Cerchi Nell'Acqua - Jolie

Enrico Buccella is a very profilic and creative man, not only is he the creator of Sigilli that I just wrote about, but also he´s the genious behind Cerchi Nell'Acqua (water circles). As for now, Cerchi Nell'Acqua is only available in Italy, but I hope it´ll be available at www.humbra.it soon.


While Sigilli was inspired by the etruscans and feautured a little more rare notes and combination of notes, Cerchi Nell'Acqua´s five (Jolie, White Out, Waves, Piccolo Amor and Ambr'ero) fragrances consist of some well known ingrediences, but presented in a brand new way. What´s new and sursprising with Cerchi Nell'Acqua is that the fragarnce is built in layer on layer, in circles (therefor the name water circles).


And yes, I have to admit I´m really impressed with these fragarnces and also, very enamoured with three of them. I´ll start with Jolie which is the softest and lightest of the five. Notes of vanilla, almond, milk, fruits and musk. Jolie is so easy to like, soft as eiderdown, delicate like a porcelain ballerina, smoth as a mothers caresse and comfy as the softest blanket. Somehow Jolie smells like the equivalent to holding a really soft and rounded stone in your hand, softness without any end or sharp edges.


Since it´s not built as a usual pyramide shaped fragrance, the different notes shows up slightly different from one wear to another. I suspect that Jolie, but the others in the line as well, would be quite different on different persons. On me Jolie starts off with a smoth scent of almond and vanilla, softly followed by a very transparente note of cherry, then I can sense a note of cold milk and those notes runs in and out of each other and it feels like the fragrance is changing in phase with my heartbeat or like waves on my skin. Jolie makes me think of anything soft like little downy chickens, soft baby cheeks, the blanket my son got in Christmas present, powdery snow and powdery sugar, kittens and puppies, whipped cream and vanilla custard.


What makes Jolie stand out from other fragrances with almond and vanilla (there are quite a few actually!)is the roundness, somehow it feels like a scent without an end, like something that goes round and round, and then round and round again (like a perpetual motion machine). As a women it´s natural for me to recognise and appreciate anything cyclic, therefor Jolie, and other fragarnces in the Nell'Acqua line fits me perfectly.


Jolie is a superior comfort scent with soft gourmand character. A must try for everyone usually found of the vanilla+almond combo, but also for everyone curious about a new way of perfumery. Jolie has excellent stating power (+8 hours at least with generous application), sillage is also good and then I only have a dab on sample.


I´ll write about some of the other Cerchi Nell'Acqua fragrances as well. What do you think about the traditional pyramide shaped fragrance, does it feel dated? Today, a lot of popular mainstream scents have a fabolous opening, but after 10-20 minutes there isn´t much left at all... Perfumers have tried to create starshaped or square shaped fragarnces, but in my opinion the round shape seem very natural and not so constructed. What do you think? Of course it can be difficult to have an opinion about a scent that you never tried, but there is some other fragrances with a roundness to them also, for instant I find Guerlains Insolence (edp) to be round and built in layers...


Oh, and there is only one week left to our next perfume meeting. I´m soooo looking forward to it. :)

Pic: Eiderdown and porcelain ballerina

Sigilli - Ferfaen

While mainstream perfume brands seem to be inspired only by youth, beauty, and nowadays fame also, some niche-and indie perfume brands seem to find inspiration in past times, with Hollywood glamour, smiling pin-up girls and the happy days of the 20'ies.


Still, it´s not that common to find fragrances inspired by an era more than 50 or even 100 years ago. But, Italian perfumer, Enrico Buccella have found inspiration from the etruscan culture. The etruscan people lived in what is known as Italy in our time, their culture and society flourished around 500 BC. A lot of information about the etruscna people has been lost, but it´s recognised that they where skilled artisans. Eventually the etruscan power diminished and they become assimilated in the Roman empire.


It´s an interesting challenge to test the different fragrances, Asprosa, Claudiae, Tyrsenoi, Ferfaen, Ea, Athunis, Pyrgos, Thu, Hesperia, Volumnia and Tuscia, but with that many new fragrances to evaluate it can be a little hard to overlock them all. They all have one thing in common, they manage to create a feeling of an long time gone culture in avery genuin and trustworthy way. i don´t like all of the fragrances in the line as much, some of them are even a little hard to pull off, but still they convince at least me, that this is how people some 3000 years ago liked to smell...


One of my favorites is Ferfaen, which means verbena in celtic, and yes, this is a scent with fresh verben in the middle, but also underscored by dark and aromatic notes of tobacco and musk. Ferfaen is complex and changes a lot on my skin, the opening is like a mix between herbal and aromatic citruses and some fresh mint. after about 20 minutes - half an hour the scent darkens, tobacco gives a deepth to Ferfaen, while verbena and mint is still noticable. Something in the meeting of verbena and tobacco gives a dry almost papery feeling, but at the same time something that also smells like rugged leather. I´ve never encountered anything like this in a fragrance.
It´s strange and different, yet Ferfaen is one of the most easier to wear among the Sigilli fragrances.


The base is warm, aromatic, sligthly sweet and with some animalic musk. It´s senual and even a little erotic, so I can see why verbena was used as an aphrodisia.


While testing Sigilli, I was reading a book about Pompeiji and the fragrances brought
another dimension to my reading experience.


Ferfaen has good lasting power (about 6 hours), and not that huge sillage, but I´ve tested it with a dab on sample though. To me, I can see Ferfaen being used by both men and women. And I do recommend you to put on any of the Sigilli scents if you´re about to watch any costume movie taking place under the Anticque era. Or of course if you read a book about that time. Sigilli will bring a little extra something to that experience...