No 1

There's such little information about this perfume online anymore, and that's because it's been out of production for some years now. How I got a 2.5ml sample of it was by pure chance. Anyway, these are my impressions: Medicinal at first, almost camphoric, this resinous, thick, dark fragrance is probably the last you’ll choose for Spring. Well, unless you’re like me and disregard fragrance seasonality. I feel that Anna Zworykina has packed this fragrance with so many earthy elements that it’s hard to pick out individual notes. I suspect there’s oakmoss, bitter orange peel, and dried fruit. There are florals too, but they are so concentrated and heady that there’s little that’s airy about them. The longer this fragrance wears on me, I begin to see more nature peeking out of the dark, thicker notes and it begins to feel more like nature recovering after a rainstorm in the forest. In conjunction with the earthy tones, more of the brighter fruit, florals, and herbs begin to shine through. Not as dark as my first impression was, I think I really could wear this almost year round. Luca Turin praises Anna's own line of work, particularly her Cuir de Russie and Verdigris, praising them for being impressive, eccentric, and beautiful. Disappointed that I couldn't get a hold of her Switch No. 1 anymore, I wrote Anna and she was so kind to reply that Hue Город Мертвых Королей, from her current line, would be closest to Switch No. 1. Guess where I'm going next.

I am having such a hard time picking out notes in this one. It opens with a bitter, foresty herbal blast, then the forest warms up and sweetens, but never gets too sweet, (probably not even sweet at all in a regular perfume way). There are berries in there, too, orange berries I've never seen or smelled before. I can't even describe their smell, but they're not tart or bitter. Absolutely not sweet. When I close my eyes I can see the dark forest eith sunny patches of sweet smelling grasses and herbs. And the berries gleaming in the darkness. This is inspired by the Russian water nymph/mermaid Rusalka. It is an intensely romantic perfume, unlike anything I've smelled before. Zworykina paints with a different palette, her colours deep and glowing. When comparing to other perfumers trying to do foresty fragrances, she's Rembrant with real depth in the shadows and radiant highlights. The rest are using markers on a clear film- lines are too sharp, colours too screetchy and somewhat transparent. (my husband also loves it on me).