Eau d'Italie- Bois d'Ombrie

Some years ago when I first began pursuing what we now call "niche perfume" I was completely taken with the idea of compositions that were made to convey a vision more than to just smell pretty. Evoking a time, a place or an image was a novel idea to me and I couldn't get enough. I still look for this feeling in my perfumes, but I'm somewhat less tolerant of things that smell off.

Bois d'Ombrie was created for Eau d'Italie by Bertrand Duchaufour and released in 2006. It's named after the woods of Umbria, Italy, which is a(nother) gorgeous Italian region just north of Lazio. It includes the provinces of Perugia and Terni (thank you, Wikipedia) and is famous for its black truffles, vineyards, the town of Assisi and various saints. I've been there twice and I remember the area very fondly despite too many olive trees (I'm very allergic). Rolling hills, beautiful B&Bs in stone cottages and great food. The smell outdoors is like in many similar parts of Italy- lush green, fertile soil, fresh fruit from the trees, whiffs of cooking from kitchens in the village.

Bois d'Ombrie doesn't smell so much of Umbrian terrain as of indoor spaces. Yes, there's some promising dry but earthy iris in the opening but it soon turns inwards into somewhat stuffy rooms, furniture polish, old leather sofas and damp stone floors. It's interesting and evocative, but then the briny pickle note shows up and  I'm not too happy with that. The sourness is more pronounced when worn indoors. I've had this Eau d'Italie fragrance on when out on a cool day and enjoyed it a lot more, so fresh air does it good. Still, until the very crisp vetiver shows up late into the drydown (which lasts forever), Bois d'Ombrie feels more like an experiment than a personal scent.

Bottom Line 1: I need a shower.
Bottom Line 2: I miss Italy.

Top Photo: casacattani.com
Second Photo: Trevi, a village in Umbria, by me, 2003

Bois d'Ombrie by Eau d'Italy ($120, 100ml EDT) is available from Aedes, Luckyscent and Lafco NYC, which is where I got my samples.

Eau d'Italie- Bois d'Ombrie

Some years ago when I first began pursuing what we now call "niche perfume" I was completely taken with the idea of compositions that were made to convey a vision more than to just smell pretty. Evoking a time, a place or an image was a novel idea to me and I couldn't get enough. I still look for this feeling in my perfumes, but I'm somewhat less tolerant of things that smell off.

Bois d'Ombrie was created for Eau d'Italie by Bertrand Duchaufour and released in 2006. It's named after the woods of Umbria, Italy, which is a(nother) gorgeous Italian region just north of Lazio. It includes the provinces of Perugia and Terni (thank you, Wikipedia) and is famous for its black truffles, vineyards, the town of Assisi and various saints. I've been there twice and I remember the area very fondly despite too many olive trees (I'm very allergic). Rolling hills, beautiful B&Bs in stone cottages and great food. The smell outdoors is like in many similar parts of Italy- lush green, fertile soil, fresh fruit from the trees, whiffs of cooking from kitchens in the village.

Bois d'Ombrie doesn't smell so much of Umbrian terrain as of indoor spaces. Yes, there's some promising dry but earthy iris in the opening but it soon turns inwards into somewhat stuffy rooms, furniture polish, old leather sofas and damp stone floors. It's interesting and evocative, but then the briny pickle note shows up and  I'm not too happy with that. The sourness is more pronounced when worn indoors. I've had this Eau d'Italie fragrance on when out on a cool day and enjoyed it a lot more, so fresh air does it good. Still, until the very crisp vetiver shows up late into the drydown (which lasts forever), Bois d'Ombrie feels more like an experiment than a personal scent.

Bottom Line 1: I need a shower.
Bottom Line 2: I miss Italy.

Top Photo: casacattani.com
Second Photo: Trevi, a village in Umbria, by me, 2003

Bois d'Ombrie by Eau d'Italy ($120, 100ml EDT) is available from Aedes, Luckyscent and Lafco NYC, which is where I got my samples.

Eau d'Italie- Bois d'Ombrie

Some years ago when I first began pursuing what we now call "niche perfume" I was completely taken with the idea of compositions that were made to convey a vision more than to just smell pretty. Evoking a time, a place or an image was a novel idea to me and I couldn't get enough. I still look for this feeling in my perfumes, but I'm somewhat less tolerant of things that smell off.

Bois d'Ombrie was created for Eau d'Italie by Bertrand Duchaufour and released in 2006. It's named after the woods of Umbria, Italy, which is a(nother) gorgeous Italian region just north of Lazio. It includes the provinces of Perugia and Terni (thank you, Wikipedia) and is famous for its black truffles, vineyards, the town of Assisi and various saints. I've been there twice and I remember the area very fondly despite too many olive trees (I'm very allergic). Rolling hills, beautiful B&Bs in stone cottages and great food. The smell outdoors is like in many similar parts of Italy- lush green, fertile soil, fresh fruit from the trees, whiffs of cooking from kitchens in the village.

Bois d'Ombrie doesn't smell so much of Umbrian terrain as of indoor spaces. Yes, there's some promising dry but earthy iris in the opening but it soon turns inwards into somewhat stuffy rooms, furniture polish, old leather sofas and damp stone floors. It's interesting and evocative, but then the briny pickle note shows up and  I'm not too happy with that. The sourness is more pronounced when worn indoors. I've had this Eau d'Italie fragrance on when out on a cool day and enjoyed it a lot more, so fresh air does it good. Still, until the very crisp vetiver shows up late into the drydown (which lasts forever), Bois d'Ombrie feels more like an experiment than a personal scent.

Bottom Line 1: I need a shower.
Bottom Line 2: I miss Italy.

Top Photo: casacattani.com
Second Photo: Trevi, a village in Umbria, by me, 2003

Bois d'Ombrie by Eau d'Italy ($120, 100ml EDT) is available from Aedes, Luckyscent and Lafco NYC, which is where I got my samples.

Eau d'Italie- Sienne l´Hiver

I'm pretty fed up with winter. I'm over heavy coats, boots, layers of cashmere, freezing eyeballs and the disgusting slush banks. Winter smells quite good, though, with wafts from wood stoves, evergreens, roasted chestnuts from street vendors in the city and mandarin oranges from Florida and Spain. but just like everything else, winter smells and looks better in Siena.

Sienne l'Hiver (Siena in Winter), a Bertrand Duchaufour creation for Eau d'Italie, intends to evokes the atmosphere of the old Tuscan city during this season. This is not the first time Duchaufour composes the scent of chilly stones- I feel the same thing in his Dzonkha (L'Artisan).

Sienne l'Hiver opens up earthy and rooty. You can almost touch the dampness of the Tuscan landscape. It's very much an iris scent up until the briny drydown. At times I think of it as the love child of Dzonkha and Maître Parfumeur et Gantier's Iris Bleu Gris. It retains the cool sensation and crispness thanks to the violet leaf note and just a hint of something smoky stirs the air- someone opened the door in the early morning, letting the smells from  a kitchen with a wood burning stove mix with the chill.

That's usually the part where I ask myself why i don't yet own a full bottle of this Eau d'Italie perfume. The answer comes to me about an hour later, when olive oil and brine make themselves known. I like it a lot and find the concept both pleasing and intriguing, but does it work as a personal scent? I love the smell of our local Italian deli (Cosmo makes the best fresh Mozzarella in New Jersey), but is it perfume? So I go through another sample, still undecided.

Sienne l´Hiver ($120, 100 ml) and the rest of the Eau d'Italie line can be found at Luckyscent (Scent Bar) in Los Angeles as well as from Aedes  and Lafco in NYC. The latter is very generous with samples, which is what allowed me to give the scent a thorough testing.

Photos of Siena in the snow (and my personal favorite, Fonte Gaia in Piazza del Campo) by Virri on Flickr.

Eau d'Italie- Sienne l´Hiver

I'm pretty fed up with winter. I'm over heavy coats, boots, layers of cashmere, freezing eyeballs and the disgusting slush banks. Winter smells quite good, though, with wafts from wood stoves, evergreens, roasted chestnuts from street vendors in the city and mandarin oranges from Florida and Spain. but just like everything else, winter smells and looks better in Siena.

Sienne l'Hiver (Siena in Winter), a Bertrand Duchaufour creation for Eau d'Italie, intends to evokes the atmosphere of the old Tuscan city during this season. This is not the first time Duchaufour composes the scent of chilly stones- I feel the same thing in his Dzonkha (L'Artisan).

Sienne l'Hiver opens up earthy and rooty. You can almost touch the dampness of the Tuscan landscape. It's very much an iris scent up until the briny drydown. At times I think of it as the love child of Dzonkha and Maître Parfumeur et Gantier's Iris Bleu Gris. It retains the cool sensation and crispness thanks to the violet leaf note and just a hint of something smoky stirs the air- someone opened the door in the early morning, letting the smells from  a kitchen with a wood burning stove mix with the chill.

That's usually the part where I ask myself why i don't yet own a full bottle of this Eau d'Italie perfume. The answer comes to me about an hour later, when olive oil and brine make themselves known. I like it a lot and find the concept both pleasing and intriguing, but does it work as a personal scent? I love the smell of our local Italian deli (Cosmo makes the best fresh Mozzarella in New Jersey), but is it perfume? So I go through another sample, still undecided.

Sienne l´Hiver ($120, 100 ml) and the rest of the Eau d'Italie line can be found at Luckyscent (Scent Bar) in Los Angeles as well as from Aedes  and Lafco in NYC. The latter is very generous with samples, which is what allowed me to give the scent a thorough testing.

Photos of Siena in the snow (and my personal favorite, Fonte Gaia in Piazza del Campo) by Virri on Flickr.

Eau d'Italie- Sienne l´Hiver

I'm pretty fed up with winter. I'm over heavy coats, boots, layers of cashmere, freezing eyeballs and the disgusting slush banks. Winter smells quite good, though, with wafts from wood stoves, evergreens, roasted chestnuts from street vendors in the city and mandarin oranges from Florida and Spain. but just like everything else, winter smells and looks better in Siena.

Sienne l'Hiver (Siena in Winter), a Bertrand Duchaufour creation for Eau d'Italie, intends to evokes the atmosphere of the old Tuscan city during this season. This is not the first time Duchaufour composes the scent of chilly stones- I feel the same thing in his Dzonkha (L'Artisan).

Sienne l'Hiver opens up earthy and rooty. You can almost touch the dampness of the Tuscan landscape. It's very much an iris scent up until the briny drydown. At times I think of it as the love child of Dzonkha and Maître Parfumeur et Gantier's Iris Bleu Gris. It retains the cool sensation and crispness thanks to the violet leaf note and just a hint of something smoky stirs the air- someone opened the door in the early morning, letting the smells from  a kitchen with a wood burning stove mix with the chill.

That's usually the part where I ask myself why i don't yet own a full bottle of this Eau d'Italie perfume. The answer comes to me about an hour later, when olive oil and brine make themselves known. I like it a lot and find the concept both pleasing and intriguing, but does it work as a personal scent? I love the smell of our local Italian deli (Cosmo makes the best fresh Mozzarella in New Jersey), but is it perfume? So I go through another sample, still undecided.

Sienne l´Hiver ($120, 100 ml) and the rest of the Eau d'Italie line can be found at Luckyscent (Scent Bar) in Los Angeles as well as from Aedes  and Lafco in NYC. The latter is very generous with samples, which is what allowed me to give the scent a thorough testing.

Photos of Siena in the snow (and my personal favorite, Fonte Gaia in Piazza del Campo) by Virri on Flickr.