SOTD: Parfumerie Generale Aomassai

Someone reminded me that Aomassai has a wenge wood note, and I sprayed some on today in the hope that I could figure out what wenge smells like. I have two more data points  - Donna Karan Black Cashmere and L'Eau d'Italie Paestum Rose are in the sample hoard, and both are said to have wenge notes.

I've held that with three data points I should be able to pick out a note - a sort of olfactory triangulation. I'm wrong. Black Cashmere is salty and dark, Paestum Rose is incense and bitter-citron-rose, and Aomassai is burnt sugar and pastry. There's a powdery incensey mood in all three, but not enough similarity to help me nail down the elusive wenge.

I formed the triangulation theory when it took three different fragrances to allow me to pick out vetiver - aggressive Guerlain Vetiver, green and friendly Creed Original Vetiver, and elegant but chilly Hermessence Vetiver Tonka. The theory should have been disproved when sniffing twice that number of iris fragrances wasn't enough to make me confident of recognizing iris root, but I suspect that I may never master iris root. On the other hand, I "got" galbanum on my first sniff of Chanel No. 19. Love at first sniff, and all that.

Scent is a puzzlement. Not much of a conclusion, but there it is. I'm sending off for a decant of Donna Karan Wenge. More data points.

However, Aomassai remains wonderful. My original rambling, and Review Roundup, can be found here.