Kathmandu: Hindu temple, the Himalayas.
A ‘sacred’ aged patchouli from India; black pepper absolute, Peru Balsam, opoponax; vetiver; a musky shade of ambrette, and a story too….
Etat Libre d’Orange intends Nombril Immense (‘Giant Navel’) to be a study in humanity, an ‘initiatory voyage to discover new emotions and an open-mindedness to unprecedented spirituality,’ the enormous belly-button of the name, this nombril immense, ‘leading the way to shedding one’s mortal coil…… to accessing timelessness’…….
And with such a precept, our appetites are surely whetted.
What will this smell like?
Will it really be ‘the smell of bliss’?
The answer, unexpectedly, is a qualified yes.
There is indeed something impossibly human about this scent; a bodily, skin-musked closeness evoking wise young mothers in their saris, and children, smitten, under their skirts; the fondness you feel for a lover in his week-worn cardigan. Families, close-knit; the coiled incense of afternoon smoke.
What the perfume achieves so well is an open-heart expansiveness, an ancient feel from the specially aged patchouli used that does, somehow, denote peace, love and spirituality. If I myself am uncomfortable in its unwashed tenderness, I can fully see why there are some who claim to have found their holiest of holy grail patchoulis. In Hindu culture, when a father returns home from a long journey, and he is greeted by his children, the first thing he does is smell his child’s head. This is that smell.
I love this.
Hungover. Wanted something sweet and gentle!
The smell of bliss…and you have described it so beautifully….agreed with Nina…I love this…and I must try this perfume now!
I wonder if you would like it. Have you ever liked those musky hippie types of patchoulis? For me it is not earthy enough; very fuzzy, but the warm human quality in it is quite nice…
yes I always liked musky patchs….in fact I adore ambrette seed essential oils as a layer with more conventional perfumes…and yet I love traditional earthy patch as well…honestly, N. I don’t believe there is anything that I DON’T like!!!
Must try too.
There are better patchoulis, and perhaps I was getting carried away with Etat Libre D’Orange’s spin, but it definitely has a place in the patchouli pantheon. A patchouli with ease.
What a sweet review. I have been thinking lately about black pepper essential oil and how, while certainly it does add spice, the primary effect it has on a blend is to warm everything else in more or less the same way that your own skin will warm it. To me black pepper absolute carries a living, human/animal smell. Different from civet and musk and the traditional animalics, but same principle. Some of the scent of a black dog’s fur when he’s been lying in the sun and you stroke him and his fur crackles with static and smells like a tiny thunderstorm. I’m formulating a list of interesting patchoulis to try when I get back home, and this one sounds like a somewhat offbeat take on the theme.
Brie, I know that you make your own blends. Have you worked with black pepper essential oil or absolute, and if so, how did you like the effect?
Yes, let’s get her cracking on a pepper…
I use black pepper oil in the bath in winter. Have no sensitizing reactions with it (unlike grapefruit and all citruses which have me red and blotchy instantly). It is the most beautiful circulation booster and makes your skin look briliant. All rosy and healthy. I don’t think the black pepper in this perfume is prominent at all: more the Peru balsam and opoponax. I would like more I think.
Interestingly enough, Feral, when I first began my essential oil blending experiments I was given a freebie of black pepper essential oil and wasn’t quite sure what to do with it! Back in those days I was much more of a traditionalist and not one to experiment with unusual notes (I learned the hard way as I once attempted to make a blend with ancient oils undiluted of saffron myrrh, frankincense, sandalwood,agarwood and spikenard…it was so awful and “unholy” giving me a headache so bad that I literally had to scrub it off of my tiny wrists! Probably the only scrubber I have encountered in my many years of perfume wearing!) But I am back to being a bit more experimental so I will take your suggestion and get my hands on some black pepper essential oil soon and give it a whirl! Will let you know of my results!
Dear Ginza
What a tender review.
You must write when hungover more often… your softer side comes to the fore!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
I know. There were no blinding stamens or any of the usual ferocious rush this time..
You wrote this hungover?! I envy you. I can only moan and reach for the flat ginger ale and saltines.
!