a few years ago. They were soft as silk. And if you told me there was a leather note here, I'd believe you. This also reminds me very much of Tauer's Le Maroc Pour Elle. It smells like incense, and I agree with the comparisons to nag champa. Tauer's perfume was too sweet and powdery for me. I guess it's fair to say that Intrigant Patchouli is what I wished LMPE would be. This is a solid winner.

Ditto what antfarm said. This is definitely a patchouli fragrance, but it's a slightly more dirty patch than that of Coromandel or Portrait Of A Lady, which seem more refined in comparison. There is an unctuous, resinous quality that hearkens to the earthy scents of an earlier vintage, and these elements render the whole more complex and romantic, to my nose. This reminds me of digging through trunks from my grandmother's attic, but it also feels a contemporary take on romantic scents of yesteryear. This is an Edwardian settee with threadbare velvet upholstery, time-warped to next week from Oscar Wilde's favorite opium den. Love this. Want more, and will definitely be purchasing a full bottle of this one.

Simply put: this smells purple. I agree with Jillzilla, on my skin this is nag champa incense and patchouli with a soft and comfy drydown. During the first half hour there are some intensely animalic notes going on: honey and civet at the very least. I happen to like animalic notes in general and find these to be very well done, however if you are not a fan of animalics you will definitely not appreciate this phase of development. The rest of the scent is pretty sweet for my taste, and gets quite musky, jasmine-y and powdery. How the folks here decided to classify this as a chypre I will never know. It is absolutely, 100% an oriental.

Finally something pleasant from PG! (I'm exploring Origami samples set and it's so disappointing, perfumer adds so much "sugary" notes into all perfumes, seems that this set on it's own can give diabetes! I normally like sweet-warm perfumes, but PG is so oversweet even for me, like mass-market, sorry) But this one is nice, probably due to the fact it was intended to be Chypre (not really a Chypre but at least not >50% sugar in this juice); patchouli not overwhelming; altogether it's balanced.. uff at least something to consider...