I forgot that I tried this before. I forgot why I wasn't sold. Now I remember.
But I'm not sorry that I tried it again today, because I learned a little more. First, I no longer think that it's an incorrect sample - I can get the jasmine now, and even the indolic notes. And I can see what the reviewers are talking about - the transparency, the freshness, and so on.
From the descriptions, it should be an indolic jasmine illuminated by fresh notes, so that now you want it a little dirtier, now you want it a little brighter, the whole mix producing that tension that I love in a fragrance. The two sides should highlight each other, like salt on watermelon.
But it just doesn't come together for me. The notes aren't highlighting each other - instead, the freshness spoils the jasmine and the jasmine spoils the freshness. And I'm also getting something a little aquatic/melony in the fresh notes - it makes me think of Calone, whether there's Calone in there or not. And so far, I fervantly dislike Calone, at least when I can tell that it's there.
I'm more than willing to theorize that the problem may be my nose. There are a few things that I'm quite sure that I'm anosmic to, and one of them may be whatever it is that weaves all this together and makes it the fragrance that others smell. Perhaps it's whatever produces the absinthe note - I can't get any absinthe at all, and I can see that its presence could make a huge difference. It might cancel out the melon, and add the bitterness that would be needed to reconcile the jasmine and the fresh notes.
Hmm. Now I'm really wishing that I could smell that. But I can't, so for me, this is an unimpressive watery-melon-jasmine. There's nothing in there to make it a potential acquired taste, like Bois de Copaiba. So I'm done with this fragrance.
Unless I forget again.
Review Roundup: Was here.
Photo of absinthe in glass by Eric Litton. Wikimedia Commons.
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