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Santa Maria Novella Pot Pourri

post #1 of 11
10/18/09 at 12:04am
Thread Starter 
What are you thoughts on this scent?
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post #2 of 11
10/18/09 at 12:18am
It smells like the name says, that said it's quite lovely in a Victorian sort of way. If you like Diptyque's early fragrances this could be a good choice. Santa Maria Novella has a charming way with nostalgic-type scents. Their musk is quite lovely, too.
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post #3 of 11
10/18/09 at 10:35am
Thread Starter 
in reading comments on Pot Pourri it sure seems to be more of a love it or hate it scent... not a lot of middle ground.

Musks - Just bought MSN Gold Musk as a blind buy... great "soapy" musk.
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post #4 of 11
10/19/09 at 2:50am
Top shelf; light, classical !
Italy 100 years ago but still popular there!
I love it's smell in the bathroom. On me it lasts as s long as any classical 'Acqua di Colonia' lasts: through my breakfast and perhaps the first hour at my office desk. A good friend of mine uses it to give his bedsheets (or hair) a special treat. - successfully so, I might want to add.
Like their Lavender Potpourri is a uniscent.
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post #5 of 11
10/19/09 at 4:16am
On me, Potpourri is a complex, powerful scent.
Note that SMN also makes a mixture of leaves and roots steeped in scents, which is a traditional potpourri format. People used that to scent (fumigate) their homes. And it is very powerful . The popularity of that led them to make a slightly toned-down version as a wearable scent.
What I found interesting is that the first time I sniffed in (in London, in temperate weather) I found it to be almost too much for me. The second time was in Rome, in hot and muggy weather. I thought, "this will be a disaster, but I'm here, what the heck." Well, it was big alright but not oppressive. It actually showed well in that setting. For me, it is a scent I have to grow into.
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post #6 of 11
10/19/09 at 4:53am
Despite positive comments, I'd be disinclined to try a scent called pot pourri due to the association with those god-awful cheaply scented rose-and-lavender leafy things. "Pot pourri" is the sort of insult I reserve for special cases of *really* wanting to put down a 'fume.
*Cough*Montale Aoud Red Flowers*Cough*


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post #7 of 11
10/19/09 at 5:05am
SMN isn't like that, veuve_amiot. It is deep, earthy, spicy. Those roots and whatnot have been steeped in a very dark brew. I wasn't kidding when I said a jar of that could fumigate a room, after a plague.
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post #8 of 11
10/19/09 at 8:54am
I've seen this scent compared with the Diptyque Eau Trois (discontinued, alas). I would have to agree that the dry and resinous natures of the two do relate to each other easily. Eau Trois, however, has a certain waxy-woody note that does not have a counterpart in Pot Pourri. I don't think that SMN Pot Pourri smells anything like that cheap crap with shriveled rosebuds in it. It goes back to a version of herbal room-scenter that is way older than the Victorian era, which is what most of the cheaper ones strive to evoke. More like the mixtures of herbs and resins strewn about temples and shrines in ancient days.
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post #9 of 11
10/19/09 at 9:09am
Exactly, Jardanel. You have described the character of it very well.
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post #10 of 11
10/19/09 at 9:19am
Thanks, odysseusm!

Maybe I was a Vestal (but not a virgin!) in those olden days.
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post #11 of 11
10/19/09 at 10:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jardanel View Post

thanks, odysseusm!

Maybe i was a vestal (but not a virgin!) in those olden days.

hah!
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