KASHNOIR

A big blast of spiciness launches this olfactory missile: rich, spicy and bold.  A few brighter glimpse of bergamot and lemon cannot detract from this spice wave.  

The drydown develops a rich saturated green and quite bright coriander note, which merges with he benzoin; this creates some unusual olfactory aromas that are quite creative. A bit of a weak lavender makes an appearance, but it is rather perfunctory on me.  Some floral try to join the party, namely a dark rose and a faint orange blossom, but buried in the - now slightly indolic - benzoin/coriander fog they are hard to spot.  A vanilla starts adding a sweeter feeling.

The base extends the spicy them, with a dark patchouli adding a smoky characteristic that is, however, never overly dominant.  The vanilla-derived sweetness grows stronger with time.  Moments of a heliotrope hint come and go, but the benzoin-coriander rules until the very end.

I get strong sillage, excellent projection, and eight hours of longevity on my skin.

Released in 2013, this complex wintery scent is not particularly creative or  composed of ingredients of a particularly sensationally high quality. As a matter of fact, some are rather generic in nature or are too weak or too ephemeral to impress.  The development is stagnant for some phases, some are a bit more variegated.  On the other hand, the combination of the notes results in stretches of quite original and unexpected olfactory impressions, which make this a composition that is enjoyable at times.  It hovers at the border between neutral or good, but - in dubio pro reo - a - just - positive score . Overall 3/5