03. Apr. 1968

I don't know why I love smelling like burned up bits of wood and play-doh so much. Oh well, I do. Sampled from a teeny little LuckyScent vial and yes, folks, I am buying the bottle. It wafts the way a perfume should. It intrigues and delights me the way a perfume should. It makes me feel like a woman, feminine and intriguing. For the price, I think it does its job admirably well. From dabbing from a 1ml vial, other people don't seem to smell it, which is fine with me. We'll see how it behaves when it is sprayed. I like that it is intimate and does a special bejeweled and jingling jangly dance for my nose and my nose only. I see it moving under beguiling and almost-transparent veils. I could smell it at the gym when I was whooshing my arms on the elliptical, I could smell it on the tennis court as I was whacking my whiffle ball. It lifts itself up to my darling nose as I sit and do homework. It is gone in the morning, but that's fine, I just apply some more. Resinous, thin white smoke of quietly burning olibanum. A pile of purple Play-Doh heliotrope. Fruity juicy fresh pinkness in your boba tea. Squish down, chew the lychee! A transparent veil lifting in the breeze.

A gloriously excessive perfume, it reminds me a bit of burning benzoin resin (incense fans will know the scent), but mixed with a kaleidoscopic fruit accord that spans fruit cake and juicy-fruit gum, while a darkly smoky frankincense explodes in the middle. Ye boi, this scent is over-the-top. The notes don't so much blend as bounce off each other in interesting new ways, altering your perception of them on each sniff. Though we're working with a different set of notes, there's a certain kinship with Arabie and its ilk, merging Christmassy gourmand smells with a classic oriental profile (in this case, an incense scent). A sometime thing, but there's nothing quite like it when it's "on". (For whatever it's worth, I don't see the comparisons with Norma Kamali Incense. Both great scents, but nothing alike apart from being frankincense heavy.)

This right here is it! Arturetto Landi is someone who understands what makes fragrances click, and this in my opinion is his best work! There is no complicated journey this creation will take You on, this is a linear, meditative dialogue between seemingly contrasting ingredients. They talk, they argue, they get mad at eachother, and essentially settle on a compromise of the most realistic aroma of burning incense there is. With just three main notes we get caleidoscopic fractures of honey, sandalwood, tar, cherry, tea, hot steam, cold stones, soil! The list goes on and on depending on who You ask! And the performance is just on point, lasts a whole day, projects for a meter and a half, and never lets the wearer forget it's presence. A true masterpiece.

I cruised through our local niche parfumerie this afternoon, on a mission, in need of a fragrance heavy on incense. Immediately, I found a new friend, when I tried this parfum. First encounter for me: Frankincense! A little loud, and possibly sharp to some, in the beginning, but it became a beautifully soft, yet full-bodied, scent as the afternoon progressed. I'm pretty sure it's not a fragrance for everyone, but it's wonderful. Certainly, one shouldn't get carried away in the dousing. Easy does it. A very special scent.

Truly extraordinary - in a way I smell only incense, but still, at the same time, this is very complicated. Took me a while to decide if I wanted to wear this (had a sample first). This makes me think of old Italian churches: old wood, old stone walls, secrets and times long gone. Also reminds me of old books... But I find this very inspiring and lifting!