Thaumas

I really love the way Giovanni Sammarco handles florals and appreciate the time he takes working on a new creation. I want artists to take all the time necessary and focus on the creative process, without pressure from retailers or giving in to market demands about what and when to release something new. Therefore, when I heard back in 2024 that Sammarco was introducing a new scent to their line, I was eager to try it, since I own quite a few and I knew it would be worthwhile. However, I postponed it. I first looked over the note list and how the fragrance was presented, as well as community feedback. There were several things that I wasn’t so sure about: “powdery and fruity” is most often a pair made in Hell for me, and further looking at the notes listed, I felt it was maybe a spin of the already brilliant Ariel (Orris and Sandalwood heavy floral composition). I took my time. Last year, I requested a sample with a purchase. I sprayed it on the blotter and was floored by it. An instant love. The opening was so good that I started bracing myself, expecting it to go South (the powdery-fruity thing). But it never did. No powder and no sweet fruitiness on my skin. Floral? Or is it? The best way I can describe this fragrance is: if one were to think of the fattiest, creamiest, homemade butter, but instead of milk, one would use flowers. This smells like butter made of flowers. Straight-up. It is so creamy and buttery that you can smell the texture. A salty quality accompanies the fragrance throughout. And then, behind this salty and creamy veil, I pick up the Narcissus and the Jasmine. I personally get no fruity nuances, nor the powdery or the sweet ones. To me, Thaumas is not sweet at all, but rather salty. Thaumas doesn’t shift significantly throughout the wear. For me, that can be a problem, unless the scent is so satisfying that I wish it wouldn’t change, and that is the case here. Moreover, despite lacking in vertical development, I find it fascinating in the way it builds on this “floral-butter accord,” and love picking up various facets that help construct that imagery. I reckon the culprits responsible for this savory texture are: orris, sandalwood, jasmine, and ambergris. Each contributes to certain aspects of it - the orris and the sandalwood provide the creamy and buttery texture, ambergris the saline quality, and jasmine the milky quality. One can think of this perfume as a heavy orris-sandalwood duet, much like with Ariel, but that is merely the core structure. And it differs greatly from the one in Ariel. The latter plays on the spicy, milky, sweet facets of the sandal and the chalky facets of orris. Thaumas is more about the buttery wood and the creamy orris. The use of ambergris should not be overlooked, as it does such a terrific job in lending a salty touch to the composition. Lastly, the florals, from which I mostly pick up the narcissus, one of my favorite floral materials, which plays on the leathery and skin-like nuances, while the jasmine plays on the milky ones. There is also a hint of smokiness, very subtle, but undoubtedly there. All in all, this latest addition to the line also became my favorite of everything Giovanni has created. It might not be as cerebral and captivating as Ariel, nor as sexual as Alter, and it lacks the bad-boy gusto of Bond-T, but it is so deeply satisfying. For me, it is pure joy and comfort; the warmest, coziest blanket. Or the thickest, creamiest slice of butter, which I stopped indulging in a long time ago, so I might very well indulge in Thaumas. IG:@memory.of.scents

“Thaumas married Electra, the daughter of the deep flowing Ocean , and she bore the swift Iris” An incredibly underrated fragrance that, for reasons unknown, has flown under the radar—but I am confident it will achieve its deserved recognition in the realm of popular niche perfumes. Thaumas is a masterpiece where every element is perfectly placed. A dusty-creamy composition of iris and sandalwood is enlivened by vibrant hints of jasmine and softened by muted, non-acidic fruity undertones of fig and apricot. A particularly clean, saline, and sandy ambergris anchors the whole structure, enhancing and salting each note with precision. Comforting, extraordinarily beautiful, androgynous yet sensual, elegant yet mysterious—serene yet alluring. As it dries down, the fragrance reveals its distinctly marine inspiration, evoking the scent of sunburnt, salt-kissed skin. What lingers is a creamy, salty sandalwood delicately complemented by fruity nuances.

Powdery orris and sandalwood paired with slightly sweet fruity notes and soft florals, has a slight saltiness to me.

When I have heard that a new released perfumed was named after a - not so well known - god of Greek mythology, I was extremely glad; in a panorama where brands (and perfumers) sell fake (or induced) emotions without any concept behind them, THAUMAS is a relief. And yes! I am proud that the perfumer, Giovanni Sammarco, is Italian! THAUMAS was a sea-god, mentined in Hesiodus's Theogony; the poet there explains the genealogy of all the gods; in particular, Thaumas will marry Electra and have four off-springs: Iris, Archè, and the Harpies. Plato, (here an interesting point) relate the name Thaumas to the name thauma, meaning wonder. In the excert Socrates claims that he who thinks that Iris is the daughter of Thaumas will do a good genealogy. The perfume is for me about wonder (the marvellous) more than the marine and it is about iris, more than an acquatic scent (fortunately for me). And this is why I chose this excert from Plato's Theaetetus where Socrates claims that he who thinks that Iris is the daughter of Thaumas will do a good genealogy. For what I understood from the really tiny sample that @ecuacion_natural_perfumes insist on sending (the quantity is not enough to evaluate a complex perfume as this is), Thaumas revolves around three axis: a beautiful orris butter (yeah, in the hand of a skilled perfumer, an iris overdose is not needed), precious creamy sandalwood, and a salty ambregris. There are florals lurking around: a lattiginous jasmine and a very green narcissus that prevents the scent to be too confy...(I am left to wonder if along with Iris, the Harpies are represented by these flowers). No apricot note is detected by my nose; a friend nicely informed me that the fruitiness stems from the jasmine. There is a touch of immortelle pehaps, just to impart that very vague summer marine vibe to the scent. The feeling is to wear a very buttery salty orris butter rendered dynamics by the other florals and made deep by the ambregris. Totally in love with it. IG @alexolympia6