Soliflore Narcissus
Dame Perfumery (2015)

Soliflore Narcissus starts out with a bang of rubbery, mentholated sweetness so sharp that I'm almost certain it utilizes eucalyptus. I knew that practice was common for tuberose fragrances, but I didn't expect it in a narcissus fragrance.

It mellows somewhat into a rubbery vanillic scent after the fashion of Bvlgari Black or, perhaps more appropriately, Penhaligon's Ostara.

I grow many types of Narcissus/Daffodil on my property. I probably have 1000 bulbs of various kinds, planted various years. This isn't as fluffy-sweet as my pink double-daffodils, or as indolic and white floral-like as my baby moon daffodils. It smells most like my Red Devon (yellow with red center) and Ice Follies (white with yellow center) daffodils: rubber and woods and sharp sweetness.

It stays rubbery throughout, and while some may not enjoy that aspect, as a lover of this type of flower, I find it strangely addictive.

ClaireV's review of this one is spot on, it really does smell like bathroom cleaner/disinfectant/antiseptic during the initial phase, & this effect is indeed more pronounced when sniffed up close. There's a hefty dose of inky indole here, along with a green, stemmy floral that reminds me a lot of sambac jasmine. Two hours in it calms down into a sweeter, cleaner & lightly powdery floral, suggesting nectar & pollen. Later still, there's a hint of coconut, & four hours in it's very soft, fading out after seven hours.

This one might be a little too intense for me, & I think I prefer this note as part of a composition, but it is strangely compelling. I'm glad to have experienced it at least.

Wet, floral petals after a muggy day's, steady rainfall. Fresh and flowery with hints of light green. A beautiful example of this particular flower! Has a somewhat tropical, exotic taste to it. Fairly long-lasting, as well.

In time, it takes on a honeyed, or pale amber-like accord. Three and a half stars.

I think Narcissus is the clear standout in the Dame Perfumery soliflores I have thus far tested, although they are all very true to their source materials. Narcissus smells extremely dirty when first sprayed, like a men's bathroom that had been hastily (badly) cleaned with cheap disinfectant, a nuance that runs very true to the flower's fetid, inky barnyardy smell in nature.

But given a few minutes to settle, the sillage blooms with all the nicer aspects of narcissus itself – the yellow, oily pollen, the stemmy green aroma, the pale sweet powder, honey, grass – a heart-warming mixture of green and yellow hues, a ripped-from-nature smell that was both rudely animalic and elegant.

Wearing Narcissus allows me to recognize just how important a role narcissus plays in the grander compositions of Chamade and Le Temps d'Un Fete. It also confirmed that Romanza by Masque is stuffed to bursting with the stuff. Excellent work, and it makes me want to explore even more of Dame Perfumery's soliflores. A strange fact about this fragrance, though – it smells much nicer in one's sillage than close up, on the skin, where it retains that dirty bathroom facet.