Real Patchouly (2005)
by Bois 1920

I have often found Bois 1920 fragrances to be more style than substance, but Real Patchouly certainly bucks the trend. A briefly extroverted opening phase, allows citric, herbal and wood elements to entertain unfettered.The emergent sandalwood note imbues the fragrance with warmth, richness and quality.The patchouli seam is discernable from an early stage, but it is appropriately restrained, as if satisfied that its name is top of the bill.

There are no great strides forward beyond the heart notes, but it does lose a touch of its sweetness, and gains a mild grainy quality. Overall, there are no great surprises, but a simple concept seems to have been nicely polished. The result is a fragrance of high quality.

This is spectacular stuff. Somerville Metro Man's review describes my experience with it perfectly. The opening is strong, sweet patchouli, tempered with a bit of citrus and what I'd call a slightly nutty note. As the patchouli note itself becomes a bit more woody in nature, a vanilla note creeps in to provide some sweetened smoothness, keeping the accord from becoming too abrasive. The final version of the patchouli is my favorite: the note becomes a little more bitter and aromatic - a soft, dry patchouli backed by a subtle dose of powdery amber. The entire evolution is pure heaven; this is the most approachable, wearable patchouli fragrance I've ever tried.

Bois 1920 Real Patchouly

Patchouli is one of those notes that is difficult to work with, I think. It is easy to use it and come off smelling like every head shop in existence. It is a more difficult trick to get past that association and through a combination of other notes bring out a different facet to patchouli. In Real Patchouly, Enzo Galardi does this in a very slow moving and delightful way. This is a symphony of patchouli in three movements. From the top the head shop smell of patchouli is present along with a tart lemon which keeps it familiar and maybe even commonplace or boring. This is a patchouli you've seen before, many times. Then the second movement begins and while the patchouli is still the dominant figure vanilla matches it and now accentuates the sweeter aspects of patchouli; muting but not obliterating the more herbal essence one usually associates with patchouli. After an extended second movement we move into the final movement and this comes on very slowly as you notice the herbal character of the patchouli beginning to make a return but now it has brough a partner with it, amber. The effect of the amber is to bring those herbal notes to the foreground while muting the sweeter aspects thus flipping the experience of the whole from an hour or so ago. Real Patchouly is a very slowly evolving scent as it took almost two hours for all of this to happen. This is no fast-food scent here. This scent shows what a perfumer can do with one predominant note that lasts throughout but by pairing it with the right dance partners create lovely olfactory synergies that allow you to really appreciate the central note.

Real Patchouly is real patchouli. It’s a deep, dry patchouli that seems to be quite unadorned and straightforward, which, of course, it isn’t. There is a modicum of citrus joining the opening, giving the opening a very temporary shadow of lightness and sparkle – but only in the background to the solid, dry patchouli. It doesn’t take long for a light, almost dry amber to join the patchouli in an unique and excellent accord. I don’t find this accord very similar to the patchouli accords in other patchouli scents. It it smooth rather than raw; but I wouldn’t call it refined or even tamed; It is stark and smooth, and I know that that doesn't make sense. It isn’t head shop, and it certainly isn’t macerated such as the patchouli in Montales Patchouli Leaves. It is simply a woody, full, linear, long lasting, and completely enjoyable patchouli accord. A large part of its character is the sandalwood that joins it halfway through the heart accord. The dry down is soft and masculine without a lot of sillage and with a rather limited longevity. Real Patchouly’s dry, low-keyed, arid / semi-sweet, woody, masculine presentation represents a unique interpretation of patchouli and offers a genuine alternative to other patchouli fragrances. Admirable.

Bois 1920 Real Patchouly

Notes: Texas citron, Indian sandalwood, vanilla, amber (from luckyscent.com)

The first spray of Real Patchouly reminds me of Parfum d'Empire Ambre Russe without the heaviness. RP is slightly boozy, but rather than the light fizzy vodka-champagne with heavily cured leather and thick amber I get from Ambre Russe, the booze in RP is more like cognac or bourbon with hints of vanilla, cherry, smoke, wood and tobacco. For me, it evokes the inside an oak cask that was charred and then used to age wine or whiskey. The patchouli is not very forward in the beginning, but it is definitely there, and blends with the booze notes very nicely. There is a sort of cool mentholated note--not mint per se, but it cold be the aromatic effect of the spicy and earthy patchouli. The wood note is pleasant, and mostly smells like cedar with a touch of sandalwood.

I have noticed with other Bois 1920 scents that there seems to be a house accord which is used in several of the fragrances--it is a lemon, vanilla and resin blend which is very lightly oriental, sweet, warm, and a little powdery. This accord is present in RP, and since vanilla and resin are typically part of amber, the accord is very well placed here. It gives RP a buoyancy and freshness that is often lacking in patchouli fragrances. Into the drydown, the soft lemon and vanilla are mainly a support for the very clear, aromatic wood and patchouli notes. The effect is somewhat diffuse and cloud-like, and simultaneously warm and cool, dry and sweet. This is definitely a "medium" amber, not heavy or dense, but made extremely rich by the beautiful herbal-woody-spicy aromatics that are characteristic of the woods and patchouli.

Vibert is bang one when he compares this gem to Mazzolari or profumum, though not as interesting as the said two houses, this one is no sleeper too. excellent rendition and top notch quality. Patchouli and eucalyptus are the first to appear..and within minutes this turns into a very dense set of accord. one can literally feel the heady mix of eucalyptus oil in the equation which emanates like vapors ..quite a blend this one...throughly enjoyable.. the basenotes has a nice vanillic earthy mix of woods which turns drier with evey passin hour...references to amber sultan is very true. think of it as a milder version(herbs) of amber sultan with a good mix of patchouli and eucalyptus. a thumbs up! and definitely full bottle worthy.