Saso

This is the Poison of the East. Inspired by Chinese historical legend, a mysterious and exotic concubine of Emperor Qianlong, named Fragrant Concubine. She has a strange fragrance, It is said that the mesmerizing aroma comes from Elaeagnus angustifolia grown in the concubine's hometown. Perfumers want to make perfumes that can be compared to the scent of a fragrant concubine. The scent is mainly an amber-woody base shaped by amber and musk, with the oriental character of tonka bean, the mixed floral notes of ylang-ylang, rose and jasmine, and animal balsam will layer the floral nucleus Layer-wrapped, esters with a strong, sweet fruity aroma, probably damascenone. Its animal odor is that of beaver, which is persistent and strong and sticks to the nose. Contains up to 50% cinnamate. This has to do with Saso's unique smell. The combination of natural and synthetic flavors creates a rich, mellow, silky-sweet and intoxicating aroma. Has all the standard features of the 1980s - strong diffusion (large attack range), long-lasting fragrance , bulky, and to say it has a Serge Lutens vibe, I'm all for it. The perfumer said, “we took the scent of Russian olives from China and used it while applying, analyzing the results. Saso also contains androstenol, a body odorant.” The man who inspired Saso's original idea, pointed to sexuality and attraction.

It is said that Saso shares heredity with that of Nombre Noir; the perfumer is uncertain and I am fairly confident that it was not Jean-Yves Leroy. As of this writing, I have yet to experience Nombre Noir, but from what I've learned and read, it's built on damascones, which are also discernible in Saso. Damascones, which smell of dark red, velvet rose petals steeped in dark berry juice and imbued with tobacco smoke, run through Saso. However, while Nombre Noir is alleged to have an appreciable osmanthus accord, Saso has a current of more prominent jasmine and ylang-ylang, and the resulting impression on my nose is that of the smell of autumn olive flowers. Blooming in May here in New England, autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) is an introduced species indigenous to eastern Asia and now deemed invasive here due to its aggressive seed dispersal. It cannot be denied though that their aroma is delicious, a citrusy, spicy white floral scent, sort of a cross between honeysuckle and jasmine. The heart of Saso smells so much like it to me. Overall, Saso feels like a more subtle (in that signature Shiseido manner) approach to the late 80s trend of darkly fruity, woody florals that started with Poison and perhaps presaged by Nombre Noir. It's arguably more unisex for this style as well.

“Saso” was created by Shōji Nakamura, Shiseido's exclusive perfumer and a leading authority in fragrance research. I've also read books he has written. In my opinion, this perfume is the most “Gothic Lolita” scent. It has a certain mysterious quality to it. By the way, I own both the EDP and the Parfum versions, and the Parfum has a lighter, sweeter fragrance.

This was an eBay purchase a few years ago because I was looking for a perfume that smelled like Russian Olive tree flowers. They bloom locally in mid-June and it’s intoxicating. I found a thread here on Fragrantica where Saso perfume was suggested as the closest one could find to a true Russian Olive blossom scent. The perfume isn’t made anymore and these bottles are rare, so it was exciting to find one I could afford. The fragrance was vintage powdery, floral, and woody, with interesting qualities I couldn’t quite identify. As it dried I could detect a hint of something that reminded me of Russian Olive flowers, along with an animalic note like civet. However this perfume was too aldehydic for me so I would wear it sparingly in the middle of winter when I longed for spring. I still desired a pure Russian Olive fragrance and tried other perfumes but nothing was close to what I wanted. So I began learning about DIY perfumery and how to make my own. For two summers I collected blossoms and leaves and stems from many plants and tried several styles of homemade perfumery. It turns out that Russian Olive blossoms give a lovely intense fragrance to homemade perfumes! If you want to try your own perfumery, my two favorite methods were (1) enfleurage with refined coconut oil, and (2) soaking the blossoms in alcohol. It was fun to learn more about the early perfume world and even more fun to fill my home with homemade perfumes. If you love Russian Olive blossoms, I hope you try it too!

Given its proximity to Nombre Noir's release, I wondered if this was some sort of follow up or related scent given the overlapping notes--fruity, juicy notes overlaying a green 70s style chypre...even though it's not listed above, I also read that it's meant to evoke osmanthus, much like that fabled unicorn has an osmanthus note created by ionones and damascones. My initial assumption isn't 100% wrong, but they are definitely not identical. It kind of feels a bit like a middle ground between Nombre Noir and Guy Laroche's Clandestine. It has some of the greenish, woody bite of the former, and a bit more of the overtly white floral, honeyed, fruity aspect of the latter. I do prefer NN as it seems to have more patchouli, woody, and mossy notes, but this lovely time capsule of a scent is great on its own merits. A little more blousy and overtly "femme" than NN, it might be harder to find an occasion to wear this out, but in this chilly weather, the sillage that a little dab creates is warm and pleasant. Begins with a blast of citrus paired with damascones/fruity notes. This segues into a honeyed, abstract floral core that does have a shock of green running through it, dominated by jasmine and hyacinth. The final drydown is a softly animalic ambery thing. There is, in fact, a clear thread of civet and/or other animalic notes throughout.