We had a flood meeting in the village hall which turned out to be short on flood info and long on a couple of councillors wanting the village to set up an emergency committee to deal with, well, emergencies: like an escaped lion, damage from a terrorist attack, storm damage. Our biggest problem is flooding. So, we have 40 minutes of guff about this emergency committee and 20 minutes on flooding and people started leaving half way through the flooding bit because they have things to do. Yes, I was serious about the lions. The guy was using an escapee from a zoo as an example. We’re nowhere near a zoo. As to terrorism, we’re downhill from a royal marine training camp. We would not be the target. Storms … well, we deal with storms fine already. Our problem is ground water flowing down off farmers’ fields, surface water accumulating on roads and overflowing drains. Also, road development causes issues: the main road is higher than the lanes on either side, which results in ‘bowls’ where water accumulates. The Environment Agency (ground water) and the highways department (roads, of course) apparently don’t talk to each other about their policies. I doubt very much anyone will go to another ‘flood’ meeting. We’ll just get on with things.
Christian Dior Oud Ispahan. I dropped this sample into a set at the last minute because it made me think of the Laduree tea room’s Ispahan macaron which I love: rose flavoured big macaron top and bottom filled with rose petal and lychee cream, plus raspberries.
Oud Ispahan is part of the Privee collection and was released in 2012. Portia wrote about it here.
I first approached with trepidation, as my other sample choices had been so poor. What a welcome surprise.
This is beautiful. Even if you aren’t an oud or rose fan this is still worth smelling at least once. It’s not an in-your-face perfume and it’s surprisingly refined and beautiful. If niche generally irritates and classical orthodoxy makes your teeth ache, this is a happy medium.
The nose was Francois Demachy and the notes include labdanum, rose, patchouli, saffron, oud (agarwood), sandalwood and cedar.
It opens on me a nice, scratchy saffron-labdanum accord. I can hear some going ‘saffron – not happening’ but there’s none of the sour I generally associate with saffron (and I like saffron in perfume).
Then, as things warm up, I get a patchouli-rose gently modified by the woods.
The drydown is pongy rose oud, but the pong is as refined as pong can get. If you’re looking for creature waggling its bottom at you, this ain’t it.
Rather, quite far down the line (as this is very long-lasting) I get a gently animalic woody rose. It’s very pretty and surprisingly soothing.
Here, the 40ml bottle is £125, the 125ml, £245, and three 15ml ‘refill’ bottles can be had for £162.
I don’t need this and it’s not going on the want list. However, I really appreciated smelling it after the disappointment of the other things I got in the two sample orders and I do find it lovely and intriguing.
Any chance you’ll have a go with this? Done it already and love/hate?
Pics: Pexels and mine
hmmm….. I don’t remember trying this (sounds like something I’d remember)… it’s on my list, now.
LOLing about the council – we’ve had those insane meetings, with folks nattering on about terrorism (no lions, alas. I wish!)…
…in the meantime, there’s a GINORMOUS anhydrous tank at the curve of a road outside of town – somebody hits that at speed, this whole town will go up! When asked about getting IDOT to put up a rail (or, failing that, the town to pony up for a rail) there’s just blank looks and shrugs. Then back to terrorism. But no lions. Alas.
btw – we live in the middle of corn/soy fields. Why the focus on Al-Q targeting US? I have no idea.
This sounds lovely although not “me.” I don’t think I’ve ever tried it (which makes sense considering it’s a rose oud) … if I run across it I will give it a whirl.
Not even with the pong? While I don’t want to own it I do think it is beautifully done and worth a sniff.
Rose and oud are two of my least favorite perfume notes, so together (which I know is a definite thing and no thanks) but the way you’ve described it has me wanting to trying it.
What a lovely review, Cinnamon. I’ll keep my eyes open for this when I’m at our local high-end department stores. Just to give it a sniff. Your flood meeting sounds like a hilarious parody sketch. What a waste of time!
It would have been funny if the guy had had any sense about addressing different situations. as it was, it was just embarrassing. thank you regarding review. I do think it is well worth a sniff.
Saffron does make it a no for me. I gave up on that note a long time ago..
As to your meeting, should we laugh or cry? Maybe a bit of both.
ah, that’s too bad regarding the saffron. on meeting, it was so frustrating — so, yes, maybe both.
I love the idea of this one but don’t want to try it- I can’t afford to fall in love.
I actually prefer a bit more a$$..
I hate meetings like that. I remember being in one that I wasn’t running but was on the commission and our chair was one of those types where everyone had to be “heard.” Which was mostly a waste of time: what we were talking about was narrowly specific, say, the fumes from outdoor wood fires in our three black area. People wanted to vent about people having noisy gatherings around their gas bbq, or people outside the area having wood fires the smell of which would drift over. Hours of it. I wanted to politely say beforehand that X was the narrow focus of this discussion and if a speaker wanted to talk about Y or Z they were wasting their time and would be cut off. They wouldn’t let me.
Even at that one nobody brought up lions..
He was trying to be cute with regard to the lions. It went down like a lead balloon. I expect we’ll just continue as is which is too bad because something needs to give. strangely, though I really like this I have no desire to own it.
Woo Hoo! Cinnamon, this was one of my first purchases from the DIOR Prive line. I came late to them because Australia. Also bought Leather Oud, Ambre Nuit and Granville around that time. Had I known the way prices would skyrocket and how many DCs there’s be, would have bought them all.
Portia x
It bothers me that 40ml at £125 feels like a bargain. That’s just wrong. I need to visit with the whole line — I might start buying samples a couple at a time.
I was part of a bottle split when this came out, and didn’t wear it for several years by which time I couldn’t decipher the beautiful script on the handwritten label, so had no idea what this gorgeous thing was, luckily the hive mind on Facebook had other people in on the split so it was identified.
I wonder if it’s been reformulated?
Reformulated to make it less pongy? It really is beautifully done.
Not tried many of the high end Diors & my bank account thanks me! I have a 15ml Eau Noire original release, not for me & a decant of Mitzah. Mitzah is lovely but was d/ced very quickly. I’ve never sought out anything else.
Escaped lion? Did the local councillor think the Beast of Bodmin was reality? Or thinking of how to get some local publicity?
I have a decant of Eau Noire from ages ago. It is still totally glorious. I wish I could do a funny about the lion. In different circumstances we would all have laughed. As it was, stony silence. People were expecting a flood meeting but got this instead.
I had the original release of this and sold it because it was so overpowering on me. I’m not an oud fan in general these days, but perhaps it’s been toned down as others in the line have.
I’m still looking for my ‘perfect’ oud. I do think this is beautiful but for whatever reason I want to find an oud, not a modification.
Did you ever try 10 Corso Como? I had someone buy it for me overseas when it first came out. It was one of the early oud scents and packed a punch. Probably horribly reformulated by now.
I’ve had two bottle of 10 Corso Como. The first was an interesting creamy wood, the second was pure pencil shavings. I sold it on asap