Auphorie
BINTURONG
Notes:
Incense, Cannonball Flower, Iris, Mixed Spices, Amber, Labdanum, Laoatian Oud, White Sandalwood, Cedarwood, Patchouli, Caramel, Black Coffee, Civet, Castoreum, Musk, Ambergris (botanical and synthetic representations of animalics)
I was about to pull the trigger on a bottle of Eternal Voyage when Auphorie announced their new trio of Extraits. When I saw Binturong, a vegan animalic perfume, I simply had to make it mine. Bought it instead, blindly, and I adore it!
Binturong is indeed very animalic. What I get upfront reminds me of ambergris, a bit of barnyard stank going on with a beautiful dark smokiness. I thought of castoreum as it smells faintly leathery. I get a touch of incense with woody notes and a subtle, nearly imperceptible note of bitter coffee.
As it develops, Binturong takes on more iris and caramel as well as a mysterious floral note. I have to assume it's cannonball flower, but I have never smelled the real thing. This floral note smells a bit like an exotic white flower, but it is not intense or heady in comparison to, say, jasmine or gardenia. Might be more along the lines of champaca or even plumeria (frangipani), which are also exotic but not screechy.
The drydown, after several hours, takes on an animalic muskiness that reminds me most of civet. At this point there is a lot of amber too. A nice, silky powderiness develops as well. It's not powdery like aldehydes or baby powder but more like the feel of suede. I think I get a lot of iris because this is how perfumes that are heavy on iris always behave with my chemistry. It's fantastic.
When I wake up the next morning (longevity is forever on me), it smells like it could be a Chanel perfume, something similar to 28 La Pausa. I still get tons of iris, all the way into the drydown, when all traces of caramel and animalic notes have dissipated.
It is hard to truly characterize Binturong. It's like a floral-woody-musk that is heavy on amber and animalics and has gourmand accents. At times it seems like an oriental.
The animalic notes work great on my skin, never overbearing or gross or even teribly funky. I can see it being too much for some people, but if you are like me, with a "bring it on!" attitude, then you should seek out Binturong. I am so glad I own this one!
It's truly a testament to the saying "where there's a will, there's a way." These guys are totally against animal cruelty, and I am astounded at the animalic accords they have been able to create and showcase in such a magnificent, complex perfume such as Binturong. It's like a classic iris perfume kicked up a few notches. Super avante-garde and exceptionally clever.
Notes:
Incense, Cannonball Flower, Iris, Mixed Spices, Amber, Labdanum, Laoatian Oud, White Sandalwood, Cedarwood, Patchouli, Caramel, Black Coffee, Civet, Castoreum, Musk, Ambergris (botanical and synthetic representations of animalics)
I was about to pull the trigger on a bottle of Eternal Voyage when Auphorie announced their new trio of Extraits. When I saw Binturong, a vegan animalic perfume, I simply had to make it mine. Bought it instead, blindly, and I adore it!
Binturong is indeed very animalic. What I get upfront reminds me of ambergris, a bit of barnyard stank going on with a beautiful dark smokiness. I thought of castoreum as it smells faintly leathery. I get a touch of incense with woody notes and a subtle, nearly imperceptible note of bitter coffee.
As it develops, Binturong takes on more iris and caramel as well as a mysterious floral note. I have to assume it's cannonball flower, but I have never smelled the real thing. This floral note smells a bit like an exotic white flower, but it is not intense or heady in comparison to, say, jasmine or gardenia. Might be more along the lines of champaca or even plumeria (frangipani), which are also exotic but not screechy.
The drydown, after several hours, takes on an animalic muskiness that reminds me most of civet. At this point there is a lot of amber too. A nice, silky powderiness develops as well. It's not powdery like aldehydes or baby powder but more like the feel of suede. I think I get a lot of iris because this is how perfumes that are heavy on iris always behave with my chemistry. It's fantastic.
When I wake up the next morning (longevity is forever on me), it smells like it could be a Chanel perfume, something similar to 28 La Pausa. I still get tons of iris, all the way into the drydown, when all traces of caramel and animalic notes have dissipated.
It is hard to truly characterize Binturong. It's like a floral-woody-musk that is heavy on amber and animalics and has gourmand accents. At times it seems like an oriental.
The animalic notes work great on my skin, never overbearing or gross or even teribly funky. I can see it being too much for some people, but if you are like me, with a "bring it on!" attitude, then you should seek out Binturong. I am so glad I own this one!
It's truly a testament to the saying "where there's a will, there's a way." These guys are totally against animal cruelty, and I am astounded at the animalic accords they have been able to create and showcase in such a magnificent, complex perfume such as Binturong. It's like a classic iris perfume kicked up a few notches. Super avante-garde and exceptionally clever.
ELFEN SPRING
Notes:
Muskmelon, Mandarine, Lotus Blossom, Fresh Water
Gardenia, Water Lily, Tuberose, Muguet
Precious Woods, Amber, Fresh Musk
It may contain an aquatic note, but make no mistake, Elfen Spring is no boring, aqueous fragrance. In the first moments, I smelled a divine and rich fruity scent that seemed so familiar. I started thinking it was like a really beautiful air freshener, but with a twist: a whispy incense note weaving through--fascinating! One thing I can say with confidence is that nobody does incense quite like Auphorie. Every perfume from this house that I have sampled features incense in one form or another, and it is always a superior quality of incense than in any other perfume I can think of.
Please dont cringe at what I am about to say, but do you remember Sunflowers from the early 90's? I still love that stuff, and it was all the rage with 11-year-olds in my day. Elfen Spring is like the most beautiful version of Sunflowers imaginable. It's like Sunflowers with fresh gardenia and a deeper base of ambered musk. The scent drifts up to my nose for several hours. No problems with sillage nor longevity from two sprays to the wrists.
Elfen Spring is totally different from any of their other perfumes. It has more of a perfumey feel versus a dark, unisex, modern, no-top-notes type of perfume. It smells very high quality and very elegant.
I would also put Elfen Spring into the same category as Dia Woman because they are both floral, fruity, musky and feminine. So if you like fruity-floral, clean, and musky, please give Elfen Spring a shot. I want a full bottle pretty badly...and Heaven knows I will get one eventually!
Notes:
Muskmelon, Mandarine, Lotus Blossom, Fresh Water
Gardenia, Water Lily, Tuberose, Muguet
Precious Woods, Amber, Fresh Musk
It may contain an aquatic note, but make no mistake, Elfen Spring is no boring, aqueous fragrance. In the first moments, I smelled a divine and rich fruity scent that seemed so familiar. I started thinking it was like a really beautiful air freshener, but with a twist: a whispy incense note weaving through--fascinating! One thing I can say with confidence is that nobody does incense quite like Auphorie. Every perfume from this house that I have sampled features incense in one form or another, and it is always a superior quality of incense than in any other perfume I can think of.
Please dont cringe at what I am about to say, but do you remember Sunflowers from the early 90's? I still love that stuff, and it was all the rage with 11-year-olds in my day. Elfen Spring is like the most beautiful version of Sunflowers imaginable. It's like Sunflowers with fresh gardenia and a deeper base of ambered musk. The scent drifts up to my nose for several hours. No problems with sillage nor longevity from two sprays to the wrists.
Elfen Spring is totally different from any of their other perfumes. It has more of a perfumey feel versus a dark, unisex, modern, no-top-notes type of perfume. It smells very high quality and very elegant.
I would also put Elfen Spring into the same category as Dia Woman because they are both floral, fruity, musky and feminine. So if you like fruity-floral, clean, and musky, please give Elfen Spring a shot. I want a full bottle pretty badly...and Heaven knows I will get one eventually!
ETERNAL VOYAGE
I had a decant waiting to be tested, and since I was going out this afternoon for some Halloween festivities, I figured "Eternal Voyage? Like, hmmm, death?" The name was perfect, LOL. Without looking at the notes, I spritzed it on. I was hoping for massive clouds of incense, and that is exactly what I got.
A deliciously fruity opening caught me off guard. It did not smell like citrus, but more tropical. It was sweet and tantalizingly juicy--maybe peach mixed with syrupy pineapple?
The fruit quickly settled on my skin while some of the best incense I have ever smelled in my life began to develop. It smelled just like a smoky headshop full of joss sticks mixed with incense from the most sacred East Asian temples. East meets West. Such thick, black, billowy curls of the smoothest incense--like being at a hookah bar because you get all of the heavenly aromas without the coughing.
Did it remind me of death? Yes. I pictured a ritual in which a body was laid out on a stone table, incense burning, and torches lit on each side. I haven't had images like this come to mind since Anubis, and I would easily place Eternal Voyage into that category of incense, the kind that takes you not only to another place but to an ancient, maybe mythical, time.
Interwoven with all the incense, it smelled a teency bit like men's cologne, like something musky, spicy (nutmeg?) and herbal (lavender?). Barbershop-fougere. Sexy, actually.
Several hours later, as I was driving home, I kept thinking about toffee, which was odd. I told myself that it can't possibly be my new favorite incense perfume. I actually wasn't sure if I was really smelling it or if it was my imagination. Then I got home and looked up the notes--brown sugar! It's a note that I inadvertently noticed, yet Eternal Voyage doesn't strike me as gourmand at all. It's not particularly sweet.
Eternal Voyage is blowing my mind the way that something from Slumberhouse does. It's thought-provoking, constantly mutating, and it contains notes that don't appear to have rhyme or reason "on paper", yet pour them into a bottle and shake, and they make something that nobody has ever smelled before. THIS is perfumery! It is truly artistic.
I know that Miyako got a well-deserved 2016 Art and Olfaction award, but Eternal Voyage is going to be "my" Auphorie perfume.
I had a decant waiting to be tested, and since I was going out this afternoon for some Halloween festivities, I figured "Eternal Voyage? Like, hmmm, death?" The name was perfect, LOL. Without looking at the notes, I spritzed it on. I was hoping for massive clouds of incense, and that is exactly what I got.
A deliciously fruity opening caught me off guard. It did not smell like citrus, but more tropical. It was sweet and tantalizingly juicy--maybe peach mixed with syrupy pineapple?
The fruit quickly settled on my skin while some of the best incense I have ever smelled in my life began to develop. It smelled just like a smoky headshop full of joss sticks mixed with incense from the most sacred East Asian temples. East meets West. Such thick, black, billowy curls of the smoothest incense--like being at a hookah bar because you get all of the heavenly aromas without the coughing.
Did it remind me of death? Yes. I pictured a ritual in which a body was laid out on a stone table, incense burning, and torches lit on each side. I haven't had images like this come to mind since Anubis, and I would easily place Eternal Voyage into that category of incense, the kind that takes you not only to another place but to an ancient, maybe mythical, time.
Interwoven with all the incense, it smelled a teency bit like men's cologne, like something musky, spicy (nutmeg?) and herbal (lavender?). Barbershop-fougere. Sexy, actually.
Several hours later, as I was driving home, I kept thinking about toffee, which was odd. I told myself that it can't possibly be my new favorite incense perfume. I actually wasn't sure if I was really smelling it or if it was my imagination. Then I got home and looked up the notes--brown sugar! It's a note that I inadvertently noticed, yet Eternal Voyage doesn't strike me as gourmand at all. It's not particularly sweet.
Eternal Voyage is blowing my mind the way that something from Slumberhouse does. It's thought-provoking, constantly mutating, and it contains notes that don't appear to have rhyme or reason "on paper", yet pour them into a bottle and shake, and they make something that nobody has ever smelled before. THIS is perfumery! It is truly artistic.
I know that Miyako got a well-deserved 2016 Art and Olfaction award, but Eternal Voyage is going to be "my" Auphorie perfume.
MIYAKO
Miyako, a winner of The Art and Olfaction Awards 2016, wows me with it's fruity yet earthy opening of dried apricots, swiftly followed by its fresh osmanthus flowers and its compelling and distinct note of rough, animalic leather. When the base creeps up, there is something distinctly green about it. A couple of hours into the drydown, I get an almost chocolatey effect that I find very comforting. I also notice something that smells like incense, as though it is clinging to the skin and hair after having walked out of a sacred temple.
This perfume is like a lesson in abstract art. There are so many notes tumbling around, weaving in and out of one another. You have the darkness of earthy notes and brightness of botanical notes contrasting one another with every fascinating inhalation.
Miyako showcases what perfumers can achieve with modern botanical interpretations of "animalic" notes. The leather note is huge and so believable! I did not see the notes ahead of time, but I when I smelled it, I knew it was leather, and I was surprised because I know Auphorie does not use real animal essences. Please try this if you love love love leather but you do NOT love animal cruelty.
Miyako takes me back to a memory of a thrift shop I poked around when I was last at Tahoe. Sniffing from a distance, the perfume has this old, worn-in scent about it, like the scent of clothes with just a bit of mildew, old books, and old leather jackets that might or might not have been worn by a smoker, but they have definitely been worn. If I put my schnozz close to my skin, I really pick up that beautiful, clean, fruity and sweet osmanthus.
Leather is definitely not my favorite note, but oddly I enjoy the (few) excellent botanical interpretations of it much more than the real animalic stuff. Miyako is one of those perfumes that feels like it becomes part of you, just like your favorite leather jacket. This perfume is beautifully done and cruelty-free. Projection is great. Love it! (Sept 2016)
Miyako, a winner of The Art and Olfaction Awards 2016, wows me with it's fruity yet earthy opening of dried apricots, swiftly followed by its fresh osmanthus flowers and its compelling and distinct note of rough, animalic leather. When the base creeps up, there is something distinctly green about it. A couple of hours into the drydown, I get an almost chocolatey effect that I find very comforting. I also notice something that smells like incense, as though it is clinging to the skin and hair after having walked out of a sacred temple.
This perfume is like a lesson in abstract art. There are so many notes tumbling around, weaving in and out of one another. You have the darkness of earthy notes and brightness of botanical notes contrasting one another with every fascinating inhalation.
Miyako showcases what perfumers can achieve with modern botanical interpretations of "animalic" notes. The leather note is huge and so believable! I did not see the notes ahead of time, but I when I smelled it, I knew it was leather, and I was surprised because I know Auphorie does not use real animal essences. Please try this if you love love love leather but you do NOT love animal cruelty.
Miyako takes me back to a memory of a thrift shop I poked around when I was last at Tahoe. Sniffing from a distance, the perfume has this old, worn-in scent about it, like the scent of clothes with just a bit of mildew, old books, and old leather jackets that might or might not have been worn by a smoker, but they have definitely been worn. If I put my schnozz close to my skin, I really pick up that beautiful, clean, fruity and sweet osmanthus.
Leather is definitely not my favorite note, but oddly I enjoy the (few) excellent botanical interpretations of it much more than the real animalic stuff. Miyako is one of those perfumes that feels like it becomes part of you, just like your favorite leather jacket. This perfume is beautifully done and cruelty-free. Projection is great. Love it! (Sept 2016)