Malibu-based perfumer Roxana Vila is a longtime favorite of mine. I find her essences gorgeous: I love her dark, smoky ones especially. She might have made Figure 1: Noir with me in mind.
It’s dark as a moonless Malibu night: musky and resinous, shot through with an icy blast of Vetiver. As the scent wams to the skin it becomes deeper, with the sandalwood and patchouli and cognac. There isn’t a lot of development in this on my skin- it’s fairly linear. But then I don’t really want it to change much. Like most of her scents, this lies close to the skin and has good lasting power. I like that she does solids as well as perfume since layering seems to make them last longer.
Notes (from her website): patchouli, green vetiver, agarwood, Mysore sandalwood, orris and valerian juxtaposed with the pungent tartness of buchu leaf, kewda, black cumin, green cognac and davana.
Can I just say how happy the Posse is going to be in LA? Can’t wait!
Available at her Etsy site. My samples were sent to me by the perfumer.
Image from her website.
What a wonderful day Tom and I had today meeting Roxanna. She is a beautiful, engaging, clever and an inspired perfume creator. Look out for the naughty Portia Accord the three of us laid the bones down for.
Thank you Tom
Portia xx
This sounds amazing. To Bee has been on my to-try list ever since I first read about it. Might have to try both now thanks to your review!
I am sitting at the Starbucks right now waiting for LA Scentsation to start! Woohoo! 😉 See you all soon!
I adore Roxana Illuminated Perfumes. I recently discovered these intoxicating delights a few months ago and immediately purchase 6 samples. From beginning to end, one can tell that she puts so much care and love into those precious perfumes. What a delight to find such an amazing perfumer. Now I just need to decide what locket to purchase.
Thank you for the review, more people need to know of Artisan Perfumers such as Roxana.
Wow…that sounds amazing! Heading to etsy to check out her shop now…thanks!
Yay! A review of one of the scents of my favorite small natural perfume maker. I adore roxana’s perfumes and roxana herself, who is amazingly gracious, warm and responsive. I own greenwitch, Cimbalom, impromptu and chaparral and have samples of most of her other scents. I love layering her solid perfumes over the liquid versions of her scents. Extends the life of the precious extracts she uses. If you haven’t tried her line, I highly recommend that you do so!!! Thanks for the review of this scent Tom! Have to search through my samples and see if I have it. If not, clearly need to get one ASAP.