Profumo.it sample reviews.

[hirch_duckfinder]

I placed an order from Profumo recently and he was generous enough to send me a number of samples which I will review in this thread as I test them. If anyone else has any of these, please post your thoughts.

Remember these are all natural perfumes.

Rose des Bois:
A gentle rose combined with a very green woody aspect (some rose petitgrain?) and maybe something animalic (which drops off quickly) followed by a tea-like aspect with or of the rose note. There is another floral too, I think? A spot of jasmine? Anyway, it is beautiful. All this is supported by an everlasting base of sublime vanilla with a little sandalwood and a touch of something else a little acerbic or skanky, maybe blackcurrant or that floral I can't place, I'm not sure. The base accord reminds me of a classic guerlainade made with the best possible materials. The vanilla and wood holding the soft aspect of the rose is just exquisite. It is a little rich but not sweet and a touch thorny without being sharp.

This scent has very low projection after the initial few seconds but endures extraordinarilly well as a skin scent.

More to follow....

[Pour_Monsieur]

Looking forward to hearing the rest of your thoughts Mr Duckfinder , Ive had an itchy finger on more than one occasion to try some Profumo samples

[Asha]

I have sampled Rose de Bois as part of our sample rotation project on the women's discussion board. I found RdB to be very spicy and green, and the rose was deeply couched within the stronger notes. The cinnamon was very strong for me, but after it fades, the fragrance is pure bliss. I too love the vanilla wood base when only a whisper of cinnamon remains and the rose and green notes are mostly gone.

[L'Aventurier]

I also very much enjoy Rose de Bois - it's quite the composition. It lasts extremely long for an all natural perfume and has sillage to boot on my skin. I find RdB to be epitome of a very comforting and reassuring fragrance, quite motherly actually. The cinnamon, vanilla and wood all combine to create a rich, powdery and hazzy ambience, like a soft comforter made of down. The rose is especially sneaky to my nose, popping in and out while keeping the gourmand nature of the scent in check. There are also minute green aspects to RdB as well, but the blending camouflages their true identity. Although there are certain star ingredients that take front stage, (like cinnamon, vanilla and sandalwood), there are also other carefully balanced supporting notes that I detect yet cannot decipher, much in the same way that a crowd adds to a movie scene without stealing the limelight from the protagonist.

I definitely get a little bit of the Guerlain vibe from this one. However I've only tried a few Guerlains so I can't say too much about this. Hirch, correct me if I'm wrong, but Guerlinade is often described as a vanilla-like powder, right?

[mikeperez23]

Did someone say rose and cinnamon!?

Ever since I have tried two rose/cinnamon combo scents that didn't work for me in the long run (Bois de Paradis by Parfums Delrae and Elixir by Penhaligon's) I have been on the hunt for a good rose/cinnamon scent. Looks like I'm gonna have to try Rose de Bois. Thanks hirch!

BTW - how do you BUY Rose de Bois? I just spent a couple of minutes browsing the Profumo site and I can't find RdB!?

[L'Aventurier]

Mike, if you go to the page called "sampling the scents of the soul" and then scroll to the bottom there's a picture link with the word "OUTSIDERS" on it - that'll take you to the decants of Rose de bois, among other "new" scents from Profumo. I think you have to purchase 6 of them at once though. I can send you a sample from mine if you'd like, just PM me.

[mikeperez23]

Mike, if you go to the page called "sampling the scents of the soul" and then scroll to the bottom there's a picture link with the word "OUTSIDERS" on it - that'll take you to the decants of Rose de bois, among other "new" scents from Profumo. I think you have to purchase 6 of them at once though. I can send you a sample from mine if you'd like, just PM me.

Thanks for your kind offer L'aventurier, but I'm confused...do they only sell Rose de Bois in sample sizes not in full bottles? Why? Is it a rare expensive oil (like an aoud or attar)?

EDIT: Ah...I see it now...the full 50 ml bottle is for sale ($120 US dollars).

[arwen_elf]

Did someone say rose and cinnamon!?

Ever since I have tried two rose/cinnamon combo scents that didn't work for me in the long run (Bois de Paradis by Parfums Delrae and Elixir by Penhaligon's) I have been on the hunt for a good rose/cinnamon scent. Looks like I'm gonna have to try Rose de Bois. Thanks hirch!

BTW - how do you BUY Rose de Bois? I just spent a couple of minutes browsing the Profumo site and I can't find RdB!?

Edited

[hirch_duckfinder]

Cuba Express

Begins with a strident blast of sweet rum, dry cocoa, something peppery and a distant orange, I think also some frankincense. Next I get a mocha effect with a gentle sticky coffee and dusty cocoa coming to the fore. As the tobacco creeps in underneath there is, I think, some spicy bay oil giving reference to the traditional bay rum formula. What a tobacco note! - deep rich powerful and horsey! At once herbal and animalic. Now it settles with the tobacco up front and the spices giving a physical depth, as if I can smell into my arm. Then cloak and dagger games with coffee, spicey notes, rum all spinkled with light, warm cocoa. It is vivid, like a 3D film. Eventually the tobacco and spice seem to burn off a little uncovering a slightly vanillic, mild coffee, residual rum with just a hint of tobacco.

A wonderful journey! I particularly like the way the cocoa lies very lightly on top throughout. None of the supporting notes are loud, in fact none of the notes at all. The balance is evolving and always interesting.

The sillage is pretty good for an all natural perfume and the endurance good.

Oh yes.

[mikeperez23]

Rose des Bois:
...The base accord reminds me of a classic guerlainade made with the best possible materials. The vanilla and wood holding the soft aspect of the rose is just exquisite...

I wore the Rose du Bois yesterday afternoon (silly me...a Basenoter had already sent me a sample that I had in my sample pile...) and I completely agree with you hirch, when it dries down it smelled a lot like a Guerlain or Serge Lutens base note...dusty vanilla. The best part of the fragrance.

I found the rose top notes very much like Hammam Bouquet - a sort of toiletry type of rose scent (something in your bathroom that's scented of rose like cream or hair pomade), but very subtle and more cinnamon prominent than I expected. The tea aspect didn't appear at all to me, but I am anosmic to tea in many fragrances for some reason. I thought it was okay, but it didn't really grab me like I expected it to.

[scentsitivity]

Cuba Express

Begins with a strident blast of sweet rum, dry cocao, something peppery and a distant orange, I think also some frankincense. Next I get a mocha effect with a gentle sticky coffee and dusty cocao coming to the fore. As the tobacco creeps in underneath there is, I think, some spicy bay oil giving reference to the traditional bay rum formula. What a tobacco note! - deep rich powerful and horsey! At once herbal and animalic. Now it settles with the tobacco up front and the spices giving a physical depth, as if I can smell into my arm. Then cloak and dagger games with coffee, spicey notes, rum all spinkled with light, warm cocao. It is vivid, like a 3D film. Eventually the tobacco and spice seem to burn off a little uncovering a slightly vanillic, mild coffee, residual rum with just a hint of tobacco.

A wonderful journey! I particularly like the way the cocao lies very lightly on top throughout. None of the supporting notes are loud, in fact none of the notes at all. The balance is evolving and always interesting.

The sillage is pretty good for an all natural perfume and the endurance good.

This sounds especially good.

[Andyjreid]

Cuba Express

Begins with a strident blast of sweet rum, dry cocoa, something peppery and a distant orange, I think also some frankincense. Next I get a mocha effect with a gentle sticky coffee and dusty cocoa coming to the fore. As the tobacco creeps in underneath there is, I think, some spicy bay oil giving reference to the traditional bay rum formula. What a tobacco note! - deep rich powerful and horsey! At once herbal and animalic. Now it settles with the tobacco up front and the spices giving a physical depth, as if I can smell into my arm. Then cloak and dagger games with coffee, spicey notes, rum all spinkled with light, warm cocoa. It is vivid, like a 3D film. Eventually the tobacco and spice seem to burn off a little uncovering a slightly vanillic, mild coffee, residual rum with just a hint of tobacco.

A wonderful journey! I particularly like the way the cocoa lies very lightly on top throughout. None of the supporting notes are loud, in fact none of the notes at all. The balance is evolving and always interesting.

The sillage is pretty good for an all natural perfume and the endurance good.

Oh yes.

This sounds outstanding

[hirch_duckfinder]

Tabac

Starts with a slightly boozy blast of tobacco, like an islay malt, smokey and resinous with echoes of hay. For a short while the tobacco remains centre and top until it settles down and it drops into a strong structure with the warm tobacco at the low register, some lovely fluid labdanum, sweet tonka and beautiful vanilla sitting in layers. There are fruity notes too, I'm not sure if these are part of the tobacco itself or seamlessly inmtegrated as flavouring. The drydown is absolutely my favourite tobacco accord of all time. The balance is wonderful, the tobacco is present but not too sharp or musty, not sour and thin or thick and overwhelming but with body and lightness at the same time. The other notes are carefully built around to pull out aspects of its complex smell.
This has instantly become my favourite tobacco scent and one of my favourite perfumes of all. If you like tobacco at all, you must try this.

While the opening is quite masculine, I think the drydown is very wearable by a woman who likes tobacco.

I am not sure if it is the natural materials, the composition or both, but there is something in these profumo perfumes which gives me the impression of 3D, its almost like I can see the layers of the structure, distinct but in balance and with clear air between them.

Edit - is there some castoreum in this??

[Profumo]

Tabac

While the opening is quite masculine, I think the drydown is very wearable by a woman who likes tobacco.

- is there some castoreum in this??

Dear hirch_duckfinder,
I am so glad the you like Tabac so much. You are right that many women like to wear it. Non smoker women mostly. Tabacco is for women an aroma heavily loaded with emotional value, because for many of them it is a smell attached to the father's figure. They find it comforting and reassuring. This is the reason why non smoker women still marry smoker men, despite all the trouble it entails for them.

The fruity note you mention is problably (you will recognize it now that I tell you), Clay Sage.

Tabac is unique among the Scents of the Soul by its complexity. From its18 ingredients five of them (a quarter of the fragrance in weight) are complex bases of 10 to 25 ingredients each.
This means that there are about 60 different essences and absolutes in Tabac, many of which are in very small amount, among them is Castoreum.
This is a technique that perfumers use when they want to compose a perfume that can practically never be reproduced as good by others.

[the_good_life]

I want. Where is that bonus when you need it

[hirch_duckfinder]

Dear hirch_duckfinder,
I am so glad the you like Tabac so much. You are right that many women like to wear it. Non smoker women mostly. Tabacco is for women an aroma heavily loaded with emotional value, because for many of them it is a smell attached to the father's figure. They find it comforting and reassuring. This is the reason why non smoker women still marry smoker men, despite all the trouble it entails for them.

The fruity note you mention is problably (you will recognize it now that I tell you), Clay Sage.

Tabac is unique among the Scents of the Soul by its complexity. From its18 ingredients five of them (a quarter of the fragrance in weight) are complex bases of 10 to 25 ingredients each.
This means that there are about 60 different essences and absolutes in Tabac, many of which are in very small amount, among them is Castoreum.
This is a technique that perfumers use when they want to compose a perfume that can practically never be reproduced as good by others.

Ah Clary Sage, thanks profumo. Maybe that is what I confused with hay too? Interesting about the complex bases. Do many of your perfumes use these? How do you catagorize them - i.e.do you have a floral one/animalic one etc?

[Profumo]

Ah Clary Sage, thanks profumo. Maybe that is what I confused with hay too? Interesting about the complex bases. Do many of your perfumes use these? How do you catagorize them - i.e.do you have a floral one/animalic one etc?

The bases I use are born as perfumes in themselves, who stand by themselves as having a character and an identity of their own, equilibrated and complete in themselves, just as are single natural ingredients, essential oils and absolutes. I sometimes use Tabac itself as an ingredient in other perfumes.
They are sometimes some of the “scents of the soul” or other bespoke fragrances that I have selected as particularly interesting.
I do that in my later fragrances in order to add olfactory complexity and inimitability, specially if I am composing them for customers who will send them into production (to be sure that it cannot be easily replicated) . However in none of the scents of the soul do I use these complex bases in such a high proportion as in Tabac.
This is what makes it unique among them in this respect.

[the_good_life]

hirch,
I just ordered some samples, including tabac. but I'd be interested anyway in how you would relate tabac to the (complex partly synhtetic) vintage tabarome as well as to the (simple, all-natural) alt-innsbruck tobacco cologne, and perhaps to C&S cuba.

[Profumo]

hirch,
I just ordered some samples, including tabac. but I'd be interested anyway in how you would relate tabac to the (complex partly synhtetic) vintage tabarome as well as to the (simple, all-natural) alt-innsbruck tobacco cologne, and perhaps to C&S cuba.

Ciao Thomas,
I am sending to you some presents with your order. It is a luck you mentioned that you were a basenoter.
Basenoters should know that they will be treated with very special regards when they order, but I must know it in time. It is enough for them to send me a mail to let me know.

[hirch_duckfinder]

hirch,
I just ordered some samples, including tabac. but I'd be interested anyway in how you would relate tabac to the (complex partly synhtetic) vintage tabarome as well as to the (simple, all-natural) alt-innsbruck tobacco cologne, and perhaps to C&S cuba.

Good questions which I will ponder more over the coming days. For now -

well to start with you have to reset your expectations for all naturals as longevity and projection will follow a different curve, and the natural ingredients in Tabac just smell better to me.

As we have read from its creator, Tabac is very complex and thus strikingly different to alt innsbruck which smells much more medicinal due to the mint which lifts and lightens the tobacco. It is also a different type of tobacco note in alt innsbruck - seems more like a lighter style to me wheras tabac is a little darker, in a low-mid register rather than high-mid. C&S Cuba is complex too, but in a different way, the rum factor makes it more comparable to profumo's cuba express and the tobacco is less prominent in it. C&S cuba blends the tobacco in, Tabac features and supports it. Vintage tabarome - is different again, it feels like an older style and seems to me to follow the cigar route rather than the pipe tobacco route in terms of flavouring the tobacco. It is more of a leathery/fougere than an leathery/oriental perhaps. The synthetics stretch the accord in tabarome, especially the base. It is also a much woodier scent, Tabac isn't significantly woody to my nose but Tabarome contains a hefty whack of cedar (qute natural, I think)...

Hmm, more when I have time to do proper tests.

[Delmar]

Thanks, hirch!

For some reason, I hadn't gotten around to trying my Cuba Express sample (which came with a small bottle of Sandalwood Mysore) before reading this thread. Although my un-analytical nose is not picking out all the notes you described, what I'm getting (at this fairly early stage) is a very enjoyable 'boozy/resinous' seamless accord. My nose "smiles from ear-to-ear" every time I sniff my wrist! CE is definitely worth sampling. I can see I'm going to have to try Tabac as well. I think I 'get' what you mean by smelling in 3D

[manicboy]

Dear hirch_duckfinder,
I am so glad the you like Tabac so much. You are right that many women like to wear it. Non smoker women mostly. Tabacco is for women an aroma heavily loaded with emotional value, because for many of them it is a smell attached to the father's figure. They find it comforting and reassuring. This is the reason why non smoker women still marry smoker men, despite all the trouble it entails for them.

Sugar daddies need apply? I actually just picked up a sample of this. Haven't worn it yet. Will report soon.

[hirch_duckfinder]

Chillum

Tabarome Millesime eat your heart out.
As written on the profumo.it website, this was created as a bespoke fragrance and is built from three ingredients, Ginger, Tobacco, Sandalwood.
It opens with lots of ginger. Very nice, fresh, green smelling rather than spicy ginger. It smells like the aroma when grating the root into food. Just where it would feel sharp and spicy, at the back of the nose when you breathe in deep and long sits the tobacco note. As the shimmer of the ginger drops down a little, this tobacco comes forward leaving a period of ginger flavoured tobacco, or is it the other way around? The ginger accents the green leafy aspect of the tobacco and the tobacco darkens and warms the spice. This is not a huge tobacco note but a slightly shyer one. Quite soon, the sandalwood comes through into the heart adding a third factor to the balance. It is a slightly vetivery smelling wood to me which keeps the green aspects alive.
Then the drydown - a very nice balance held together by the santal at centre stage with the other players interacting above.
The overall effect is a smoky green, without ever smelling burnt. I can see where the name came from.
Sillage is quite low with this one and longevity medium; the sandalwood remaining after the other notes have drifted away.

This is considerably less complex than the others I have tried thus far though the notes themselves are quite rich and and the balance delicate.

I'm pretty sure this forms one of the accords in Tabac which profumo mentioned above?

[hirch_duckfinder]

Aalacho:

Wow, this one is really special. I wasn't expecting this. Completely devoid of the "essential oil smell". Whoever ordered this bespoke hit the jackpot big time.

Green, green green. Alpine forest air. Cypress? The Italian lakes and up into the alps.
I'm guessing: Frankincense, eucalyptus, cypress, pine, vetiver, sandalwood, moss. Juniper? Labdanum.

Opens with a clean, clearing blast of forest air. Effervescent, cool, very green, the smell of standing trees, not cut wood.
Again, it has a wonderful depth - dries to a slightly sweet substantial resinous base of labdanum.
I haven't got to the far drydown yet, got too impatient to write . More later.

[hirch_duckfinder]

Not a lot to add except some castoreum I think, just a drop.

The far drydown is the sweet labdanum (and castoreum?), a little of the coniferous notes, smooth sandalwood.

This is an exceptional perfume to me and has become an instant favourite. That is two from this batch of samples with this and Tabac .

Totally unique, very masculine. Again, superlative ingredients and beautifully blended.

Anyone else smelled this?

Come on....out of the woodwork - who ordered this as a bespoke

[Nathan214]

Not a lot to add except some castoreum I think, just a drop.

The far drydown is the sweet labdanum (and castoreum?), a little of the coniferous notes, smooth sandalwood.

This is an exceptional perfume to me and has become an instant favourite. That is two from this batch of samples with this and Tabac .

Totally unique, very masculine. Again, superlative ingredients and beautifully blended.

Anyone else smelled this?

Come on....out of the woodwork - who ordered this as a bespoke

Oh OW! All right -- stop twisting my arm already. It was me.

What you're smelling is version #1, which Dominique really likes, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting. He sensed my hesitation with it and graciously created a version #2, which I love (with a capital HEART). In fact, I've already used it up -- it's one of the few bottles of fragrance I've completely emptied.

Violet leaf isn't an essence I'm all that keen on, and version #1 featured it prominently. Version #2 went a different direction with an accord of Opoponax, Frankincense and Tobacco. If you ask nicely, I'm sure Mr. Dubrana will send you some samples so that you can compare the two.

Not that I really should be speaking for Dubrana.

Versions #1 and #2 are very different, yet both are exceptionally well done. BTW: I agree that his Tabac is one of the best tobacco fragrances I've ever smelled. From your notes above, I'm looking forward to trying out the Cuba Express.

I did notice that the Profumo bespoke process is now more involved, and a bit pricier, than when I went through it last year. I think that might be my fault, and I apologize to you all profusely!

[hirch_duckfinder]

Wow, thanks for "coming out" !

Violet leaf, thats the big green note? Fascinating. I usually hate violet in fragrances (which I guess is usually synthetic) but I love this.
I hate to think how wrong all my other notes are .

What was the brief ?

[Profumo]

Dear Nathan, it was indeed my intention to send Aalacho N° 2 to the basenoters to whom I have send the number one.
It was also my intention to invite you in the discussion of your perfumes once both of them would have been tested by the best of Basenotes expert noses, but Hirsh preceded me.
You are not responsible for the changes in my bespoke procedure (and price increase), rather I decided to change it after the fragrance Mona Lisa composed for Mona.
After I interacted with Laura Donna (http://lauradonna.com) on this last one, I decided that it was important that the person who was having a bespoke perfume could smell the ingredients first. Otherwise there was the possibility that he would be deluded in his expectancies. I hate to delude people.

Dear Hirsh, violet leaf is a very green and narcotic scent of the same family as Narcissi and Jonquil. Not at all like violet flower that exists only as an artificial note.
I found the brief of Nathan in my archives:

“I appreciate bold statements that stand out from the crowd, and I love dry, woody orientals with incense smoke. I'm not a fan of vanilla or heavily sweetened fragrances -- I rarely eat dessert and prefer coffee, instead, but I do appreciate a mellow sweetness. I do not purchase floral fragrances, and tend to avoid perfumes with flowers and/or fruits, including citrus. I like dark earthy musks, the smell of burning leaves and woods (we used to burn cherry wood in the fireplace when I was a child), mossy forests, raw honey, salt, black leather.”

I based my composition on his brief more than on the ingredients listed. When I realized that Nathan was deluded by the fragrance he had received, I just made it again without any liberty, exactly with the accord and the ingredients he had asked me in the first place and sent it to him free.
At this time I only knew that he was a fellow basenoter, and I was not aware of his talent as a reviewer, who is now a finalist at the 2009 FiFi Awards Nominees.
Congratulations Nathan.

[hirch_duckfinder]

Dear Nathan, it was indeed my intention to send Aalacho N° 2 to the basenoters to whom I have send the number one.
It was also my intention to invite you in the discussion of your perfumes once both of them would have been tested by the best of Basenotes expert noses, but Hirsh preceded me.
You are not responsible for the changes in my bespoke procedure (and price increase), rather I decided to change it after the fragrance Mona Lisa composed for Mona.
After I interacted with Laura Donna (http://lauradonna.com) on this last one, I decided that it was important that the person who was having a bespoke perfume could smell the ingredients first. Otherwise there was the possibility that he would be deluded in his expectancies. I hate to delude people.

Dear Hirsh, violet leaf is a very green and narcotic scent of the same family as Narcissi and Jonquil. Not at all like violet flower that exists only as an artificial note.
I found the brief of Nathan in my archives:

“I appreciate bold statements that stand out from the crowd, and I love dry, woody orientals with incense smoke. I'm not a fan of vanilla or heavily sweetened fragrances -- I rarely eat dessert and prefer coffee, instead, but I do appreciate a mellow sweetness. I do not purchase floral fragrances, and tend to avoid perfumes with flowers and/or fruits, including citrus. I like dark earthy musks, the smell of burning leaves and woods (we used to burn cherry wood in the fireplace when I was a child), mossy forests, raw honey, salt, black leather.”

I based my composition on his brief more than on the ingredients listed. When I realized that Nathan was deluded by the fragrance he had received, I just made it again without any liberty, exactly with the accord and the ingredients he had asked me in the first place and sent it to him free.
At this time I only knew that he was a fellow basenoter, and I was not aware of his talent as a reviewer, who is now a finalist at the 2009 FiFi Awards Nominees.
Congratulations Nathan.

Thanks for the information. I didn't do too badly against the brief, I think .
Wonderful stuff. Is the sweet/animalic note honey then? Any labdanum?

[Laura Donna]

After I interacted with Laura Donna (http://lauradonna.com) on this last one, I decided that it was important that the person who was having a bespoke perfume could smell the ingredients first. Otherwise there was the possibility that he would be deluded in his expectancies. I hate to delude people.

This is my first-ever post on basenotes. How exciting!

I got involved with the perfume that became Mona Lisa after deciding to devote my life to helping people find scents that will bring them exquisite pleasure. I describe the process my client Mona and I went through on this link: http://lauradonna.com/blog/2009/04/m...d-the-perfume/.

AbdesSalaam is referring to Mona's reaction after first smelling natural civet, tuberose and mandarin. Her prior experience with these ingredients was primarily in commercial scents. Tuberose from profumo.it does not come off with the same power you find in Fracas! While Mona has some experience with natural perfumery, there is still a mystery surrounding the nature of the civet she experienced many decades ago.

When I first smelled the fragrance called Mona I felt it was more deepening than decorative; I said to myself: "of course!" it must come back to this. It was light and puffy, but not another gourmand marshmallow - more of an animello! The civet is more natural body and for me loses any fecal quality (not that there is anything wrong with that) I might note when sampling it in isolation.

Earlier in this thread someone mentioned having different reactions to the scent at different times. Me too. Sometimes it floats, and sometimes I am more aware of the earthiness of patchouli. Mona Lisa has a few faces. Mona (the client) had asked for something "subtle but killer" - for her, wearing fragrance is a social act as well as a personal pleasure.

AbdesSalaam is right: an experience of the individual notes is wonderful as an aid to the bespoke perfume composition.