Perfume Review: Bois 1920 Real Patchouly
 Does it happen to you that by falling in love with a perfume you fall in love with a whole genre or family of scents that it represents? A couple of months ago I became obsessed with L'Ombre Fauve, which for me is a patchouly fragrance first and foremost. I sang praise to L'Ombre Fauve before but I will repeat that I think it is an incredibly sexy scent. When I smell it, my knees go week. And now patchouli in general has the same effect on me. My tiny bottle of L'Ombre Fauve is almost empty and on a desperate search for the next best thing I came upon Real Patchouly by Bois 1920. The line that I previously found underwhelming, but hey, lately it has been all about re-discovery and re-evaluation.Real Patchouly, despite the name, is not just about patchouli. It is heavy on woods and on vanilla, the supporting notes which make the star note simultaneously even darker, more forceful, and softer. Give me a well-done contrast in a perfume, and I am smitten. And the contrasts of dark and light, dry and sweet, harsh and soft, yang and yin that Real Patchouly showcases are my most favorite kinds. I don't get much development from the fragrance... not that a complicated and long-winded development is always necessary to enjoy a perfume. The sweet earthiness of patchouli, the woods, the vanilla are apparent at once and stay that way for all 8-9 hours of Real Patchouly's life on my skin. It is a "shared" fragrance in the best possible sense of the term. A fragrance that could have been his but is now part of your skin, melded with it, melted into it, making it impossible to tell anymore where one of you ends and the other begins. Real Patchouly is available at Barneys and Luckyscent, $160.00 for 100ml. Image source, chanel.com. |
posted by Marina |
12:03 AM
36 Comments:
Dies this mean that we are going to have to revisit the rest of that line? Because Gaia and I fell hard for Bois 1920. Hmmm.
Tom,
Yep. :-) Vetiver Ambrato is great too. And Extreme too.
This sounds so good!..Give me patchouli(not too much) with woods and incense and I'm usually in love.Thanks for the review,M (and hope you are feeling better)
Lavanya,
Thank you! I am better, but the little one is sick now :-(
WANT. It sounds like a sheer slice of heaven.
I know what you mean about one scent starting a love affair like that. MH Vetiver Bourbon set me off on my current mad obsession w/ vetiver.
L,
Exactly, like you and vetiver. Funny how we both are into earthy scents right now, just different branches of earthy.
И как после этого концентрироваться на работе? )))
Кстати, а мне кажется, что Lipstick Rose - самый (-ая?) секси...
Уже не Sotto Voce? :-)
Sotty Voce -это святое, по ту сторону секси и не-секси. ))
:-D
Glad you're feeling better, M, but sorry to hear the little princess has caught the bug :(
Patchouli is a note I think I've always liked, but not always with the same intensity, you know, like ebb and tide. I prefer my patch when it's on the dry side like in the women's Prada which I loved from the first go. Actually, I just got m'self a bottle :)
OTOH, Givenchy Gentleman - have you ever smelled it? *shudder* Now that is a patchouli you do not want to apply unless you're wearing a hazmat suit!
I tried this whole line recently and loved all of them! This is more patchouli than I can usually handle but it's very well done and yes, VERY sexy!
OK, now I THINK I tried this (not sure, know I tried the Vetiver), liked it, but put it aside. And you are NOT pulling me back into this. NO, Miss M., I repeat NO!! Not after I somehow ended up with both a bottle of Ormonde Woman EdP(which I am wearing all the time) and a partial bottle of the parfum all the way. MUST SAVE MONEY!! Get thee behind me,. . . .:)
I am glad you are feeling better, though!
. . .I meant, I have a partial bottle of OW ON THE WAY!! I do adore this. . .
I'm glad you're better, but it stinks that the little flower's now unwell....
I'll have to dutifully resniff.
Often, I find, the Luckyscent vials just don't really present the true nature of a scent.
A vial just can't seem to do it- no matter whose vial it is, LOL [ruefully].
Dusan,
Thank you!
And thank you for warning about Givenchy Gentleman. Which, by the sound of it, is not that gentlemanly :-)
Donna,
There are a couple there that I really don't like, like the Sushi scent, but other than that I am quite impressed :-)
Judith,
Resistance is futile :-)
I still can't believe that you have not owned OW before. It is You all the way :-)
Ida,
At first I didn't love it in a vial, now I fell in love with it in a vial, so I don't know if it matters all that much to me. I am not a big spritzer anyway.
I'm so happy that Real Patchouly is getting the love it so richly deserves. But you didn't mention amber. It's very amber-y on me, but without the sticky sweetness that spoils so many ambers.
I'm glad you're feeling better and hope T is on the mend.
Nancy,
Oh yes, amber is there, of course! But I get woods the most.
T. is not that well yet :-(
This happens to me all the time, most recently with patchouli and amber.. that is, falling in love with an ingredient or genre. The one that made me seek out patchouli was By Kilian Straight to Heaven. On others its not as strange and daring smelling as it is on me (my mom and my sister) but on me, it's this oily patchouli dirt fest with vanilla and rum notes less prominent. I love the dirty and "sweet" mix and I think the Bois 1920 would be a great one to add to my "to smell" list.
-Anthony :)
Anthony,
If you like dirty and sweet, then I am almost positive that you will like this one.
I have a couple of patchouli yens. I classify them as follows:
1. the smell of an extremely handsome man I had a fling with at 18. He was a hoary old 25 and a radio engineer. He was blond and blue eyed and so MATURE and he smelled hauntingly light and clean and herbal which it turned out was something with patchouli. I still don't know what it was. I did run into him at the market the other day, 18 years later. He introduced me to his WIFE. Eek! Weirdness of return to hometown.
Okay TMI. Sorry, that's one of my patchouli yens, though!
and
2. The patchouli of SL Un Bois Sepia or Black Cashmere.
I must try L'Ombre Fauve. Is it like one of my patchouli yens?
Cait,
No, it is not like one of your yens, it is like one of mine ;-) Not blond, blue eyed,light, clean and herbal, but rather dark haired, dark eyed, brooding and balsamic smelling :-)
And no, it is not TMI!! I love reading stories like that!
If you want more L'Ombre Fauve I stumbled upon it in Les Senteurs in London. I perplexedly asked the saleswoman if it wasn't discontinued but she knew nothing about it, said it was brand new from Paris, so apparently not... It's not in their webshop but perhaps if you contact them they could send you another bottle...
S,
That is great to know, thank you!
I guess I should mention that parfum1 has the Bois 1920 line for $105.95. If this is illegal to mention, then please pretend you didn't read it.
Being an original hippie, I love patchouli, but only a few I can wear. Maybe this one will be the one. :-)
em
Em,
Not at all!
I actually saw it earlier today thanks to nowsmellthis. :-)
I love re-discoveries! And this new one sounds delish. :-)
Tamara,
It is definitely delicious :-)
Boy that sounds delicious. I'm going to look for it at Barneys. And the vetiver too... darn, I wish I'd saved up more for the sniffa!
March,
You are coming to see me on Sat and/or Sun, right? RIGHT?
My guess is Sunday, the Saturday schedule is INSANE.
You work Friday a.m.?
Yep, from 10am.
But Sunday would be even better
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