PAPILLON ARTISAN FRAGRANCES

A opening with a herbal, citrus - bergamot, bigarade, cedrat, ripe oranges - and some spice - this is my first impression here.  The spices - mainly orris, cistus, and galbanum - prevent the citrus to be very fresh or bright, and the darker spices result in an olfactory twilight zone.  The herbal influence is provided by thyme, clary dosage with whiffs of basil.  An unusual and complex opening phase.

The drydown shift a bit by adding florals and fruits.  Ripe apricots with whiffs of overripe yellow peaches  mix with orange blossoms, narcissus and a darker and lightly powdery iris

That later stages are shifting gear again, with chypre-style components, with a mossy impression combining  with a sharper benzoin and an - at times balsamic - styrax, which never takes on a medicinal or very camphoric character on me.  On the other hand, a leathery undertone, without much of a smokiness on me, is noteworthy in the final stages.  

I get moderate sillage, excellent projection, and six hours of longevity on my skin.

This is a multilayered scent for autumn evenings, which suffers a bit from an overload of ingredients that cannot all fully develop, but they blend very well, resulting in a good and versatile development - there is hardly ever a dull moment here.   The quality of some of the ingredients is indubitably high, and some are also natural.  Overall a challenging and quite impressive creation.   Released 2017.   3.75/5