Potpourri

I recently purchased a Santa Maria Novella Discovery kit: Acqua della Regina - smells like my favorite Bath Roman Premium Hot Herb Bath Salts (soothing ginger, red pepper, yuzu, etc), but not much the next day, the oddball as the only sample not still shouting 24 hrs later Fresia - a very soapy freesia scent, leaves, potting soil, bright sunshine on a perfect day Rosa Gardenia - that pickled floral that I despise, May roses screeching out for justice, The Perfumers Workshop Tea Rose turned spiteful and pretentious Rosa Novella - wonderfully warm, calm, patchouli-rose. Your mom reading your favorite picture book that you got from the library, a copy that was printed in 1990, after you just did a good job dusting the heirloom hardwood furniture with lemon Pledge. Unrelated to Agent Provacateur (cool-skin rose with warm metallic saffron) or L’Agent (boozey-spicebomb rose). Angeli di Firenze - unripe cantaloupe soap, melon gives my tummy a sinking-feeling Melograno - not what I expected from “pomegranate,” and oakmoss in the ingredients surely helps this become a personal favorite. This pomegranate received the Christmas Orange Ornament treatment and smells like all the best memories. Invokes a bodily response of “everything is going to be alright.” Excellent ally to victory in the battle vs holiday anxiety and car sickness! Tabacco Toscano - delicious, quality vanilla accosted by rubbery hickory smoke Pot Pourri - I was not expecting the Noxema scent, the face cleanser which I once bought to smell simply because it was so soothing and enjoyable, knowing it’s an awful product that has no place in a skincare routine. This is the strongest of the samples and smells just as much like a fresh tub of Noxema 24 hrs later, but now with orange peel demanding attention. 48 hrs later evocative of rose and pine forest and all fae folk who live within. Beautiful, and at no point did I see where this perfume was going.

A very interesting fragrance. It is quite unusual in the perfume world, and frankly, I imagine the audience for a scent like this would be confined mainly to serious Perfumistas, because POT POURRI is by no means a crowd-pleasing kind of number. The whole scent impression is comprised of dried herbs and dried grasses. Nothing at all green or sweet here, not even the orange or clove, and indeed the whole perfume is highly aromatic/medicinal. It's blended beautifully such that no one of these aromatic notes stands out... It goes on quite medicinally... which will be a dealbreaker for many... but amazing for those of us who can hang with a medicinal/aromatic fragrance. With time, the sharp camphoraceous qualities mellow out, and the scent becomes more mellow, like dried grasses or dry hay. It's only then that the scent comes even close to smelling like a classic men's aftershave sort of number, but even THAT is stretch. My experience with a fragrance like this is: They are wonderful when sprayed on during intensely hot weather... They cool the body and clear the head, and give a glorious sense of refreshment and revitalization, even more so than the usual citrusy kinds of summer fragrances. At some point, every serious student of perfumery will need to smell a purely Aromatic olfactive family perfume like this one.

The romantic side of camphorous. It is in fact a combination of savory spices like laurel, rosemary, thyme, and then some drops of lavender and the metallic zing of clove. Orange brings out some sweetness, but this is not the cologne palette, more like the colors of autumn. It is a simple and beautiful scent, once the notes settle down. Balmy and aromatic, once it settles down. This is all I should say. Strange how the context shapes our way of commenting scents: I would often talk about the images they bring to life, the creative or not use of notes, the perfumer's intention, this and that. Here, we're talking 19th century, and I feel so relieved that I don't have to talk this way. It comes from a time when perfumes have often been sold along with remedies and all kinds of preparations in pharmacies, and when you smell Potpourri, this makes sense, too. This being said, if you're into that aesthetics blurring the line between fragrance and remedy, check Pino Silvestre Original first.

If you are into herbals and warm aromatics then you are going to love this. You can just imagine some monks creating this centuries ago. Wholesome and all herbalishisness. It is very unisex and I dont think it smells like the potpourri I remember as a kid. It was all the rage in the 70s. This is all about herbs. Where is the rose? Bergamot, bay, clove, rosemary, carnation, lavender and thyme all come at you at once! If you logically imagine a strong, biting opening then you would be wrong. These herbs are softened by LOTS of peru balsam and patch. It smells like a salve the monks might have created to aid the healing of a knife wound or similar. I have to admit I find it quite addictive as well. It smells so good and wholesome. It must be doing something good for me lol I get average longevity and sillage. This is one strong cologne so go easy when first testing!

I am born and raised in Finland, and naturally certain scents have been ingrained into my soul. Smoke, sweat, moist wood, essential oils of tar, birch and euchalyptus mixed into the sauna water, the heat mixing with cool summer air as you open the door and step outside the sauna to cool down for a bit before going back in. Imagine my surprise when this monastic perfume created in Italy instantly evokes those things! What stands out is the purity: no artificial musks, no sinus-irritating aromachemicals, just a golden breath of piney, aromatic and camphorous herbs, sweet cloves, citrus and balsam. This is also why Pot Pourri doesn't follow a structure from any particular decade: how could things simply plucked out of nature be of anything other than the eternal here and now? I am obsessed, Pot Pourri goes instantly into my top-2.