Tag: La Via del Profumo

Tabac by La Via del Profumo

First things first, the winner of the Mecca Balsam giveaway is Chasa! Congrats!


This review comes on the heels of my recent La Via del Profumo Mecca Balsam review. If you read it, you’ll know that I am not the only one who is smitten with its labdanum laden redolence. Most every blogger who has written about it has sung its praises. Tabac is from the same perfume house, a natural indie-perfumery in Italy, and is just as accolade worthy as Mecca Balsam.


Mecca Balsam is all about labdanum with undertones of tobacco. Tabac is the reverse. It’s tobacco-filled with undertones of labdanum. Labdanum’s mossy warmth emerges from within the tobacco in the opening. It grounds the experience with an earthy floral tone, setting the stage for a soft and soothing tobacco experience. Vanilla and tonka are also responsible for Tabac’s soft edges giving a subtly sweet pipe tobacco impression.


I did a side by side comparison of another gorgeous tobbaco scent, Alaya Moriel Parfums Espionage. I adore Espionage and any other tobacco scent needs to stand up to its beauty. Tabac certainly does, but they are different. Espionage is a drier, more intense tobacco fragrance that exudes bold topnotes, only to be quieted somewhat by elegant florals in the drydown. Tabac on the other hand is a more diffuse tobacco, possessing an immediate subdued quality. They are both full and beautiful with Espionage having a sharp, clear tobacco articulation and Tabac being more tempered, almost downy. So yes, it it entirely justifiable having both in one’s perfume collection, just in case you were wondering.


Tabac is available at La Via del Profumo € 38,33 for 16mls and € 104,17 for 50mls.

posted by ~Trish

Disclosure: Samples from La Via del Profumo were provided for this review. The opinons in this review are my own. I was not financially compensated for this review or any other.


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Mecca Balsam by La Via del Profumo

There’s so much to love about labdanum. I love the sound of the word. It’s a potential tongue twister but once you get it, labdanum is a fun word to say. I also love the story of this resin. Goats would feast on Mediterranean rockrose shrubs filling their bellies while unwittingly collecting the sticky substance in their beards allowing their keepers to harvest the fragrant goo. Labdanum is still obtained via trusty goats, but more often with *leather rakes empowered by human hands.

What I love most about labdanum though, is its complex yet soothing aroma. All at once it encompasses a vegetal mossiness, subtle floral tones, calming incense and supple leather. The following was my impression the first time I smelled labdanum on its own:  …”utterly rich and musty. It also struck me as quite leathery with great depth and amazingly animalic for a botanical”.  How lovely I thought it would be to have a perfume composed mainly of this compelling essence.

La Via del Profumo, an Italian all natural perfumery,  has recently launched an ode to labdanum in Mecca Balsam that exudes what I described above. Benzoin, frankincense, agarwood, tonka, tobacco, Indian tuberose and Damask rose help comprise Mecca Balsam, but it is labdanum that most inspires this olfactory visit to Mecca. La Via del Profumo’s website has an eloquent description of Mecca Balsam that is truly on point:

“Wrapped in the amber fragrance of Tonka and in the mystic aroma of the Arabic Frankincense, Labdanum wildness is tamed in an almost ecclesiastic scent that evocates at once the perfume of the mosques and the music of the wind organs in cathedrals.

The scent of raw Tobacco, always present in the background, is like an anchor that binds the base accord, giving them a common denominator.

The flowery notes of Indian Tuberose and of Damask Rose enrich the base of the balsam in the fashion of Arabic fragrances, bestowing to the perfume an opulence worthy of the precious aromatic elixirs worn by the royal family of Saudia.

Mecca Balsam is a fragrance that is liked by men and women alike, its aroma is warming, full, aromatic, and somehow gives a fatherly sense of security.”

My dad has never smelled like labdanum and the florals didn’t blossom on my skin, but otherwise, I fully concur. Mecca Balsam’s quartet of labdanum, frankincense, benzoin and tobacco suffuses the air with the caress of incense. The fragrance anoints your skin with a soft richness that has striking sillage and impressive staying power. It also layers beautifully with floral tobacco perfumes like Hermes Kelly Caleche and Ayala Moriel Parfums Espionage.


Dominique Dubrana (AKA AbdesSalaam Attar which is his Mulsim name) is the perfumer at La Via del Profumo whose creations have been given much praise in print. Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez have given Dubrana’s Grezzo d’eleganza, Hindu Kush and Tabac four stars in “Perfumes: The Guide” and please see the following blogs for more on Mecca Balsam:

Indie Perfumes

Perfume Posse

Perfume Shrine

Bittergrace Notes


 

Dominique Dubrana has been very generous in offering a full 50ml bottle (worth $125 USD) to a Scent Hive reader. Please leave a comment to enter. You can also get extra entries if you follow Scent Hive on Bloglovin, Twitter, Google Friend Connect, Facebook’s Networked Blogs, or subscribe to Scent Hive. (Check the right sidebar for the Scent Hive links). We have our winner!

Mecca Balsam is available at the La Via del Profumo website. € 34,17 for 16mls and € 91,67 for 50mls.


Posted by ~Trish


*labdanum rake image from labdanum-creta.blogspot.com

Please visit the NYT website for a feature on La Via del Profumo and Mecca Balsam.

Disclosure: Samples from La Via del Profumo were provided for this review. The opinons in this review are my own. I was not financially compensated for this review or any other.

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