Safina

I got this from Notino for, I think, €12. When this first goes on, it seems anemic, soapy and bitter. Heavy aldehydes and oakmoss bordering on cigarette smoke. I would expect it to be gone within an hour. BUT. Four, five hours later, it's radiating. When I move, I get a whiff of something that grabs my attention. It takes me a second to realize it's not a beautiful-smelling stranger, it's me. The soapiness is still there, but the bitterness is gone and it just smells clean. I love ELDO Exit the King, and originally got this to see if it had dupe potential. While there's some similarity on paper, the strong ylang-ylang in Safina makes it a significant departure. I'm okay with that, since I like what this is. It's slightly sweet, but the way a flower smells sweet, not sugary. Almost a little boozy with realistic ylang-ylang and rose. It's somehow stronger than when it went on. I wonder what my grandmother would have thought of it. Safina reminds me of a ylang-ylang shampoo I used in college. What it develops into is completely different from how it starts, and I love it. I should wear it more than I do, but I seem to forget it develops like this. Note that I've had my bottle for about a year, and through inattention, let it sit in the dark for months. It's possible that it's developed some on its own. Considering how cheap this was, I'm impressed, but it needs some time to settle down after application to really hit its stride.

This is really something. The opening is a like a glass of very strong rhubarb liquor, sweet and bitter at the same time, but after a couple of minutes it settles down to a beautiful and round vintage type oriental chypre. Unisex, very soapy clean and bright. Very strong and long lasting. Now when I'm in my 40s I don't really care if my perfumes are expensive or not (actually much better if they are not) or if they make some kind of statement besides that I can wear just what I want. And this really is a perfume in that category. It's not modern or trendy, but that's great because I don't want to smell like everyone else, I wan't to smell like me. It also brings back memories from my childhood in the 80s. I think that many products and perfumes smelled quite similar back then. So it's very comforting and cosy, happy times and happy memories. Love it. I could wear it anytime and everywhere. And I will.

While the rhubarb sets it apart, this may as well be called L'Esprit d'Chant. It is distinctly evocative of Cabochard and Aramis. Almost religiously following the Chant chypre skeleton. The Aldehydes formulated so specifically, they may as well be scribed in Bernard Chant's hand. I enjoy it more than Cabochard by a lot, given those aldehydes seem to elevate the galbanum on my skin to a pure celery overdose that only seems to build and build. This gives you that vaguely celery sense with the rhubarb, but it's less severe. Sweeter. Rounder. This is a brilliant throwback chypre that sits in a gorgeous liminal space between various familiarities. Great value. Surprisingly tasteful bottle design. Highly recommend to fans of Bernard Chant and classic chypres in general.

Classic Chypre fragrance... It opens very green and bright, then dries down into a warm herbacious, woody fragrance, with a little bit of mystery in the air to it. For a chypre, it is quite good... Chypre fragrances are a bit challenging for me, so I am trying to learn to appreciate them more. But memories attached to chypre scents make this difficult. I got very easily car sick when I was a child, and my grandma wore the HELL out of chypre fragrances. She used to take us on long road trips through the mountains where I would get soooooo sick in the car... So I associate the chypre smell with that motion sickness feeling.... That aside, it is a nice fragrance, and I am slowly being able to really enjoy it.

If you’re not yet into chypre scents, but you’re curious and like that kind of sweet sizzling fruit scents then check this out. This is a mood uplifting, bright sitrus-soda whit some oakmoss and that's that. Don't scare the beaver or think Cabochard, there is nothing animalic, dirty, offensive or ashtrays at all. This is very happy chypre, just try it.