Tuesday, January 11, 2011

SOTD: Montale Patchouli Leaves

I love patchouli. Himself hates patchouli. This is occasionally a problem. It's a problem right now, because I really like Montale Patchouli Leaves. It's dark and spicy, rich and strong, but it doesn't get too specific about the patchouli--if I were dishonest, I might be able to persuade Himself that it's a tobacco fragrance. I almost respond to it as a gourmand, but it has enough non-edible notes to keep it from making me feel full, and enough elegance and attitude to keep it from just being a plate of sticky pastries.

But while I like it very much, I think that it has redundancies with too many things. It reminds me of Chergui, and of Fumerie Turque, and Serge Noire. (The last one shouldn't be surprising, but I keep forgetting that Serge Noire has patchouli.) And I already own two of those. So I suspect that I'll finish off the sample and leave it at that.

Review Roundup: Now Smell This and The Scented Salamander and Basenotes and Fragrantica and Badger & Blade and Eiderdown Press and Basenotes and Nathan Branch and WAFT.

Image: By Takkk. Wikimedia Commons.
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6 comments:

  1. Katy JosephineJanuary 11, 2011 at 8:00 PM

    Is it 'drier' than both Fumerie Turque and Chergui? That would interest me indeed.

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  2. MarthaJanuary 11, 2011 at 9:05 PM

    Hmmm. I'd say that it's a little sweeter than Fumerie Turque, and less sweet than Chergui. It starts out with a sort of sweet-damp-decaying-leaves thing, but over time it gets a little sticker and foodier.

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  3. MichaelJanuary 12, 2011 at 1:35 AM

    It sounds really nice to me, especially the start. I'm not quite sure about the sticky and foody thing though. I'm always a sucker for patchouli though...

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  4. VanessaJanuary 12, 2011 at 1:52 PM

    "Way cute dog", wooden or not...?

    The redundancies argument sounds compelling to me. I am forever trying to talk myself out of buying new scents for this very reason. I am not past telling Mr Bonkers that black smells white, but if you've got it covered, probably best to move on...

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  5. MarthaJanuary 12, 2011 at 8:07 PM

    Yo, Michael! Yeah, it got just a little gooier than I wanted. But it's absolutely worth trying.

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  6. MarthaJanuary 12, 2011 at 8:09 PM

    Hey, Vanessa! Y'know, I'm not sure. I was just going with the tobacco mention, because I couldn't find a patchouli picture I liked, and once I saw him on Wikimedia Commons I had to use him. :)

    Yes, sadly, there's no excuse for buying it - redundancy and repelling Himself are two good reasons for refraining.

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