Patchouli
by Santa Maria Novella

Yep, the other reviewers are right: SMN are not screwing around here. What, you don't love patchouli? Then get the hell out of here! We're not making this for you!! Even the dark brown color of the juice is scary, and this is a scary fragrance if you don't like patchouli.

Dark, raw, damp and aggressive are the words that best describe this scent. I find it more versatile than most people, though. You can dab it on with the splash bottle, and it provides a nice, relatively discreet, aromatic patchouli scent that smells pretty classy. I'm a lawyer, and I wear this scent to Court and business meetings often. On the other hand, if you want to be macho man or smell like a hippie, you can douse yourself in this and blast everyone off the map. It projects very well and the scent lasts all day.

This is my favorite patchouli, and I own a lot of patchouli fragrances. I love it mainly for its versatility and purity.

MY RATING: 9/10

27th September, 2011.

Wonderful, wonderful brew. Love this from first sniff. Nearly perfect with its intense dark nature. The only thing that I am not used to is its slight 'wetness'. The scent has a 'wet atmosphere' when I'm wearing it. Not a bad thing, but I personally prefer dry smell.

Overall a Holy Grail perfume for Patchouli fans.

18th September, 2011.

Santa Maria Novella Patchouli takes no prisoners. It's a dark, sharp, and smoky patchouli that opens with a reedy herbaceous edge. If patchouli puts you in mind of a head shop, you probabbly won't like this one - it's not making any concessions to polite society. This is real "hippie" patchouli, though made tart by a crisp citrus note. The quality is high, the scent is extraordinarily potent, and it seems to project for miles.

A note that's harsh and marginally bitter eventually makes its way into the heart of Santa Maria Novella's Patchouli. It's hard to place at first, reminding of hospital disinfectant, or maybe even creosote. The note may sound revolting, but it actually benefits the composition by cutting the trippy-hippie vibe set up by the patchouli. As this note comes into sharper focus I recognize it as a very dry cedar, which grows more and more dominant as the scent dries down.

Unlike many other niche patchouli scents, Santa Maria Novella's is not softened or sweetened by large doses of amber. It stands apart in its raw, direct character. It may not please everybody, but I think it will appeal to patchouli purists.

24th December, 2009.

Whoa! SMN isn’t fooling around with this one, are they? This is a potent, thick, earthy patchouli that aims right for the jugular. Harsh and bitter is right! It has a robust camphorous edge to it. It’s dry and linear, too. In spite of the fact that I usually do not like the close-to-pure patchouli scents. I like this, but at the same time, I find it a difficult fragrance to wear: It broadcasts a dominant accord of disinfectant or creosote. About the only notes I get out of Patchouli are patchouli and the camphorous / creosote note. Certainly there is little or no amber or other mitigator to ease the olfactory aggression. I must assert that I very much like this fragrance – probably as much as or more than most patchouli scents I’ve tried. I’m also pretty sure I’d be quite hesitant to wear this out of the house... err... well, maybe someday... (Edit of 23 May 2008 review.)

23rd May, 2008. (Last Edited: 30th November, 2009.)

Patchouli. Not much else. There's really nothing better than patchouli when it's well blended in a scent. It adds earthiness and force. In my opinion, there's also nothing that smells worse on its own. Here it's earthy, dry, pungent, and almost camphorous. Not as strong as Villoresi's, not as animalic as say Tonatto's Re. Pretty straightforward and one-dimensional...much like SMN's Vetiver, Vaniglia, and Melograno are. If you like patchouli, go for it. Everyone else, please stay away.

18th September, 2006.

Best patchouli on the market. HG of patchoulis. Woody without being harsh. Fragrant without being sweet. Lesser patchoulis smell flat, one-dimensional. Lesser patchoulis add other notes to make them smell more interesting. This is a pure patchouli scent, rich and gold.
Santa Maria Novella is so deep, so three-dimensional, that you can smell around it. I hope I can explain this adequately: the sweet notes, sour notes, herbal notes, woody notes, enter your nose at split-second intervals.
Buy a sample from Aedes, conduct a direct comparison to any other patchouli you can find. See what I mean? The only drawback is that it is expensive. You have to love patchouli. You can get cheaper, but you can't get better.

10th September, 2006.