perfume: L'Artisan Parfumeur Timbuktu
This is another Bertrand Duchaufour scent, like CDG's Avignon. I think I have a strong reaction to (synthetic? real?) vetiver where my brain goes "perfume! Perfume perfume!" and then refuses to help further. I can smell the pink pepper if I try hard, and I think I could persuade myself that there's a mango note - but on the whole it smells so firmly composed that it's hard for me to relate to the components. As it warms on my skin I do feel like I'm getting more and more smoke and spices - I can see how within the realm of perfume-perfume this is a heavy, spicy, interesting one, but I feel like there are much wackier, stinkier smells out there for me to smell.
I'm glad that my brain is at least admitting that it's perfume and not just soap. I guess I feel like it's lovely, but inaccessible, and definitely, if not artificial, still pretty much artifice. For the record, this is the same problem that I have with L'Air du desert marocain, which is disappointing, as everyone loves that one too.