Tasneem (Profumo.it)

jasmine ylang – Dominique Dubrana – 4/5

I’m rather tired of shelling out 4 stars for each of Dubrana’s creations. They seem to just, just stop short of masterpieces. Dubrana must also, like me, have a thing for jasmine: this is his third jasmine-centric fragrance (though the official page tells you it is really about ylang ylang). The start is a wonderfully indolic (dry, raspy and all) chambaili (the night blooming jasmine, Jasminum officinale) with a touch of sweetness that grows stronger later on, telling you that the ylang ylang and vanilla are now creeping up on you. Jasmine remains the focus, however, for a good few hours before giving way to the feminine vanillic-floral drydown, where the ylang ylang is actually perceptible. There are nuacnes of spices (canelle, possibly), ambrette, apricot (osmanthus?) and mandarin in the start, but these are minor hints. Tasneem starts like a masculine jasmine (in the manner of Celine Ellena’s much stranger, stronger Jasmin de Nuit) but keeps shifting towards feminine as time goes by. Good work.

Tabac (La Via del Profumo)

Tabac (La Via del Profumo) – 4/5
fresh tobacco – Dominique Dubrana

Tabac is quite literal: I cannot think of any fresh, green, tobacco perfumes at the moment, perhaps because they aren’t that common, but also perhaps because smelling Tabac tends to make you forget where you were and what you were doing before this ticklish, green, spicy-resinous tobacco leaf perfume invaded your nostrils.

Venezia Giardini Segreti (La Via del Profumo)

Venezia Giardini Segreti (La Via del Profumo) – 4/5
jasmine ambregris – Dominique Dubrana

Part of the new Italian Series, Venezia Giardini Segreti is another jasmine sambac from Dubrana, this one more literal and direct, complete with the fresh green-floral opening. Soon, however, two distinctly different accords arise in the heart.

Sharif (La Via del Profumo)

Sharif (La Via del Profumo) – 4/5
resinous nutmeg – Dominique Dubrana

Sharif, the first of Dominique Dubrana’s perfume offerings that I purchased a full bottle of, opens on an intense nutmeg note, followed by a woody-resinous accord (that I would become very familiar with later on).

Mecca Balsam (La Via del Profumo)

Mecca Balsam (La Via del Profumo) – 4/5
smoky green – Dominique Dubrana

Mecca Balsam, named after the plant, opens on a pungent, inky-spicy and intensely green note.

Ihram (La Via del Profumo)

Ihram (La Via del Profumo) – 4/5
dry cedarwood – Dominique Dubrana

When I first tried Ihram, I thought the vial had been labeled mistakenly: The same great cedar start of Muschio de Quercia is also found here, but, on reflection, in greater strength and dominance.

Tabac (La Via del Profumo)

Tabac (La Via del Profumo) – 4/5
green tobacco – Dominique Dubrana

Tabac is quite literal: I cannot think of any fresh, green, tobacco perfumes at the moment, perhaps because they aren’t that common, but also perhaps because smelling Tabac tends to make you forget where you were and what you were doing before this ticklish, green, spicy-resinous tobacco leaf perfume invaded your nostrils.

Tawaf (La Via del Profumo)

Tawaf (La Via del Profumo) – 4/5
jasmine sambac – Dominique Dubrana

Jasmine sambac (motia, where moti is Urdu/Hindi for a pearl) is perhaps the second most relatable floral of the east, specifically Pakistan and India, after the rose. Street children at busy traffic intersections hawk bracelets made of the little white buds, strung like pearls on thin metal wire by a (usually overweight) woman sitting nearby with mounds of the white buds spread on a cloth in front of her and a coil of metal wire adjacent to them, and for around 10 cents a day your car can and will smell beautifully of the thick, lushly sweet white flowers.

Oud Caravan No. 2 (La Via del Profumo)

Oud Caravan No. 2 (La Via del Profumo) – 4/5
real oud – Dominique Dubrana

Dark, inky, like a rough leather jacket or tanned hide, Oud Caravan No. 2 is described by Dominique Dubrana himself as an uncompromising oud, but also as a tuberose oud. The closest thing I’ve smelled to this is the intense Aoud Cuir d’Arabie (Montale), and the two share more than just oud’s inherently dark disposition: they also have in common an animalic-leather aspect.

Muschio de Quercia (La Via Del Profumo)

Muschio de Quercia (La Via Del Profumo) – 3/5
dry woods – Dominique Dubrana

Muschio de Quercia (the name means Oak Moss –  no relation to musk) opens on a good, no, a great woody note, between cedarwood and sandalwood, amplified slightly with citrus and pepper. Soon, the core becomes apparent: a sweet, woody, realistically dry cedarwood, which remains stable and carries on for a few hours, before cleaning up a towards the end.