Juozas Statkevicius Eau de Parfum, Philadelphia Cheesesteak Syndrome, and a Prize Draw

I first heard about POTL when I lived in the UK. I suffered terribly from a burning desire to try that miraculous potion, that wonder of wonders, the scent that has been Makeupalley’s No 1 for what seems like an eternity. The way it was described, the official list of notes (the wood! the incense! the vanilla!), everything promised that it would be my Holy Grail. It sounded so hip, so stylish, so niche…Why am I talking about POTL, you might ask. It is because Juozas Statkevicius Eau de Parfum smells EXACTLY like what in my feverish, niche-scents-starved mind of a couple of years ago I imagined POTL to be. Let me do a little side note here and say that I have never been able to figure out why I dislike POTL so much. There are no notes there that I hate, the blend is smooth, everything seems so right…and yet is so wrong. Sometimes I think that perhaps a big part of the reason for my hate for POTL lies in the Great Expectations I had for it. I call it the Philadelphia Cheesesteak Syndrome. Mr. Colombina is a Philly boy, born and bred, and, whilst living in the UK, he was longing for the foods he loved back home. The dish he missed the most was Philly Cheesesteak. The way he described it…he made me feel it was a slice of heaven. A Holy Grail of foods, if you will. Next day after we moved to the States, I got to try this Steak of Paradise...It was oily diced beef mixed with lots of sticky, runny stuff that they call cheese, in a roll- a heavy, cholesterol-leaden thing with no flavor…You see, Mr. C. hyped it up so much, it could not possibly live up to my expectations. And the same probably happened with POTL. Coming back to Juozas…Created for Juozas Statkevičius (Josef Statkus), a Lithuanian fashion designer, by Fabrice Pellegrin (the perfumer I know as The One Who Made The Only Good Scent in NelliRody Scent Factory), Juozas has notes of jasmine, patchouli, coriander, incense, amber, cashmere wood, vanilla, benzoin and musk. This is a perfect example of a scent that manages to be very hip and unusual without being bizarre and unwearable. This is a niche scent done absolutely right; in a dictionary under the entry for Niche Fragrances, should be the picture of Juozas’ elegant bottle. It is soft and striking, deep and enveloping…I think it is perfection. If I had to describe it in one word, I would call it an incense scent, but that really wouldn’t do Juozas the justice it deserves. Other notes, most prominently woods, amber and vanilla, add complexity and depth to the blend. They take incense by the hand and lead it from the old, musty church into the sophisticated world of chic modernity. They, especially the sweet amber and vanilla, also make Juozas exceptionally soft, a soulful, enveloping comfort fragrance. Still, incense IS the star note in the composition, and the hefty amount of incense is, for me, what prevents the vanilla and the amber from doing “the POTL thing” on my skin and becoming cloyingly sweet. Because I myself often find such comparisons helpful in figuring out what a scent would be like, I would say that if you like incense genre in general and fragrances like Miyako, Messe de Minuit (imagine it velvety-soft and sweetened by vanilla...hard to do, I know) and -OK!OK!- Luctor et Emergo in particular, you would most probably love Juozas. I would like to use this opportunity and urge our lovely stores like Luckyscent to find a way to bring Juozas to us. I have no doubt whatsoever that it has every potential of becoming a bestseller (even outselling the POTL maybe, much to my childish delight). Right now, Juozas Statkevicius is sold in its native Lithuania and in Germany, in Berlin and (maybe) Munich, €70.00 for 50ml. If you would like to be entered in the draw for a sample of Juozas, please say so in your comment. One name will be chosen at random and the winner will be announced on Monday morning. The images are from statkevicius.com and hollyeats.com. The draw is now closed