Dorin and Made in Italy

I am feeling very ambitious at this moment that I’ll get all five of these reviewed.  Ethiopian night (yesterday) at the newly vegetarian YMCA cafeteria has created some delicate problems that manifested all night.  In other words, I wound up skipping half a day of classes to recuperate. I am eating again and have my glass of red wine (hence the optimism), so we may get all five!

The Dorins are a recreation that are now being sold at the Haute Parfumerie in Harrod’s in London.  The official tale –  Maison Dorin is an 18th century perfume company which became the official purveyor to the Royal Court of Versailles in 1780.  The house boutique on the Rue Grenier Saint-Lazare in Paris was founded by Marguerite Montansier, a celebrated actress and changed hands several times over the following years getting its name from JIM Dorin in 1817.  In January 1998 the Maison Dorin was given a new lease on life thanks to Bashar and Imane Nasri.  They released several fragrances that were originally created in 1921.

The problem usually with recreations is the state of perfume-making back in the 18th century was pretty different. They just wanted perfume to smell like what they wanted it to smell like. Think of it as the realism period for perfumerie.

Un Air de Damas Fullah has a top note of bergamot; a middle note of jasmine; and a base note of musk. This is a straightforward jasmine scent with a nice musky base.  For the time, if it’s fairly true to its original scent, a wonderfully made oriental that stays nicely jasmine and not lethally indolic.  It’s really lovely.  It may or may not have been groundbreaking back in the day, but if you’re a fan of historical perfumes to track the progression through time, I think you’d find it interesting.

Un Air de Damas Taif Rose has top notes of bergamot and lily-of-the-valley; a middle note of rose; and base notes of woods and musk.  I don’t know about the other notes in this. I sprayed this on before meditation class, and for three hours, it’s  been a seriously wonderful taif rose, rivaling the rose you find in the Arabian ouds.  I have no idea if this was revolutionary for its time or if they made the roses this strong, but if you love roses strong and thick, this should do it for you.

I know, I sorta suck at reviewing historical perfumes.  Shoot me, I like modern perfumerie.

Made in Italy is this teeny brande we saw at Harvey Nick’s that I wanted to just keep walking past ( on the way to the Alexander McQueen scarf), but Lisa made me stop and sniff. I was expecting a bathtub of mediocrity, and it surprisingly exceeded my expectations.  Not all of them did, but three of them were pretty excellent

Sicily has notes of amber, neroli, freesia, jasmine, immortelle, hay, cedarwood, amber, patchouli, agarwood and myrrh. This thing is a cornucopia of smell. There’s so much going on on the open, I have no idea what to pay attention to.  It’s like what everyone tells me my first hour in Delhi will be like.  Sweet, hay, pancake syrup and church.  It all smooths out some,  the cacaphony of smell becomes more rounded and blurred, but just that sweet pitch of hay, immortelle and myrrh and that someone put it in one perfume and somehow made it work makes me happy.

Sardinia has notes of tea leaves, heather, juniper, artemesia, honey, broom, mastic shrubs, cedarwood, vetiver and ambrette.  Wait, they left of one note – armpit skank.  This thing has my bosoms heaving, certain there is a swarthy, sweaty Sardinian guy outside my window.  Lots of honey, I don’t get much smoke, and zero heather, juniper or artemesia. They could be there, but the swarthy Italian guy sitting on my arm sweating obviously tucked them into some nether part just to see if I’d look harder for them.  Two Elks were rutting outside the building we had the Tantra class in.  It may be them sitting on my arm.

Rome has notes of notes of bergamot, mandarin, elemi, orris, rum, olibanum, cedarwood, vetiver and patchouli.  I’ve got mixed feelings on this one.  There are some things I like in it, but ultimately, with the list of notes in it, it winds up too smooth, too slick for me. It’s interesting, and I keep thinking I should like it more and finally decided maybe, since it was the last thing on a long day of  being sick I tried, it needs another shot with a fresh arm.

  • Nick says:

    HI ! New here. the way SIcily is described is out of control! Wait, I can;t figure out where to purchase it though. I am a male and I am desperately looking for a scent that could be my signature. I want a smoldering, mysterious, dark and uber sexy scent. Any ideas? I don;t even care if it is a woman’s perfume. I have tried Mitsouko (love the story behind it), jicky, rochas, molecule o1, rochas, some of tom ford’s scents) non are really right. Scents with vanilla leave me smelling vanilla. I must have a crazy ph balance because everything ends up smelling super powdery :( I am not a fan of licorice smells, but do love when patchouli is added to fragrances and not a fan of licorice smells. ANY IDEAS?

  • Ruanne says:

    Okay, I really want to smell Sicily now. I love a “cornucopia of smell!” And I was literally laughing out loud at your review of Sardinia!

  • Ninara Poll says:

    Please recover quickly! *hugs* We have a virus that shares some symptoms of strep throat but is NOT strep making the rounds where I am (and I caught it, on top of EVERY OTHER ailment I had last week! But I’m pretty much recovered now.), along with mycoplasmic pneumonia (“walking pneumonia”). Anyhoo… I am dying to try those Dorins scents. And Made in Italy’s Sicily and Rome, since I have happy memories of my brieft visit to the Eternal City (your description of Sardinia SCARES me, so that’s a pass for now).

  • Gretchen says:

    “Pancake syrup and church”! That had me laughing. Got to try a scent that elicits such a description– I may hate it but I want to smell it.

  • Shelley says:

    Let me get this straight: your Y has a cafeteria? And it is now vegetarian?

    I live in the wrong part of the country.

    Thanks for the introduction to something new. I’ve been laying low for a while, and this was a nice little “how do you do” to find upon my return.

    • Musette says:

      Sweetie. You know you do. You live in a part of the country where 3:-o is King.

      Come to think of it, though, so does Patty!

      Wait. we’re more :@) Butcher, right?

      anyhoo……the idea of a YMCA cafeteria is sort of unnerving, no matter what they serve – just sayin’

      xo >-)

  • Musette says:

    Honey! Feel better! The sickest I’ve ever been was via a raw-food restaurant. Sent me right back to the burgers, I tellya!

    I can’t focus on the rest of these scents because I can’t stop =)) at your description of Sardinia! But in between the heaving bosoms of laughter I’m thinking probably the Taif Rose is most ‘me’. I’m always a bit leery of straightforward rose but done in oudish ways it always seems to appeal to me.

    Tell those elk to go get a room! ;))

    xo >-)

  • Rappleyea says:

    Sicily and Rome sound great, but I’m assuming that short of going to Italy to procure them, they’re unavailable? What’s the brand name? You’ve effectively scared me away from Sardinia even though I love skank and indoles, and cumin just smells like a spice on my skin.

    Hope you’re feeling better. Something similar is making the rounds here without the excuse of Ethiopian food.

  • Ari says:

    Sicily sounds fantastic, and I could justify the purchase by telling myself that I’m honoring my Sicilian roots! Thank you for getting all five reviews done, sounds like you made the most of that glass of red!

  • Sue says:

    Ugh, glad to hear you’re feeling better.

    I’d love to hear about Rome when you try it again. I think it may be my mystery love scent from this summer in Switzerland.