Parfums 06130 Feuille de Reglisse

By Tom Tamara, as all of you know has a wonderful blog and on it's wonderful pages I won a sample of this perfume; I love winning things, it makes me feel as if, well, as if I'd won something. Parfums 06130 (pronounced "zeh-rho seese sehnt trahnnt", because this ain't some place in Connecticut, this is the postal code for Grasse, France, Europe, thanks ever so. Not that I didn't have to look that little fact up) is, according to the nice people at Aedes: "a new brand dedicated to creating the finest fragrances in the tradition of French perfume making" The name, at Tamara points out translates to "licorice leaf", but unlike what you'd expect I get at first a bright, sweet, almost minty accord with a hint of orange blossom and bergamot. I know I previously wrote that bergamot must be outlawed as an opening in fragrances for the foreseeable future, but I am so please by the general happiness of this opening that I am going to let this one slide. As it dries, the root aspects of the licorice start to come forward taking the sparkling opening down a few notches. As it dries further the scent warms; nutmeg and cardamom stand out on me, but nothing ever threatens to overpower. It manages to be sweet, spicy, woody and flowery while also managing to be as light as a veil yet still tenacious enough that I could smell it hours later. While I can imagine that it would be stunning on a lady, I wouldn't hesitate to wear it myself; the flowers are so well balanced with the woods and the spices that it doesn't necessarily read as anything gender-specific. It's sort of a Tilda-Swindon-as-Orlando of scents. I'd love to try the rest of the line... $145 for 3.4 ounces at Aedes