Perfume Review. The Abinoam Collection of Fragrances: Beleza, Cobice, Corazón and Desejo

Originally I planned to write a review of each of the four Abinoam scents. After trying and re-trying them however, I realized that I don’t have all that much to say about them. All four are truly lovely, very pleasant, eminently wearable fragrances, but…if I were to be asked Ernest Hemingway’s question, “but did thee feel the earth move”, the answer would have been, no, I did not. I don’t really know why I am rather underwhelmed by this quartet. These are (perhaps deceptively) simple scents, but there is comfort and enjoyment in simplicity. All but one stay close to the skin and don’t have much sillage, but that is the quality I actually like in perfumes. I am not sure why at least one of these perfumes did not rock my world. Charming as they are, there was something lacking in them for me. The official description tells us that "each fragrance was carefully orchestrated so that as the notes dried down, the fragrance became darker and more sensual." That turned out not to be the case, on my skin; there wasn’t much darkness, or depth or all that much sensuality in the Abinoams. I don’t want this review to sound negative, I do like these perfumes; it is simply that I am less enthralled with them then I hoped to be. Judging by the notes alone, I expected to like Cobice (notes of Indonesian patchouli, leather, green apple and bamboo flowers) and Desejo (notes of pomegranate, cassis, peach, violet, ylang ylang, Ghanan cacao, Bulgarian blond tobacco, vanilla and amber) the least. Funnily, I liked them the most. Those who, like me, might be scared by the patchouli in the description of Cobice, fear not. The accord is very soft. This is delicate, well-behaved patchouli, almost sweet, vaguely milk-chocolate-like, to my nose. The apple note is well-mannered too, and adds a lovely tart quality to the composition. However hard I try, I am unable to smell the leather here, and the amber is very subdued as well. All in all, this is a pretty, soft scent that is quite delectable without being overtly fruity or gourmand. Desejo is a little fruitier than Cobice; it is very smoothly blended and the abundance of fruits and flowers does not translate into an overwhelmingly sweet and/or heady composition. Neither does it strike me as “a carnal interpretation of pomegranate”; there was nothing especially sensual in this lovely, spring-like composition a little reminiscent of Aqaba Spring. I am not the biggest fan of fruity-florals, but I found Desejo to be quite enjoyable. The fruits here are juicy and fresh, with an attractive hint of green leaves; the flowers are, again, well-behaved and subdued. The drydown of Bulgarian blond tobacco, vanilla and amber sounds much richer and heavier that it really is; on my skin, Desejo dried down to a delicately sweet, velvety mix of vanilla and amber, enlivened by the lingering presence of cassis. Beleza, with its notes of sandalwood, orchid, vanilla and musk, was the scent I expected to like the most. And I do not dislike it at all, however sandalwood is disappointingly faint here; on my skin, the scent is all about musk and vanilla. It reminded me of several other fragrances, among them Bogner Wood Woman, Talco Delicato and especially Plaisir, only it was less woody than Bogner, less powdery than Talco and less gourmand than Plaisir. Beleza was the least long-lasting of the four Abinoams and in general totally lacked any sort of “oomph”, to my nose. I also had very high hopes for Corazón (notes of Kenyan pink pepper, Moroccan jasmine, floral and woody accords, green tea and amber), mainly because of March’s lovely review, which made me think that this scent would become my Holy Grail Jasmine Tea Fragrance. Unfortunately, there was no tea there at all but plenty of very heady jasmine. This fragrance was the loudest (especially compared to the other three whispery scents), the most long–lasting and the least interesting. It fell on my skin like a think white cloud of jasmine and stayed there that way, white and heavy, till the very end. To be fair, white florals rarely like me and I rarely like them, and it may very well turn out that, as Abraham Lincoln said, "for those who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like". The four Abinoam fragrances can be found at Lacreambeauty.com and cost $105.00 for 50ml. I would not mind owning the full bottles of the two scents that I liked, but, unless I receive them as presents, I do not see them in my future. *The image is from Abinoam.com.