Eau d'Italie - Bois d'Ombrie

Just as with Sienne l'Hiver you´re transported to another place with Bois d'Ombrie.


Bois d'Ombrie takes me to a forest, maybe somewhere in Italy, but I think it smells wonderfully foresty like in a forest anywhere. Bois d'Ombrie has a lot in common with Sienne l'Hiver, but they are taking place in totally different surroundings. Also, Bois d'Ombrie takes you for a slow walk, rather than on adventure. The scents of Bois d'Ombrie is much more complex than just "woods", but it is a wordly wood I visit, I don´t expect to meet elfs, trolls or any other kind of fairytale creatures in this forest. Probably I´ll meet some kind of huskies like lumberjacks, hunters or charcoal kiln watchers...


Bois d'Ombrie is also an unisex, but leaning toward the masculin side. Despite that, I think of Bois d'Ombrie as a little easier to wear, but maybe Sienne l'Hiver is just a little more interesting and unique.


Bois d'Ombrie is softer, more friendly and also a little sweeter than Sienne l'Hiver. In the top note Bois d'Ombrie is strong and compact, I can smell some volatile notes of something boozy, but shortly after it is all about rustic leather and something that makes me think about the smells of the forest floor, you know like soil, resin, mossy and very aromatic. On my skin, this is the notes that dominates for a good while, but I can also smell some vetiver, iris and soemthing that to my nose smells almost like weak cinnamon.


The start of Bois d'Ombrie is heavy and strong, but manage to capture me very well. All the time I´m curious about what comes next. I become really happy when I discover small traces of something smoky, you see there is after all a charcoal kiln somewhere in the forest! When I detect the smoky note, the scent is going for a softer phase, I discover a nice, dry note of tobacco, it becomes sweeter, softer and really comfy. Very, very nice!


Bois d'Ombrie might have alittle more lasting power then Sienne l'Hiver, but the sillage is at the same leavel. On me, Bois d'Ombrie becomes a genuin woody, leather scent, but on my husband -this one also- becomes slightly better and more interesting. His skin chemistry seems to scrub of sharp corners of this kinds of scents. On me, Bois d'Ombris isn´t sensual or sexy, but on my husband it is... I wouldn´t mind watching the charcoal kiln together with him...


Like with Sienne l'Hiver I recommend Bois d'Ombrie to everyone that is interesting in well made and unique kind of scents, especially to men. It is really nice and exciting.


Why I´m keep nagging about charcoal kilns is that my grand father used to make charcoal kilns when I was small, it is long time ago (70'ies), but even then they where very uncommon. I think the art of making charcoal kilns (in Sweden) died with my grand fathers generation (even though it´s probably possible to take a course in charcoal kiln making, but it isn´t really the same). Therefore it is no wonder I like a scent where I can imagine I sense the smoke from a charcoal kiln...





Pic: Tre nycklar

Eau d'Italie - Sienne l'Hiver

Eau d'Italie is an Italian line of perfumes that has been inspired by a wonderful hotel in Positano, Le Sirenuse. Look at the pictures and admit that I´m not the only one that would love to go there:

http://www.sirenuse.it/Intro.asp



Eau d'Italie offers six different scents, Eau d'Italie, Paestum Rose, Sienne l'Hiver,Bois d'Ombrie, Magnolia Romana and Baum du Doge, or really seven, but I´ve not tried their newest, Au Lac. You can read more about Eau d'Italie´s products here:
http://eauditalie.com/index.html


Eau d'Italie and Magnolia Romana didn´t impressed me. But, I am anosmic to all of the heart not in Magnolia Romana and cousln´t smell almsot anything for several hours except of a little aquatic note, I´m sure Magnolia Romana is a great perfume on people that can smell it. But, it´s impossible to like everything just as much.


However, I have been enchanted by Sienne l'Hiver, a scent that one of my blog readers made me curious about. Sienne l'Hiver means "Winter in Siena" and I can sign for that. Not that I´ve visited Siena neither in winter or any other time, but Sienne l'Hiver seem both wintery and Italian to me.


Some scents that takes me on olfactory trips are filled with adventure, imagination and almost a little wearying, but Sienne l'Hiver isn´t at all like that. It´s sober, slow and very unique. It takes me on a walk through a wintery Siena. I imagine I follow a little boy around that like to show me the town.


We´re starting in the boys grandmothers and grandfathers Italian deli store. Here it´s cozy and homey. The air is filled with scents, pickled olives, truffle, some smoke, soft vinegar and hints of leather. This sin´t like any other scent I´ve tried. In this phase Sienne l'Hiver is a gourmand, but a very different one. I can´t help wondering if I really wants to smell like an Italian deli, but no matter what I think about that, still this smells really good, genuine and also odd in a pleasant way. Sienne l'Hiver is a subdued scent, but not discrete, you don´t have to hunt it down, it takes an obvious, self-consious and masculine place at once.


Just when I´m getting used to sitting in the cozy deli, it´s time to go out in the streets of Siena. The alleys of Siena is narrow and winding, and now Sienne l'Hiver become a little colder and more like an outdoorsy scent. I can smell a very prominent scent of moist bricks (tiling), just like I´m walking in the shadow of old houses. The scent of bricks are really unique and I find it interesting and nice. The scent of smoke and wood also becomes more noticable now. Below this barren and somewhat inhospitavble scents I can also sense the scents of soft flowers and/or something sweet. But only when I sniff up close. Sienne l'Hiver is pretty much a very unsweet scent.


Sienne l'Hiver is an unique and refreshingly different scent. It´s filled with imagination, happiness and creativity. On me it becomes a little hard to wear as a perfume, but my husband wears it from start to end without any problem. I´ll surely return to Sienne l'Hiver but more because the feelings and moods it manage to wake within me, than to wear it as an ordinary perfume. Even though Sienne l'Hiver is different on the border to odd, it isn´t as odd as some scents that become impossible to wear at all.


The lasting power of Sienne l'Hiver is good, but not amazing, around 6 hours. The sillage is obvious, especially from start. The basenote is a little softer than the rest with nice notes of warm wood, smoke and very, very soft sweetness (maybe from chestnut?). Sienne l'Hiver is an unisex, but towards masculine. There is probably women that can wear this without problem, but on me it becomes alittle to "large". I recommend it to anyone that feels like testing anything very different and no perfume interested man should miss this one!


Sienne l'Hiver isn´t the only interesting scent from Eau d'Italie, but to me it´s the most unique if not the easiest to wear. Do you have any favorite fragrance that smells unique and different, but that you don´t really want to go around and smell like?


Pic: Above from flickr, and below from Panoramio