Pichola (by Bertrand Duchaufour for Neela Vermeire Creations)

Pichola is the new addition in Neela Vermeire Creations line (website here); it's inspired by the enchanting landscape of Lake Pichola, in Udaipur (Rajahstan), with its wooded banks and incredibly beautiful buildings situated directly on water. 


Since the settings of Pichola lake is as rich and majestic as you can imagine, the fragrance bearing the same name had to be just as majestic: a bouquet of sultry citrus (mandarin, bergamot), white flowers, spices (cardamom, cinnamon, saffron) and woods (sandalwood, Haiti vetiver and benjoin) as precious as crown jewels. At the opening, sweet and spicy citrus burst into a thousand sparks of light, and then lead a bunch of sound white flowers on stage: rose and jasmine sambac absolutes, tuberose, ylang ylang, orange blossom, offering an almost tactile feeling of sumptuousness. The precious woods in the "grand final" are gently enveloped in a cloud of white musk. Spices are almost imperceptible, are used mostly to balance the triumphant opening and heart.

 The result is an elegant floral, bright and very modern, without any "added" sweetness, and cool enough to be worn with satisfaction on feminine and masculine skins alike. 

The feeling, when you wear it, is of being surrounded by a blinding white light, or like being announced by the sound of a clarinet playing sparkling high notes. 
But despite being so rich, Pichola is never intrusive or "too much" -not even in the opening.

I can imagine it took all of Bertrand Duchaufour's skills to achieve such a huge impact without any "indefinite  flower salad" effect: he succeeded in taming all these exuberant notes, putting them in a setting that would give meaning to all without favoring any. 
I found this an intriguing and quite difficult to obtain characteristic. Bravo!
The scent lives a few hours on skin, after which the drydown is delicately musky/woody.

(Opening Picture: from here)