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Post by Feral Jasmine

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So here’s the deal: I am not going to shut up about O’Driu Peety until I see more reviews that skip the whole bit about adding your own pee to it. It’s not that adding 10 drops of your own urine is wrong. It’s cleaner and less harmful than sniffing many aromachemicals, in my opinion, and also cleaner than many of the old naturals that we cherish when we can get them. The reason that the concept annoys me is that people tend to get caught up in the “ewwww!” factor and never quite get around to trying the perfume.

Peety! by Angelo Orazio Pregoni for O’Driu 2013

Peety: Forget the Hype, Just Smell the Perfume!

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Tobacco, jasmine, rose, sandalwood, tonka bean, pink pepper

That’s a pity, because Peety is lovely if you like animalics. The notes sound ordinary enough and do not really do justice to the composition. Fragrantica‘s brief description of it as a “woody floral musk” also sounds pedestrian and like something you’ve smelled a thousand times before. The single most discerning comment that I’ve read about it was by a Fragrantica commenter who called it “bearish.” This pretty much sums up Peety, except for the choice of wild animal. Personally, I think of it as “wolfish.” As in a clean and warm wolf who might sit next to you at your hearth for a while but would remain, forever and always, a wild animal and would come and go on his own terms, and just might come to your hearth with the scent of smaller prey on him. Peety is a warm, beasty smell. If you are a fan of vintage perfumes that contain some real musk, you know the warm furry scent that I refer to. Fortunately anti-cruelty laws make it impossible to use real musks these days, and Peety is tangible proof that we don’t need them. This scent also contains the single most interesting and un-kitcheny use of cinnamon that I have come across. Here’s what the maker has to say: “Rose and jasmine tingle the nose, muffled by vague suspicions of tobacco and lichens. Then, mandarin and bitter orange hurl us in a liberty world, made of fine ambers, cinnamon and pink pepper. Rounded as the brown patchouli, elegant as sandalwood and Tonka bean are. A masterpiece of technique and suggestions, Peety™ gains its strength from sub-cultural taboos, to come out of the mass-market perfumery stereotypes and to become a pure emotional footprint of the one who has it on, unique!” I guess that’s more poetic than saying “hmm, smells like a subtle use of cinnamon.”

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

Peety is perfect for evenings by the fire. I also enjoy it for evenings out, and have worn it to work, dabbed rather than sprayed and applied well before leaving the house, to acclaim from a generally perfume-hating coworker. I suspect that it may be a cold-weather scent for me, but we have enough cool spring evenings that I expect to drain my little decant well before summer comes. When I have the money I will definitely get a bottle.

Further reading: Azar hosts a wonderful interview with Peety Perfumer Angelo Orazio Pregon
O’Driu has €150/50ml and samples
Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $6/.5ml

Nonetheless, get a sample somewhere and try it. I spent a recent weekend at a wolf sanctuary, and Peety makes me feel like a congenial wolf is walking close beside me.

Feral Jasmine X