Apollo’s Chariot

[doomsday_disco]

Light, motion, and divine radiance. A transcendent perfume, brilliant bursts of solar glory in a haze of celestial grace. Golden neroli and amber with heliotrope, osmanthus absolute, pink pepper, and white myrrh and a triumphant gallop of mallow and honey-tinged sandalwood.

 

 

Odilon Redon
 

 

Edited July 14 by doomsday_disco

[Assimbya]

In the bottle and wet on my skin, I get an intensely sharp neroli, myrrh, and sandalwood combination which feels intense and aggressive and does indeed evoke the "bursts of glory" in the description - there's a sense of something coming towards me, almost taking me aback. I'm not too familiar with pink pepper as a note, but I think I get it here as well, in an edge which almost tingles to smell,. I wasn't sure I would like it on me at this stage; it reminds me of neroli's classic use in men's perfumery, and I thought to myself that of course there was a chance that an Apollo perfume might end up feeling too masculine to me.

 

But there's a hint of something softer underneath, which turns out to be the honey and mallow combination, and as it dries that becomes more and more central, with the assertive neroli fading to become part of a more cohesive whole. The sweetened mallow becomes the main thing I smell at this point, along with a nutty, almost almondy floral which I think must be the heliotrope, though it's not a note I know well (I do think I can recognize the similarities with Dawn: Maiden though, which is rather apropos). I can track the osmanthus when I look for it, but it doesn't come out as strongly as those other notes. The myrrh and amber at this stage seem to give shape and definition to the blend and an overall resinous feeling, evoking incense being burnt for the god, but they're smoothly blended and no longer taking over. In this drydown I really very much enjoy wearing it.

 

This feels like a very Apollonian perfume to me, which I find really impressive; there's something in the combination of the really overwhelming wet stage and then the much gentler drydown which really does work as a representation of the contradictions and complexities of this particular god. It feels very golden, but in a way that has some force and energy behind it; this is not a diffuse and floating type of perfume, even with the soft mallow.