Eidola
Navitus Parfums (2020)

Eidola by Navitus Parfums (2020) is part of a collection curated by Buck Moore aka "Big Beard Business" on YouTube. Like with previous Navitus collections curated by influencers within the online "FragComm" space, this one takes the form of several popular niche and designer tropes remixed by well-known perfumers also within the same space. Don't expect anything too inventive or unique, or anything with particularly good blending because everythinng is done pretty much on the cheap but then amped up in concentration to make up for it and justify the price. That said, some of the ideas regurgitated in this line actually sell less per milliliter than their big-brand niche counterparts, so that can present some value for the thrifty collector, which is the case with Eidola. In particular, this fragrance seems to smash together ideas borrowed from both Parfums de Marly Delina (2017) and Maison Francis Kurkdjian À la Rose (2014). Considering Kurkdjian is one of the perfumers tasked to make this (the other being Jéròme Di Marino), the outcome of this fragrance can but only make sense to me. Eidola doesn't blow me away but for what it is, I can dig it for the price.

The opening of Eidola is a similar candied rose as Delina, with tones of orange and dry bergamot squeezing out the sweetness somewhat. Jasmine hedione and peach lactone inhabit the heart alongside what to me smells like a similar Turkish and Centifolia rose blend like À la Rose, so it very well may be that Kurkdjian is recycling unused formulae from his developent of the latter into this creation to bang it out for the Big Beard, then dressing it up with Di Marino's help. Cleaned-up patchouli, musks, and Iso E Super mix with a touch of vetiveryl acetate to give a semi-sweet green musky feel that preserves some of the pink candied rose nature of the fragrance, but also curbs the excessively sweet elements too. As an exrait de parfum, wear time is long and silage consistent if not potent thanks to the aromachemicals, and feels conventionally feminine. Best use for something like this is spring and summer for casual day wear, but can also trip into romantic settings outdoors during summer nights as well. As for being the ideal women's fragrance according to ad copy, I just don't know, man. I'm of the persuasion that a man can't really know what's ideal for a woman, but I'm not opening that can of worms further here.

If Eidola is any indication, Moore took a more down-to-earth direction with his fragrance themes, opting not to push weirdness or high-art tropes into a commercial and budget-restrained psuedo-niche influencer brand like Steven Gavrielatos did with his pioneering line from the Navitus brand. It's not that I didn't like what Steven tried to do with his selection of scents (which got a volume 2), but some of them just felt contrived trying to be something they couldn't hope to be with the materials Navitus was using, and the dry downs had too many exposed synthetic seams or just collapsed into a single material altogether. In other words, the creativity was there, but the exection was hobbled by budget despite the price. Moore pretty much plays competitive hardball against other niche players with his collection instead, which ultimately means they're more polished and wearable but cheaper than the alternative at $156 for 100ml. A reasonable respectable modern rose offering, what's not to like? At worst, this comes across like "if you enjoy X, try Y" thinking in a bottle, but that's really looking for nitpicks. Thumbs up