I have a fascination with neroli and orange blossom and am always glad to try new ones. Musc, one of Mona Di Orio’s perfumes for her collection Les Nombres D’Or, is not what I was expecting (something difficult, hard, sour; deliberately difficult…….). Instead, this is a heliotropic, vanillic confection of a neroli, a cherub supping on angelic sugared almonds on untarnished rose clouds of musk. Unanimalic: pure innocence; delightful, not coquettish, like some of the recent Guerlain orange blossoms with the Guerlinade and the heavier vanilla, but removed. Celestially oblivious. I love this: so deliciously gentle. Anima Vinci takes the very opposite scale of neroli, always a little brusque in its green petitgrain bitterness on the branches, almost revelling in its headclearing harshness at first (perhaps too much for me in truth), with the citric aspects of the orange flower heightened further with mandarin, bergamot and lemon – (wince) – all cut through with woodier, more oppositional and masculine notes of vetiver and sandalwood. Once the initial, quite mouthpuckering neroli head notes have dissipated, this intriguing scent, very present and in the room (if you met someone wearing this perfume you would definitely never forget them) becomes a lingering, green, almost acerbic sport neroli with a memorable freshness and sass.
The Black Narcissus 
Musc is Louver than Louve : so ALMONDY – but the rose is better blended and the neroli/ vanilla is genius. Yum. How have I only just discovered this one (even though I have a sample from years ago?)
MdO Musc smells like pure baby powder on me. Soft and comforting, I can’t recall what the Anima Vinci Neroli smells like, ordered the sampler a year ago and tried them all. Clearly it didn’t make a big impression.
Definitely baby powder but not as cloying or sweet on me – a really cute smell. Neroli Wisdom (odd name, I think) would smell great on a clean cut young man I reckon : D was horrified by the opening accord but I personally think the end one is very inspired – the kind of thing that could have been a big commercial hit under a different guise.
I love the Mona di Orio line. I was given a sample of Suede de Suede, and wore that during the confusing days of March. It was just what I needed: something to focus my attention on, something that smelled rich and out of this world. Then I tried Musc, and I loved it too: like the memory of a hug from a friend. It’s just beautiful. Then, since I liked both of those so much, I bought Dojima. I don’t even like the smell of rice, but Dojima is something else altogether. My father liked how it smelled so I gave him a sample and it just smells so good. I have no idea why Dr Turin spoke so harshly about this line and I wonder if his reviews affected sales. Everyone should have the pleasure of trying this line. 🙂
Yes – he had a bee in his bonnet about the house when it first came out: perhaps there was a slightly hagiographic aspect to the whole marketing even when Ms Di Orio was alive. But in the intervening years, I think the difference between this kind of true perfumery and a lot of the muck we are now served has become very apparent.
You‘ve fixed the photo situation, haven‘t you! Great! It does look much neater than the indented photos.
What I really wanted to comment on is the evocative picture, and the sheer ability to bring to mind/nose the exact smell of the flowers on the lemon tree in the garden of my late mother. The burst of a flower scent is always a true joy like an unexpected butterfly (they‘re so rare nowadays!) or bird fluttering past one. The scent of roses touches me, lilies-of-the-valley delight me, but of all flowers the smell of the lemon blossom penetrates me thrillingly! It is a true wonder!
I haven’t quite fixed the photo situation in that I can’t (as yet) space things the way I want, but my tiny brain has at least worked out how to make the image central. As you know, the visuals are very important to me on The Black Narcissus: this picture I nicked from the internet and then changed slightly until it ‘struck’ me (and yes: lemon blossom – which I think Neroli Wisdom smells a bit like…we also have a lemon tree in our garden and I love the scent of the blossom). Flowers absolutely do punctuate the monotony of daily life – I am the same as you. I love them.
The MDO Musc is one of my treasures. Scared of the day it will be done and there is no more to be found. Still, as a French perfume friend once said to me, ‘there will be other perfumes’. Such belief in the future! It’s an attitude I aim for but still struggle to fully take.