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Post by Trésor

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My maternal grandmother lived in a quaint home, nestled in between two incredibly large hills with a small brook running down one side. Every so often we would gather iridescent stones that found their way to the tiny banks and pretend they were the scales of mermaid’s tails that had made their journey all the way from the Caspian sea to our little brook. We would take these stones into the house, clean them and place them inside the upstairs cabinet where she kept all of her finest china. She said they would stay there for safe keeping should the mermaids ever come looking in search for their missing glistening scales. These moments were some of the happiest of my entire childhood so you can just imagine my delight when I happened upon a fragrance by the name of Shiloh, authored by Michel Roudnitska for the French house of Hors La Monde that so flawlessly captured all of those exquisite iridescent colours I remember from those stones. All in one breathtaking journey though this perfume’s life on my skin.

 Shiloh by Hors La Monde 2007

 Shiloh by Michel Roudnitska

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Bergamot oil, Damask rose petals, Virginian cedar, patchouli, lemon, sandalwood, incense, green grass, oakmoss, vanilla, musk, wood notes

Shiloh opens upon my skin in the shape of an effulgent sensory orb, pulsating in hues of vibrant cinnabar, rust and gleaming tangerine that illuminate from within like holograms of fragrant fireflies, whizzing about as if captured inside a mason jar by a joyful child on a late summer’s eve. The aroma of a ripe and glowing citrus fruit, that which smells to my nose of lemon, graciously wafts her golden fragrance in excess as gossamer plumes of diaphanous incense smoke envelop the citric rays of aureate light and with them begin to paint the composition a shade deeper, a spirit guide into the embrace of red rose petals existing as soft sculpture in translucent velveteen. Her petals begin to gracefully bleed a mellifluous zephyr of black pepper and aldehydes which have taken form as the kaleidoscopically lambent shards of a nearby star. With each precious drop that leaves her petals the rose darkens into crimson and soon finds herself enraptured within an abating aura of patchouli who’s fragrant leaves are as smooth as silk and permeating the airspace with their exquisite balsamic aroma of rainsoaked flora and the earth from which they came.

Photo Stolen Flickr

As the composition dries down the roses and patchouli are laid to rest upon a bed of redolent Virginia cedar, creamy sandalwood and sensuous skin musks which dance upon the skin like phantasms of Bolshoi ballerinas illuminated in hues of auroral copper and gold. It is within this final act of spectral pirouettes that Shiloh finally becomes one with the skin.

Shiloh is a fragrance which wears closely to the skin, existing nearly as a skin scent the entire duration of its life. It is by no stretch of the imagination a weak fragrance but one that is meant for those you wish to draw close. Each time I wear Shiloh I tend to get about 6 hours wear before it trails into dancing wisps of ethereal musk, though I will admit that on warmer days I’ve gotten upwards of 9 hours before it was completely gone from my skin.

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Further reading: Now Smell This and Non Blonde
LuckyScent has $125/50ml

Have you tried Shiloh?