A few weeks ago I came across an article about a new perfume called Enchanted Forest by The Vagabond Prince. I was able to request a sample of the perfume and here's what I thought of it!
WOW! Just wow! I mean it is called enchanted forest but to be honest I did not expect it to be that faithful to its name! Think of the forest below, on a dark winter night, the smell of the rain on the ground seeping through fallen leaves under a pale moon. Now think of the most beautiful enchantress walking in that forest picking blackcurrant berries. This perfume makes me feel like her.
Let's start by the scent itself and go through the technical details:
Top notes: pink pepper, aldehydes, sweet orange (traces), flower cassis, blackcurrant leaf, hawthorn, effects of rum and wine, rosemary, davana.
Heart notes: blackcurrant buds absolute, CO2 blackcurrant, Russian coriander seed, honeysuckle, rose, carnation, vetiver
Base notes: opoponax resinoid, Siam benzoin, amber, oakmoss, fir balsam absolute,
Patchouli Purecoeur, castoreum absolute, cedar notes, vanilla, musk
The bottle is made of black opaque glass to resemble a blackcurrant berry and the golden leaves are Hohloma grass, which represents the enchanted forest. Amongst the tendrils in the artwork of the bottle and the box you can also spot a sleeping dove (silence), the moon (fairytales), stars and butterflies which add to the enchantment of the night image the perfume alludes to.
And here's the description by the creator of the perfume, Bertrand Duchaufour:
"My
inspiration for this fragrance was primarily the fruit of blackcurrant itself,
from which I drew most of the the strength of the fragrance. The blackcurrant
is the MOST IMPORTANT fruity note of the range that exists in perfumery. There
are more than 400 raw materials that come across as fruity in the perfumer's
palette. Blackcurrant and the sulfur effects of blackcurrant are the basis for
the reconstruction of almost all fruits that perfumers and flavorists know. It
is HUGE! I worked through all the blackcurrant forms that exist except the
natural fruit juice, jams and candies …. I have mingled the effects of orange
and other red fruits for a more sophisticated aspect to this fruit. Wine and
some alcohol-based spiced hot wine drinks also inspired me so much (mulled wine
and grog: the typical French drinks that came down through the ages...)
My
second idea was to directly link the blackcurrant
with the odor of a forest ... also a very interesting link because in
blackcurrant there are hints of intense woody plants one can exploit.
Blackcurrant has a facet of "grass porridge" (boiled herbs, like a
soup!) that can work directly with herbaceous green notes, and even with
aromatics that facilitate the construction of several woodland scents ...
I wanted to
work the dark, mysterious, almost scary effects of the forest, all that evokes
mysterie and, to man, seems almost supernatural in the forest: animals whose
existence have been forgotten, the wetlands, the endless decomposition of
rotting vegetation and its constant replenishing, the vital force of nature
that man has hidden too deeply within himself …. This force, I evoke by the
vibrant bone structure of a spicy woody chypre (patchouli, moss, vetiver,
castoreum) but also by the warm, comfortable and intense effect of Balsam fir
(pine needle absolute) that strengthens the woody notes and gives an evergreen
aspect (i.e. the Russian taiga!) to any perfume."
Now, to what I thought of the perfume.
The Scent: The first scent I pick up is an intense leaf smell of blackcurrant leaves and fir. Imagine if you took the leaves on your fingers and crashed them to draw out the oils and scents. It is a very nice scent but it takes a couple of minutes to get used to, especially if you are not used to strong forest smells (yes I mean all of us city girls). The next thing I pick up after around 5 minutes is a scent of alcohol (the effects of rum and wine in the description). Think of really sweet mulled wine with fruity flavours and lots of spices. In the next 10 minutes the scent has changed a lot and what I smell is a sweet blackcurrant scent, think of hot marmalade brewing in the pot in a house next to a forest with the window open. I think this is quite a sensual mature scent. Definitely not your average sweet scent for girly girls. This perfume is a perfume for a woman who is alluring, sexy and mysterious but also a mother nature figure. I would wear it on a cold autumn and winter night for a formal event and probably when I'll be a little bit older than I am now.
Intensity: This is not a perfume that will radiate in the entire room, but if someone is standing next to you they can definitely smell it. I would not recommend it for people who get headaches from strong perfumes because, although its radius is not too big, it will be quite strong for the person who wears it. Alternatively avoid putting it behind your ears so that it will not be too close to your nose.
Longevity: The scent of the perfume stayed quite strong for the first hour (in its sweet blackcurrant form it settled after 15 minutes) and then it faded slightly and remained like that for the next 5 hours. After 6 hours I could barely smell in on my skin so I'd say it lasts for roughly 5-6 hours. This was a very nice surprise because I think perfumes should be long lasting, especially if you do not have the ability to reapply them throughout the day or your night out.
I am definitely interested in purchasing the full size product once it becomes available in January 2013 and I recommend it for anyone looking for a nice sensual forest scent themselves or as a gift for a mother, aunt or even grandmother. For more information you can also check the Vagabond Prince website.
Love,
Kristine
