Melodrama (2005)
by Space NK

Unfortunately now discontinued. It goes for big money on ebay too.
And yes this is a Sheldrake, upon release Space NK where very proud he had created for them and advertised the fact.

Opens with a blast of aldehyde which then settles into a classic feminine chypre. Melodrama does smell like a bygone classic which fragrance houses don't make anymore. Shame on the other houses more interested in pumping out celeb fragrances.

For those who love chypres you really need to hunt down Melodrama and try. The reason for its early discontinuation? The younger modern market does not realize nor understand what a classic chypre should be. Their loss.

It is hard to believe that this fragrance was introduced only two years ago. I’d almost swear it’s an old power fragrance. It opens up aggressively – I’m not sure but it seems to be full of aldehydes, which doesn’t happen too often now days. These aldehydes threaten… threaten animalism and powder, to be exact. I get a heavy indole note that flickers in and out of the opening – this must be the villain of the piece, (unless the villain is the boredom that occurs at the end, with the drydown). With the aldehydes and the indole it is a rather dramatic (if not melodramatic) fragrance. It certainly isn’t a demure fragrance – at any rate, for a while there are things going on. In spite of being hit over the head with that unsubtle opening accord, and in spite of the indole note (or maybe because of it), I rather like what this fragrance is doing in the opening. The demureness enters in the middle accords where the notes get very floral and powdery (Penelope Pureheart, I suppose): The scent has just become so ordinary, so dated, and so feminine (the last is quite alright because it is marketed as a feminine fragrance). The drydown is a rather ordinary moss and light wood accord – still retaining some of the middle powder. It’s a boring drydown for me because I don’t find anything dominant or interesting, and it leaves me kind of wishing that this had been one melodrama where the villain won. Incidentally, rumor has it that Melodrama is by Chris Sheldrake – and it’s not anything like his Lutens’ creations, unfortunately – maybe it’s just a rumor.