Barkhane
Téo Cabanel (2013)

As other reviewers have noted, Barkhane is not that original - at least, not for those who are used to sampling niche scents. This is a sub-Amouage effort, for people who want some of that East/West interaction with a discernibly lower price tag. There's certainly not much like this on the high street.

Out of the box and on first spray I had it categorised as a woody oriental (the Cabanel web site corroborates this), but there is a smoothness that speaks of amber. An initial freshness leads to a papery woody accord. This settles down to a terrific mid-life accord where the discernible spices cohere excellently with a touch of oud.

A good, dry/warm wood-driven scent that avoids many of the pitfalls such scents can fall into. Would be good for regular casual wear in the warmer months.

Subtle and sophisticated amber oriental, with a smile-inducing palette of notes. Barkhane has a contained sweetness with the gorgeous, dark, almost fruity amber of labdanum in the lead, matched with some grown-up, chewy, bitterish patchouli, and then sprinkled with a cluster of spicy and resinous notes which do the opposite of what they usually do in perfume, here lifting and brightening the composition rather than weighing down its skirts. It's quite a neat trick, imparting Barkhane with the burnished glow that all good ambers have. Smoothly blended and quite beautiful, but the subtlety gets in the way of full expression somewhat – Barkhane is content to hum its lovely melody when it could be bursting into full-throated song. (However, to be fair, the first time I wore it out and about, an acquaintance told me I smelled ‘lovely' – so it's not as if it's unnoticeable.)

I recently purchased the sample pack by Téo Cabanel's very nice online service. I must congratulate them because the care they put in those sample packs (for 11,5€) is quite rare. Having tried only three of their perfumes I can already say that I find Barkhane quite enchanting. An oriental sweet vanillic gournand (a bit boozy even) with above average silage and longevity (more than 6 hours), and with an exceptionally pleasant almost addictive dry down. Unfortunately it is this dry down that captivates me therefore I can't say that Barkhane is an overall remarkable creation. It is not to my taste anyway. What I can say is that it shouts old school richness and depth, and it must be composed by high quality ingredients.

Barkhane is a surprisingly good amber scent, quite classic and conventional, which reminds me of specifically two quite more famous "references" for such family of scents: Ambre Precieux or Ambre Russe. Now Barkhane takes basically the best of the two, mixing it in the same blend, and adding something new. Less warm and sumptuous (and perhaps... pompous) than Ambre Precieux but with the same crisp, baroque, golden ambery feel; less boozy (but also... synthetic) than Ambre Russe, but with the same "contemporary" personality, and also with a general slight similarity which I can not define more precisely, but that just made me think of Ambre Russe while wearing Barkhane. Anyway, comparisons aside, there is not much to describe, as the scent is quite simple (in a good way): it's a cozy and elegant amber scent - on the resins-labdanum side, so a fresher, silkier, dustier type of amber - with a woody-smoky base, which brilliantly and effortlessly manages to stay elegant and sophisticated but also relaxed, lively, modern, and overall "simple" in a friendly, straightforward, honest way. Totally versatile, for men and women, perfect to add a touch of gold in every circumstance. Not to be underrated for sure.

7,5/10

The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

Barkhane is far from original. It doesn't push the boat out too much in any direction. The longevity is dire (we are talking about four hours tops, with two of those hours as a very faint skin scent). But...but...but. My God, it is so damn pretty. And I find I can forgive anything for a bit of pretty.

It is an amber scent that manages to reference its main components - labdanum, oud, and curry spices - with such a light touch that these normally heavy or pungent notes become almost diaphanous. The labdanum lends a lightly leathery touch, the oud is woody rather than medicinal, and the curry spices are a tinkling of warming spice scattered from head to top - all is gentle and wispy and sheer. It is so well blended that nothing sticks out to poke you in the eye. It is the opposite of challenging and confrontational. And sometimes, that is just what the doctor ordered.

I would wear this smooth, gently spiced amber anywhere. I would mourn its passing after a few hours, and then I would re-douse myself in it to rewind it back to the start. Well, that's what I normally do to fix any problems with longevity. But in order to do that, I would need to buy a full bottle of it. But something stops me from buying it. It's not unreasonably priced at about 120 euros for 100ml, but still a bit too expensive for me when there are far more original and daring concoctions out there to squander my money on - not to mention the fact that I already have every type of amber under the sun in my fit-to-burst perfume closet. But...but...but...oh this is just so pretty.

On application I'm getting a warm amber scent but not a thick or heavy amber. It's more light and transparent due to the added citrus note of bergamot.

Behind this light warm and almost watery amber you can pick up other notes like myrrh, geranium and other notes. But they weave a subtle tapestry.

Also the oud in this gives the scent a really nice exotic freshness that I have smelled before. But it's lightly done.

I have to say this is a very lovely and classy light amber scent. If I was going out to the opera or a fine restaurant then this scent would be a good choice.