Patchouli by Santa Maria Novella - Call for dirty patchouli - Monday June 10, 2013 New Fragrance Listing

Photo: perfumeniche.com

SETTING:

The virtual head office of perfumeniche.com. A bright airy, temperature controlled room lined with book shelves stocked with thousands of bottles of perfume. In the centre are two Saarinen Tulip tables, used as desks by Gwen and Kay, each one topped with an Artemide Nesso table and the latest high tech toys. Gwen and Kay are busy researching their next trip.

The phone rings. Gwen answers it.

Gwen: Virtual head office of perfumeniche.com how may I help you?

Male caller [breathlessly speaking]: I’m looking for a dirty patchouli.

Gwen: Sir, I think you have dialed the wrong number. This isn’t an adult entertainment line. This is perfumeniche.com. If you…

Male caller [anxiously speaking]: No, wait, wait, please wait. Ok, I’ve calmed down. Let me start again. I’m desperately looking for a really dirty patchouli…

Gwen: I get that, but if you start talking dirty, I’ll hang right up. We try to run a classy niche here.

Male caller: I’m not talking dirty, I’m asking about a dirty patchouli fragrance.

Gwen: Well, why didn’t you say so? We’ve got all kinds of great patchouli frags staring patchouli. There’s Patchouli Patch, Comme des Garçons LUXE Patchouli, Elixir Patchouli and Mon Patchouly frags where patchouli plays a prominent role like Portrait of a Lady, Borneo 1834 and....

Male caller: Yeah, yeah, those are all great but I want to full on patchouli experience, not the refined doesn’t smell-like-hippies patchouli.

Gwen: Well then you want Patchouli by Santa Maria Novella.

Male caller: I do?

Gwen: Yes, you do. Patchouli by Santa Maria Novella gives you the full on patchouli experience. It opens with a sharp camphourous note along with a dark, rich, dirty earthiness that is decidedly masculine. As it blooms the different aspects of patchouli come forward and over time you get the full range of patchouli -  bitter notes, herbal notes, floral notes, spicy notes, woody notes until the exotic, musky drydown when it becomes lighter and, well, more feminine.

Male caller: Which makes the ideal unisex scent. Hey, you didn’t mention vanilla. Don’t most patchouli frags have vanilla in them?

Gwen: Yes they do, but not this one. It’s pretty much patchouli straight up, which sounds like it should be pretty linear in its development except that patchouli has so many rich dimensions, it smells like there is a whole lot more in it. And, for an eau de cologne it packs a real olfactory wallop!

Male caller: This sounds like the patchouli I want!

Gwen: It’s the one I wear. You know, patchouli as a note in perfume is welcomed by perfume wearers, but a full on patchouli is a love it or hate it kind of a thing.

Male caller: I know…and then there is the whole hippie association.

Gwen: Don’t get me started! The Santa Maria Novella web site says that 'This perfume met with great success in the late 1800s and early 1900s and has now become a classic.' The perfume has been around long before hippies existed. So, embrace your inner hippie, and enjoy one of the great notes in perfume unadulterated.

Male caller: Agreed. Now, how can I get a whiff of this amazing juice?

Gwen: Come around to the side door of the niche once you hang up the phone and I’ll give you a sniff….

Patchouli is listed in our Decant Store. Decants are $5.00 for 1 ml.