TWIS: Classic Oriental.
This is interesting in some ways but it's not Oud. I need to qualify my thoughts a little better.
This is the kind of fragrance that a year ago, I would have sold blood for. Now, I think I have been quite comprehensively jaded, spoiled if you will, by Oud and not just any old oud but Oud. Capital O.
So, TWIS, if I am not as appreciative towards your scents as they perhaps deserve then you are right.
All I can say in my defense is that I just tried EO Royal Kinam right after EO Kyara LTD.
What I will try to do is judge your scents on their own merit and much more importantly at their price point level.
So, let's start again and with apologies.
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TWIS: Classic Oriental
Initial Application.
It's about bitter and sour orange to start, orange that's intense at the peeling, musk that's not musk in the same way that amber is not ambergris.
There is a hint of spice in the background I can't quite place and a hint of wood too, perhaps cedar?
15 minutes.
Now after having let myself go a little I am enjoying this much more. The orange is backing away into the room a little and the woodspice is coming up to dance. Pine notes are present, I think.
Getting a definite lift from the bitter orange.
30 minutes +
This has calmed down into a much more unified scent profile though the seville-like orange certainly still predominates.
It's nice.
1 hour.
Had a little inspiration from Taha inadvertently and added the tiniest of swipes of FO Dr. Hindi to it.
It's now a vastly richer and deeper scent. I can discern depths of leather amid this that the only possible possible ambience is this:
Arnold's diner. (Pre shark)
Pretty young girl walks in and accidentally bumps her head into The Fonz wearing his leather jacket.
Wooooooooo
This is interesting in some ways but it's not Oud. I need to qualify my thoughts a little better.
This is the kind of fragrance that a year ago, I would have sold blood for. Now, I think I have been quite comprehensively jaded, spoiled if you will, by Oud and not just any old oud but Oud. Capital O.
So, TWIS, if I am not as appreciative towards your scents as they perhaps deserve then you are right.
All I can say in my defense is that I just tried EO Royal Kinam right after EO Kyara LTD.
What I will try to do is judge your scents on their own merit and much more importantly at their price point level.
So, let's start again and with apologies.
-------------------------------^-^----------------------------
TWIS: Classic Oriental
Initial Application.
It's about bitter and sour orange to start, orange that's intense at the peeling, musk that's not musk in the same way that amber is not ambergris.
There is a hint of spice in the background I can't quite place and a hint of wood too, perhaps cedar?
15 minutes.
Now after having let myself go a little I am enjoying this much more. The orange is backing away into the room a little and the woodspice is coming up to dance. Pine notes are present, I think.
Getting a definite lift from the bitter orange.
30 minutes +
This has calmed down into a much more unified scent profile though the seville-like orange certainly still predominates.
It's nice.
1 hour.
Had a little inspiration from Taha inadvertently and added the tiniest of swipes of FO Dr. Hindi to it.
It's now a vastly richer and deeper scent. I can discern depths of leather amid this that the only possible possible ambience is this:
Arnold's diner. (Pre shark)
Pretty young girl walks in and accidentally bumps her head into The Fonz wearing his leather jacket.
Wooooooooo
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Expiditions:
This is an intriguing scent.
The first application held grapefruit, white musk and neroli.
Later as the drydown progressed a very old fashioned scent appeared, it reminded me so strongly of a perfume that my grandmother brought back from Paris one year.
Perhaps because of this, I found it to be a most comfortable and soothing experience.
This is an intriguing scent.
The first application held grapefruit, white musk and neroli.
Later as the drydown progressed a very old fashioned scent appeared, it reminded me so strongly of a perfume that my grandmother brought back from Paris one year.
Perhaps because of this, I found it to be a most comfortable and soothing experience.
Anointment.
Initial application.
Pine like, resinous. Floral notes reminiscent of lavender and gorse.
5 minutes.
Focus switches to vanilla and cream, liqueurs. Liquorice.
10 minutes.
White musky sweetness overall, cookies and cream. Powdery in the extreme.
I'm somewhat reminded of certain very old (feminine) fashioned fragrances from the 70's.
1 hour.
Scent remains as 10 minutes.
Initial application.
Pine like, resinous. Floral notes reminiscent of lavender and gorse.
5 minutes.
Focus switches to vanilla and cream, liqueurs. Liquorice.
10 minutes.
White musky sweetness overall, cookies and cream. Powdery in the extreme.
I'm somewhat reminded of certain very old (feminine) fashioned fragrances from the 70's.
1 hour.
Scent remains as 10 minutes.
TWIS: The Black Pearl
Initial Application.
Coffee and musk.
5 minutes.
An almost Oud lift, more coffee white musk, vanilla, marshmallow and rose-jasmine
The overall character is decadent, I like this.
10 minutes.
Oud lift still present, musk has come fore. Delicious tropical florality here, this ship just harboured in Hawaii.
30 minutes.
Rose like characters and exotic flowers, musks and Oud lift. This sounds typically feminine but it's broadly unisex.
2 hours +
Character remains as 30 minutes but faded somewhat. Still, it's enjoyable.
Initial Application.
Coffee and musk.
5 minutes.
An almost Oud lift, more coffee white musk, vanilla, marshmallow and rose-jasmine
The overall character is decadent, I like this.
10 minutes.
Oud lift still present, musk has come fore. Delicious tropical florality here, this ship just harboured in Hawaii.
30 minutes.
Rose like characters and exotic flowers, musks and Oud lift. This sounds typically feminine but it's broadly unisex.
2 hours +
Character remains as 30 minutes but faded somewhat. Still, it's enjoyable.
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Dark Ground
Initial Application.
Pine, moss
5 Minutes.
Wonderful scent. Wonderful.
Pine is still in the front but now it has been lovingly shrouded in dark musky earth that's deliciously intimate.
10 Minutes.
Deliciousness continues. Pine and earth now pierced with a note of something spicy-aromatic-citrusy. This sounds discordant but works wonderfully.
30 Minutes.
As above with the addition of oak, ferns, dark wild black berries and sweet perfumed figs.
I have fallen for this one, it's developed like a superb Oud over time. I'm going to be buying a lot of this.
Blacks, greens, blue and reds all deep dark shades
Initial Application.
Pine, moss
5 Minutes.
Wonderful scent. Wonderful.
Pine is still in the front but now it has been lovingly shrouded in dark musky earth that's deliciously intimate.
10 Minutes.
Deliciousness continues. Pine and earth now pierced with a note of something spicy-aromatic-citrusy. This sounds discordant but works wonderfully.
30 Minutes.
As above with the addition of oak, ferns, dark wild black berries and sweet perfumed figs.
I have fallen for this one, it's developed like a superb Oud over time. I'm going to be buying a lot of this.
Blacks, greens, blue and reds all deep dark shades
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Island Of Cyprus.
I could not be too specific with my timings for this one as it was applied during a playground visit but here we go nonetheless.
Opening.
Warm fragrant resins
1 hour later.
Ode to a tonka bean!
If you have ever tried tonka bean in food, you will either love it or hate it. At this stage, it being a smile to my lips and in point of fact, I was laughing on the way home about it.
It's a happy masculine scent.
Background of ambers, tonka with a touch of incense right out there.
I really liked this one enough to supercharge with Oud, so on went a dash of FO Old School Thai.
The result is magnificent. I'm having trouble describing it, but the culinary tonka has diminished and become this vegetal black musky base with the OST being pushed to a harmonious balance that sings out, regardless.
I could not be too specific with my timings for this one as it was applied during a playground visit but here we go nonetheless.
Opening.
Warm fragrant resins
1 hour later.
Ode to a tonka bean!
If you have ever tried tonka bean in food, you will either love it or hate it. At this stage, it being a smile to my lips and in point of fact, I was laughing on the way home about it.
It's a happy masculine scent.
Background of ambers, tonka with a touch of incense right out there.
I really liked this one enough to supercharge with Oud, so on went a dash of FO Old School Thai.
The result is magnificent. I'm having trouble describing it, but the culinary tonka has diminished and become this vegetal black musky base with the OST being pushed to a harmonious balance that sings out, regardless.
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Afternoon In France
This is an ode to herbs du provence and wildflowers. A gentle and subtle fragrance, designed to evoke happy memories a la Proust and his madelene.
I think that it captures the first days of summer almost perfectly. I would save this for a dull and gloomy winter afternoon then swipe with abandon.
This is an ode to herbs du provence and wildflowers. A gentle and subtle fragrance, designed to evoke happy memories a la Proust and his madelene.
I think that it captures the first days of summer almost perfectly. I would save this for a dull and gloomy winter afternoon then swipe with abandon.
Summer Solstice
Firstly the scent of something star-anicey or fennel, a topenote that I can't place but shimmers like heaven, sherbert, black strong sweet russian tea.
All very different aromas, seemingly mismatched but then again, why am i holding my wrist close and deeply inhaling as I would with an Oud?
It's a captured memory, I think.
I love how the different aromas are blending together into something extremely lush even with the amount of green/star anise pungency.
Inhaling this deeply is as relaxing for me as some of the more potent Ouds that I have sampled.
This would be a perfect and bold scent for summer
Firstly the scent of something star-anicey or fennel, a topenote that I can't place but shimmers like heaven, sherbert, black strong sweet russian tea.
All very different aromas, seemingly mismatched but then again, why am i holding my wrist close and deeply inhaling as I would with an Oud?
It's a captured memory, I think.
I love how the different aromas are blending together into something extremely lush even with the amount of green/star anise pungency.
Inhaling this deeply is as relaxing for me as some of the more potent Ouds that I have sampled.
This would be a perfect and bold scent for summer
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Pyramids.
Initially astonishing.
The scent went bone dry within a second of two of application. Dusty, touch of expensive sun tan lotion in beating sun, slight trace of mustiness, and other scents too subtle for a novice like myself to describe.
This is an olfactory sleight-of-hand to conjure up the experience of visiting the pyramids at Giza if you have never been there and it successfully delivers.
Sun, sand and set.
Initially astonishing.
The scent went bone dry within a second of two of application. Dusty, touch of expensive sun tan lotion in beating sun, slight trace of mustiness, and other scents too subtle for a novice like myself to describe.
This is an olfactory sleight-of-hand to conjure up the experience of visiting the pyramids at Giza if you have never been there and it successfully delivers.
Sun, sand and set.
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