Hello Fellow Fumies,

One of the sad things that happens in the perfumista world is that we often have only time to try the new and many of the veteran niche fragrances get left behind in the rush to smell the MILLIONS of latest and greatest. So I thought that I would dedicate as many Saturdays as possible to reviewing fragrances that are older than this current decade. Today we look at….

Equistrius by Parfum d`Empire 2007

Equistrius by Marc Antoine Corticchiato

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Iris, violet, green notes
Heart: Iris, chocolate, woody notes, powder, rice
Base: Amber, sandalwood, vetiver, suede, ambrette (musk mallow)

I thought I’d start with a fragrance that I tried once a while ago and always had on the retry list but it got pushed to the back of the cupboard. Last night for some reason I grabbed Equistrius and spritzed before I went to work. WOW! What most attracted me in the opening is a lovely smokiness, weird because its not talked about and then I wonder if my nose is playing silly buggers but I have just drained my sample for my third wearing and it is most decidedly smoky behind the earthy green opening.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Then the scent kind of blurs and becomes a soft focus fragrance that never really settles on a note but waltzes through the heart as a sweet bouquet, this is quite long lasting and smells great but no notes jump out and accost me. Sadly the rice note doesn’t appear on my skin or to my nose. One of the yummiest and freakiest smells in our house is the rice cooking in the pressure cooker. It always smells so enticing and I wish someone would capture that exact scent and bottle it.

Dry down is soft and very close, a mere breath of fragrance shimmering softly above my skin. A sweet vegetal nothing that you have to be very close to notice, pretty and a lovely surprise for someone undressing you……..

Photo Stolen WikiMedia

How do I feel about Equistrius? While I enjoy it very much and love the ride I am not fully taken by Equistrius. Something in it doesn’t sing on my skin and after reading some other pieces on it I think the fault is me, not the frag. There are pieces missing from the puzzle and I wonder if its a sign that Equistrius and I are not buddies. There are so many others in the line that I adore so I can’t really complain. It’s a shame because the notes list and others reviews make me want to smell what they all smell, I think it would smell killer on the right person.

Photo Stolen Flickr

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and BOTO
Libertine has $150/50ml with FREE Australian P&H
LuckyScent has $145/100ml in the new bottles
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $3.50/ml

Did you ever try this line? What about Equistrius? Did it ever spend skin time with you? What did you think?
Portia xx