Sabotage (2006)
by Ayala Moriel

This has an excellent aromatic green-citrus opening. It is very lemony and invigorating. Grassy-hay notes emerge, contributed by the vetiver and coumarin (from the tonka bean). I think Ayala is an expert on coumarin, she can always get excellent cut-grass notes when she wants. The blond tobacco leaf adds an intriguing variation on this grassy theme. It reminds me of my father’s old pipe tobacco tins. This is a lovely daytime scent. I don’t find Sabotage to be ‘macho’ or ‘stinky.’ The grassy notes are quite distinctive, but that is part of this scent’s charm. Ayala’s site says that she created Sabotage to be “a parody of classic masculine scents.” I like it.

Sabotage starts out citrusy, aromatic and a little bit "stinky," like a well-ripened cheese. Spice and floral notes appear in a few minutes, while the "stinky" note slinks around in the background, animalic and more than a little dangerous.

It takes a good hour before the earthy vetiver and tobacco basenotes reveal themselves, and when they do Sabotage takes a decisive macho turn and never looks back.

There's a trace of sweetness behind the tobacco and vetiver, but just enough to round out the drydown without compromising the scent's assertive bluntness. Sabotage uses familiar notes in an original way to sustain an interesting development. Though not something I think I'd wear, it's a fragrance that's worth looking into.