I'm not normally one to post reviews on this board, but with the directory down for the duration, I'll post a few. All will appear in the directory once it's resurrected.
Skarb by Humiecki & Graeb
Notes: Absinthe, myrtle, lovage, barley extract, musk, carrot seeds, incense, myrrh, patchouli, orris, chamomille, prune.
I can't remember when I've laughed so hard at a piece of fragrance advertising copy. "Men crying?"... "eruptive?"..."star shaped" structure? What kind of nonsense is this? Humiecki & Graeb must use the same ad agency as Etat Libre d'Orange, but this twaddle makes Etat Libre sound positively sober. I wonder how many fragrance pundits will fall all over themselves as they attempt to prove they are "sophisticated" enough to like Skarb?
Me? I know a buck naked emperor when I see one.
Skarb starts out with a blast of raw alcohol that's harsh enough to singe your eyebrows. Could that be what they mean by "eruptive?" Once the rubbing alcohol dissipates I'm left with a bittersweet (very sweet) woody scent loaded with what smells to me like immortelle, but must be the listed prune and carrot seed. This is spiced up with a myrrh so sharp as to resemble black pepper. The extreme bitterness, the blunt, heavy sweetness, and the lack of any "high notes" for relief do make Skarb distinctive, if not particularly pleasant.
Skarb is also absolutely linear. Perhaps this is what Humiecki & Graeb mean when they say "The form of the composition departs from convention as the scent is not constructed pyramidally..." Why not cut the crap and just admit that Skarb is flat, being composed almost entirely of basenotes? With its unrelieved heavy sweetness, its harsh, bitter edge, and its utter lack of development, Skarb is the olfactory equivalent of being locked in a small, stuffy, featureless room. In fact, I find it downright depressing. I can't imagine a single circumstance under which I'd want to wear this stuff, much less wear it in public.
Skarb is obviously an attempt to shock and provoke, a la Secretions Magnifiques, and while the two smell nothing alike, both succeed less in smelling shocking than in smelling bad. Someone may have had fun concocting and marketing Skarb, and maybe offering it to the public at $220 a bottle is meant ot be some kind of expensive Dadaist practical joke. I'm certainly laughing.
Now pardon me as I wash this off.
Skarb by Humiecki & Graeb
Notes: Absinthe, myrtle, lovage, barley extract, musk, carrot seeds, incense, myrrh, patchouli, orris, chamomille, prune.
I can't remember when I've laughed so hard at a piece of fragrance advertising copy. "Men crying?"... "eruptive?"..."star shaped" structure? What kind of nonsense is this? Humiecki & Graeb must use the same ad agency as Etat Libre d'Orange, but this twaddle makes Etat Libre sound positively sober. I wonder how many fragrance pundits will fall all over themselves as they attempt to prove they are "sophisticated" enough to like Skarb?
Me? I know a buck naked emperor when I see one.
Skarb starts out with a blast of raw alcohol that's harsh enough to singe your eyebrows. Could that be what they mean by "eruptive?" Once the rubbing alcohol dissipates I'm left with a bittersweet (very sweet) woody scent loaded with what smells to me like immortelle, but must be the listed prune and carrot seed. This is spiced up with a myrrh so sharp as to resemble black pepper. The extreme bitterness, the blunt, heavy sweetness, and the lack of any "high notes" for relief do make Skarb distinctive, if not particularly pleasant.
Skarb is also absolutely linear. Perhaps this is what Humiecki & Graeb mean when they say "The form of the composition departs from convention as the scent is not constructed pyramidally..." Why not cut the crap and just admit that Skarb is flat, being composed almost entirely of basenotes? With its unrelieved heavy sweetness, its harsh, bitter edge, and its utter lack of development, Skarb is the olfactory equivalent of being locked in a small, stuffy, featureless room. In fact, I find it downright depressing. I can't imagine a single circumstance under which I'd want to wear this stuff, much less wear it in public.
Skarb is obviously an attempt to shock and provoke, a la Secretions Magnifiques, and while the two smell nothing alike, both succeed less in smelling shocking than in smelling bad. Someone may have had fun concocting and marketing Skarb, and maybe offering it to the public at $220 a bottle is meant ot be some kind of expensive Dadaist practical joke. I'm certainly laughing.
Now pardon me as I wash this off.
What is H.N. Sorry....
