Narcotico
Meo Fusciuni (2014)

Narcotico follows a pattern I've begun to notice in the work of Giuseppe Imprezzabile, the perfumer behind Meo Fusciuni, in that the perfumes are all either monstrously complex facades hiding simple ideas, or deceptively simple perfumes masking an astonishing richness of detail.  Narcotico falls in the former category.  The perfumer places an odd 'upturned sod' patchouli material, with nuances of sour soil, dry air, creeping rot, blood, metal, and leather, atop a relatively simple, powdered baby's bottom of an amber-talc base.  It's like an unwashed wolf perched on top of a kitten.  Everything interesting is happening inside the bounds of that patchouli material front-loaded into the first hour.  Rather than beautiful, it smells half alluring, half foul.  A thing of nature, yet also inorganic and strange.  

Narcotico is an empty promise, though.  It soon fizzles out into its quiet talc-like base, making you wonder if the first hour had happened at all.  At the beginning, I was thinking that this was a truly different and original take on patchouli - a fertile cross between Noir Patchouli, Aromatics Elixir, and Vierges et Toreros - but its sudden cop out into a barely there amber affair feels like the ultimate bait and switch.  Marescialla by Santa Maria Novella does what Narcotico promises to do - exorcism by patchouli - but for half the price.  

The opening is the bread and butter of this fragrance. A perfect balance of smoke, dark woods, and patchouli, wrapped in fine benzoin incense. I also get a prominent leather accord that compliments the composition very well. However, after about thirty minutes Narcotico does a complete 180 and becomes a dusty, pungent, and moldy patchouli fragrance that I don't enjoy at all. The tonka is partly to blame here, as it is used is the same fashion as CdG's Black; which comes across as cold, dusty, and musky. Overall I find this to be a stoic, flavorless scent, that shows potential but at the end of the day leaves a lot more to be desired.

Luxurious, high-end patchouli, silky smooth but beautifully accented. After an apothecary's shop kind of opening, Narcotico variously reveals gentle smokiness, soft and sweet soapy tones, rounded vanilla and tonka notes, all in the service of that swoonsome deep and slightly boozy patchouli at the core of its being.
Narcotico takes me to a shaded space of relaxation, draped in burgundy and purple velvet, where the odours of old wood, pot-pourrri and the finest scented soaps and candles mingle into one mmm-yes whole.

Such a nice fragrance.

Actually nothing particularly groundbreaking but if you like patchouli-prominent stuff, Nrcotico is an extremely solid take on the main theme. An austere combo of dry smoky woods and frankincense during the opening, followed by a dark and velvety amber-patchouli base that's both comforting and brooding at the same time. Simple yet completely intoxicating.

Very nice.