SOTD: Narciso Rodriguez edt

Sometimes you just want the original and in this case I am talking about Narciso Rodriguez eau de toilette. While there are examples of fragrances in the "new" chypre category before NR edt (Cabaret by Gres and Coco Madamoiselle by Chanel) it wasn't until NR edt that the category really launched and became so ubiquitous. I have dabbled in a few of the offspring and enjoyed them (Lovely by SJP). But in truth nothing really compares to the original but then again it is because NR edt gets one thing very right, the woods ,which uses the now ubiquitious clean patchouli/vetiver note perfectly, the woods in it are consistently smooth, there is no irritating buzz. Which now brings me to the irritating buzz of clean patchouli that is overly raspy in many fragrances now that consider themselves to be a part "new" chypre or the fresh orientals, first up Badgley Mischka original, the opening in this is quite nice a fruity liquor with hints of osmanthus (the same osmanthus that can be found in NR edt), but the drydown is in my opinion on the cheap side, flat and at the same time a rasping buzz that can be headache inducing (they should have taken notes from Coco Madamoiselle on how to get it right). Now there is the new David Yurman, which is to me pure buzzing headache inducing clean patchouli with raspy vetiver and citrus. The insipidness of the clean patchouli note leaves you wanting the big camphorous skanky patchouli that can be found in Angel, and that is sad because there are plenty of Angel offspring out there. So fragrance industry why don't we try and do something different?

On to something to look forward to: Narciso Rodriguez is bringing out a new fragrance this spring and I am looking very much forward to it, he helped to create what I consider now a classic, and I am very heartened by his belief in slowly creating something and focusing on the details, we need more of that in the fragrance industry.

image provided by http://blog.libero.it/evalunaracconta/5523164.html
image: Femme a Colombe by Tamara de Lempicka