Sketch
Parfum, Maison Violet (2018)

Sketch opens with rather too much to say, all pouring out in an incoherent jumble. Once it settles down, it’s got all the right notes for a good wear, but not balanced as I’d wish. In particular, the vanilla/tonka overwhelms the patchouli, spices, and florals. It doesn’t have gourmand sweetness, thank goodness, but it has a musty quality vaguely akin to a restrained Habanita.

If you like vanilla more than I—and think comparisons to Habanita are a good thing—this could work for you. For me, alas, it’s a disappointment.

It's saying something about perfumery today – and I speak of the vast oceanic sweep of the market not the rivulet forged by indie explorers – that a perfume that smells like it emerged from a previous era is immediate cause for interest/excitement. Sketch from Maison Violet's small line-up did it for me.
A big unctuous iris-heliotrope-vanilla-tonka-patchouli central accord places it firmly, for me, in the corner occupied by other rich amber orientals in the vein of L'Heure Bleue but without the gourmand frangipane middle. Shades of leather and a controlled use of nutmeg warmth round off the odour profile and make it very much an indoors, centrally-heated affair. I was much taken by it upon an initial encounter but a subsequent wearing revealed a smudged quality that made the experience a bit too mono for my tastes.