Calming

Nicolaï Rose Oud Perfume Review

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Photograph: Esperessence

Rose Oud is very soothing for the heart. Especially when you are suffering from heartache or confronted with difficult emotional situations in your life and want some elevation of stress/anxiety in a soft and gentle way. 

Interestingly Patricia de Nicolaï made Rose Oud as a powerful very rich deep fragrance (see video) But Rose Oud wears very close to my skin. It is more the light stroke of a rose. Caresse in French. Caresse de Rose would have been a better title for the fragrance.  I can only scent Rose Oud when I smell my wrist very closely, at less than 5 cm. Which is a pity but I reapply several times during the day. Longevity is not very good either. Very powerful rose perfumes on my skin are Guerlain Nahema edp and Maria Candida Gentile Cinabre.

Although I love rose fragrances I find it hard to find rose perfumes I wear regularly.  They can either be too the linear like Jo Malone Red Roses, too uplifting like the spicy Amouage Epic or Majda Bekkali Mon Nom Est Rouge or too activating like Maria Candida Gentile Cinabre.  I have found Rose Oud to be very appealing and  wore it quite often last summer. Of all my rose fragrances, this is the one I used most.

Rose Oud could give an uncomplicated impression at first sniff. But I find it an interesting modern, elegant, radiant and subtle fragrance.  You can wear it when you do not want others to smell your fragrance for example at your office or for a job interview.

What do I smell?

Personally I do not scent any oud in Rose Oud but some other male bloggers (Chemist in a Bottle and Geurengoeroe) say they do. At the beginning I get a fruity peach note probably due to the osmanthus. At the same time I get a lot of aldehydes the first few minutes adding lightness and brilliance. The aldehydes are not used in a retro vintage style like Antoine Lie in Rien Intense but in a more modern 21th century way.  What remains afterwards is an oily fragrance according to Perfume Shrine due to Nargamotha/Cypriol*. I get a sweet raspberry/rose note as well which is very similar to the Oliver and Co Santalum scented candle.

What does it do ?

Rose Oud is very soothing for the heart. Especially when you are suffering from heartache or confronted with difficult emotional situations in your life and want some elevation of stress or anxiety in a soft and gentle way. I used it a lot when my mother was in the hospital last summer. Part of this soothing effect could be a result of the usage of cypriol or to the calming effect of the rose.

Which image do I get ?

I get the image of the fur of my cat, Rubio as caressing him has a similar calming effect on me as wearing Rose Oud.

Composition: (according to the official Nicolaï website)

Top note: raspberry, davana, osmanthus

Heart note: rose, lily of the valley

Base note: agarwood, patchouli , sandalwood, musk, amber

Fragrance family: according to Patricia de Nicolaï chypre due to the rose and patchouli absolute (I would say floral chypre with fruity accents due to the raspberry or fruity chypre, Michael Edwards classifies it as a rose soliflore which makes sense)

Sillage: 1/5

Longevity: 1/5

Fragrance: 4/5

Overall: 3,5/5

Origin of bottle: my own,  Nicolaï is sold in The Netherlands by The Perfume Lounge and Parfumaria, both sell samples.

* Nagarmotha/Cypriol is a plant of the Cyperaceae family belonging to the papyrus family. Cypriol essential oil is harvested through steam distillation. Lotus Garden Botanicals states on its website that its fragrance has similarities with vetiver and oud. The essential oil is used in aromatherapy and is said to have an emotionally calming effect. According to an article of Swiss perfumer Andy Tauer most of the oud in perfumes are bases often made with Cypriol.

Give away: we are giving away a 2 ml sample of Rose Oud

  1. Subscribe to our website if you already are you can skip this
  2. Leave a comment telling us what scent relaxes you or soothes your heart
  3. Draw will close september 3, at 12.00 PM Parisian Time
  4. We will contact the winner by mail, announce it on our website and on twitter, if you are the winner please check your mail and other folder
  5. Worldwide draw

 

April Aromatics Precious Woods Eau de Parfum Review

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A walk in the forestPrecious Woods invites us to take a walk in a forest. German perfumer Tanja Bochnig was inspired to make this fragrance when she scented an Indian forest after the rain. I believe she succeeded very well in passing us the scent, image and experience of an actual walk in a wood. It is a scent I tend to use when I would like to wander in a forest but I am not able to, especially during a cold winter. Which is interesting as I have never been to an Indian wood but still get the impression my need of a walk is fulfilled by using this fragrance.

According to the official April Aromatics website Precious Woods is made of 100 percent natural extracts. I have used natural perfumes before which either did not last at all or gave the simplistic impression of just putting two or three essential oils together on a kitchen table. Fortunately I have no longevity problems with Precious Woods nor do I get the impression everyone could have made this fragrance.

What does it do ?

Wearing it makes me feel very down to earth and grounded. I find it a very appropriate fragrance to calm me as well. Looking at the ingredients this is not surprising as one of the main ingredients is sandalwood. Sandalwood fragrance has been used by all Indian spiritual traditions (Brahmin, Buddhist and Hindu) to induce a calm state of mind.

Precious Woods edp is worth a try if you like woody fragrances, are looking for a calming fragrance or more natural fragrances.

Do you use a fragrance to calm you ? Does it work ?

Ingredients according to the April Aromatics website: 100% natural extracts of Sandelwood/India, Sandelwood/Neukaledonia, CederwoodVirginia/USA, Cederwood/Himalaya, Cistus Vetiver Bourbon, Patchouli/Indonesia, Buddha Wood, white Sage, organic alcohol.

Fragrance family: Woody/ Classical Woody (via Fragantica)

Origin of bottle: my own

Photography by L’Esperessence

 

April Aromatics perfumer Tanja Bochnig about Precious Woods and draw

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April Aromatics Precious Woods edp was made by German perfumer Tanja Bochnig in 2012. April Aromatics is a natural perfume line, all ingredients are natural and no artificial essences, petroleum or mineral oils are added. Tanja Bochning very kindly agreed to answer a few questions about Precious Woods. When asking her about the origin of Precious Woods, she explained Precious Woods was birthed after her first travel to India. Both the Mysore sandalwood oil that she smelled and the cedar wood distillery in the mountains in the north of India inspired her. There, she scented the wet, earthy air, while walking through a lush forest, after a rain storm and she was inspired by the smell of it.

Reading the official ingredients I was intrigued by Buddha Wood and asked Tanja Bochnig why she used this in Precious Woods. She choose Buddha Wood in Precious Woods Eau de Parfum, because it beautifully blended with all other woody raw materials that she used in this fragrance; sandalwood, cedarwood, vetiver. Also the name Buddha wood fitted perfectly to this Indian inspired perfume. In natural perfumery Buddha Wood can be used as a general fixative, precious woods accord, incense perfumes, forest notes and sacred essences.

Buddhist deily Guanyin, meditating on a rock

According to Tanja Bochnig Buddha Wood oil is very effective for meditation and for creating a layer of protection around your aura. This oil is also very relaxing and sedating. For the physical body it is anti-bacterial, anti inflammatory and a stimulant for the immune system. It has a beautiful woodsy scent.

Tanja Bochnig continued to explain that the essential oil of Buddha Wood (Eremophila mitchelli) is also known as “Desert Rosewood” from Australia. It is a copper-red viscous liquid displaying a soft, rich deep, sweet, balsamic, precious woods (cedarwood-guaiacwood-sandalwood complex) bouquet with a delicate mossy-leathery-creamy undertone of good tenacity. It is distilled from the heartwood of the tree.

All April Aromatics fragrances contain little transparent crystals. I asked Tanja Bochnig if all her fragrances contained the same gem stones or differed ones for each scent. Tanja explained that she uses Herkimer diamonds for each of the stock bottles that all of her perfumes ripen in, (sometimes they ripen for at least 6 months). Each 30ml bottle of perfume contains about 10 rock crystals. She only uses different gems stones in her chakra oil collection, one for each corresponding chakra.

The healing power of the stones take care of the activation. She does not do anything. That is the beauty about the crystals. They are powerful on their own. By adding the stones to the essences the bouquet of the fragrance becomes complete. There is a special power in each perfume and the wearer can definitely feel it.

Give away: our world wide give away is an official 2,5 ml Precious Woods sample, provided by April Aromatics.

Draw: Leave a comment and tell us why you would like to win a sample. If you sign up for your newsletter or on Instagram you will be entered twice in the draw. You can enter until 1 March, 12 pm CET, Central European Time (Berlin, Germany).

A winner will be announced on a special post on this website and on Instagram. You have until 15 March to contact April Aromatics for your price, otherwise the sample will go to the following winner on the list.

Official ingredients in Precious Woods according to April Aromatics website: Sandalwood/India, Sandalwood/ New Caledonia, Cedarwood/Virginia USA, Cedarwood/Himalaya, Cistus, Vetiver Bourbon, Buddha Wood, Patchouli/Indonesia, White Sage, Organic Alcohol

April Aromatics fragrances can be bought online on: http://aprilaromatics.com/

Disclaimer: we were not compensated for this interview, an article discussing our experience with Precious Woods edp will be published soon.

Photography by L’Esperessence

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