Soivohle Cumberland Ti

I’m still on my quest to find the perfect tea scent so a nice detour into Cumberland Ti by Soivohle was in order.

In Bottle: Black tea with a twist of honey and a little bit of spice.

Applied: A bit of citrus on the open followed with a deep, rich black tea scent and a hint of spiciness–something almost like pepper. As the fragrance ages the tea scent gets deeper and just a little bit of sweetness peeks out from the bed of notes. The chamomile doesn’t make itself very loud, it adds a bit of herbal quality to this fragrance that also leans a bit toward a slight floral quality near the end of the fragrance’s midstage. The dry down is a soft herbal tea-like treatment with a slight dustiness at the end.

Extra: Cumberland TiĀ  is inspired by a sweet southern tea with a sweet flavor.

Design: Cumberland Ti’s design is pretty much similar to the other scents in Soivohle’s line.The bottles are nice enough, but with Independent and Niche perfumes, you’re not buying the fragrance for the packaging. Though the packaging is usually nice anyway.

Fragrance Family: Aromatic

Notes: Tea, mate, honey, chamomile.

Beautiful tea fragrance though not exactly what I was looking for. It’s a very nice, complex and unique blend and if you’re looking for an off-beat tea, definitely check this one out.

Reviewed in This Post: Cumberland Ti, 2010, Absolute.


Soivohle Tobacco and Tulle

Been a while since I reached for the adorable box of samples from Soivohle. I don’t know why it took me this long to come back to them. I love them all but I suppose the other stuff waffling around in the drawer of samplers needed to be dealt with first. I feel like Soivohle is a bit of a palette cleanser after a bunch of chemical fruits. In my notes, it’s wedged between two celebrity fragrances, surrounded by a bunch of fruity ones so it would seem my theory holds some weight.

In Bottle: Lush, complex tobacco and florals with a warm sense of animalic musk and ambergris.

Applied: The tobacco blooms beautifully upon application and it blends in very well with the creamy tuberose note. This is dense and deep and dark. There’s nothing light and flowery and weak about it. It makes a big statement and I love how it eventually evolves into this subtle warm animalic scent without me even noticing. I really enjoyed the opening moments with the tobacco and tuberose. The tuberose lends a bit of help as the fragrance delves into its murkier, muskier undertones with the ambergris lending to that animal quality. There’s so much complexity in the fragrance as it ages on the skin. This smells classic and daring at the same time. Like how perfume used to be done and how it should still be done. The animalic element is just a bit too much for me so while I appreciate it’s complexity, I really can’t see myself ever being daring enough to wear it.

Extra: It should be noted that on Soivohle, the musk mentioned in the notes list below is actually a cruelty-free variant. In that it’s a “hyrax tincture”. Hyrax tincture, for all us grownups, is a petrified stone-like compound composed of urine and feces excreted by a guinea pig-like creature called the hyrax. It’s generally been “aged” for hundreds of years and is perfectly fascinating stuff.

Design: Bottled rather simply but you don’t buy Soivohle or other independent perfumer fragrances so you can admire the pomp and circumstance surrounding the design of the bottle. All you need to know is that it looks great, feels great, and works the way it should.

Fragrance Family: Smoky Floral

Notes: Tobacco, tuberose, musk, ambergris.

I know how daunting the price point for this might look but once again, keep in mind that all natural ingredients are expensive and the complex experience you gain from fragrances like these make up for the price point. You are also paying for higher quality ingredients than what you’d get in most mainstream perfumes and you would likely need to use very little of this stuff to get the same amount of power from your run of the mill EdP or EdT.

Reviewed in This Post: Tobacco and Tulle, 2009, Absolute.


Soivohle Pink Praline

Soivohle does one of the best and most true gourmands I’ve ever smelled. The very lovely, very rich and very beautiful, Pink Praline. It’s a lush and sweetly nutty fragrance that takes the best from the gourmand genre.

In Bottle: Sweet and lush nutty fragrance with a a big hit of maple syrup and cocoa. Smells good enough to eat.

Applied: A small flare of grapefruit hits my nose upon application but the moment is fleeting. It’s priming the canvas for the fantastic remainder of the fragrance when the rest of the notes roll in. These pralines are rolled lovingly in a sweet and sticky mixture of coffee and maple syrup, then lightly dusted with cocoa. The fenugreek does a fantastic job at conjuring the concept of praline while the rest of the notes push your brain even further into that category as you sit contented in your bubble of maple-coated goodness. The scent starts to wind down with a slight muskiness while the nuttiness fades first followed by the last lingering traces of maple. Pink Praline is a fantastically blended sweet gourmand that should serve as an example of how a sweet and candy-like perfume should be done. It is sweet, but it is not cloying or annoyingly sweet. It’s foody but it doesn’t rely on vanilla, sugar or chocolate notes to accomplish its foodiness. And best of all, it doesn’t use that accursed caramel note that always turns to burnt sugar on my skin.

Extra: With mainstream fragrances gone to the tried, tested and true formulations that seem to be recycled again and again, independent perfumers like Soivohle are a welcome change of pace. I can enjoy my mainstream stuff for its safe bets and pleasantness but when it comes down to artistry, you really should try niche or independent.

Design: Bottled beautifully from what I can see as I have yet to purchase a Soivohle scent, I cannot directly comment on the packaging or bottling.

Fragrance Family: Gourmand

Notes: Pink grapefruit, coffee, cocoa, maple, fenugreek.

Pink Praline is an Eau de Parfum natural that’s definitely on my “to buy” list. For now the cute little sampler jar sits happily with its other Soivohle sample brothers and sisters.

Reviewed in This Post: Pink Praline, ~2009, Eau de Parfum.


Soivohle Vanillaville

Soivohle is an independent perfume houseĀ  run by Liz Zorn that has a fantastic collection of natural perfumes of which Vanillaville is a part of. I was searching for a replacement to my much beloved, Spiritueuse Double Vanille (SDV). While I don’t think Vanillaville is a replacement for SDV, it is nevertheless, a beautiful fragrance.

In Bottle: Smoky strong pipe tobacco with a blend of leather up front. It’s reminiscent of campfires but has a far more sophisticated edge than that. I don’t smell much of the vanilla but it is in the background lending this a pleasant creamy, mildly sweet, smoothness.

Applied: I don’t get a whole lot of shift and change in this as what it is has pretty much been described. Smoky, sophisticated, a bit of leather to add some more personality and a fantastic sweet and creamy vanilla note lurking near the bottom. As this ages, the smokiness fades just a little bit to let the vanilla scent to come up but for the most part, Vanillaville is a clear and beautiful interpretation of a fantastic vanilla concept.

Extra: Soivohle offers some of the best natural perfumes I’ve found and the packaging is impeccable. My favorite from the natural collection is by far, Pink Praline, a deliciously well crafted gourmand scent.

Design: I have not purchased a full bottle yet, but the sample jars that Soivohle uses are adorable little glass deals with a cute screw on black plastic cap. They were meticulously packed and if the sample were so well treated, I can’t wait to see how beautiful the actual bottles will be.

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: Almond, tonka, tarragon, birch tar, coffee.

No replacement for SDV here, but Vanillaville is a fine concept. A bit smoky for my tastes, but this would make an excellent fragrance for anyone looking into darker vanilla scents.

Reviewed in This Post: Vanillaville, ~2009, Eau de Parfum.