nelly rodi: 4 posts

Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

For the background on Nelly Rodi, please see Part I: Nelly Rodi: Incense, Rhum, Cardamome, Cacao.

Parfum 5: Gimgembre
Richard Ibanez of Robertet, the nose behind Les Parfums de Rosine Rose D’Argent, together grapefruit, saffron, red currant, nutmeg, ginger, incense, patchouli, vanilla, and amber to produce a sweet shimmering fragrance. The top notes of grapefruit fizz like a glass of champagne, before a wave of spicy sweetness begins to embrace the composition. Laced with spicy ginger, the fragrance produces not so much a sensation of inhaling the aroma of freshly cut ginger root, as biting into ginger candy. Its lasting power is remarkable, but unless one likes very sweet fragrances, the sugariness of the drydown overwhelms the spice notes.

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See Tania’s reviews of Nelly Rodi’s 1-4.

My cold was even worse when I tested these than the previous four. Therefore, forgive what is bound to be bad smelling on my part. Instead, pay attention to the ravings of my poor husband, forced to cough up opinions on smells when he’d rather be watching Most Extreme Elimination Challenge.

#5: GINGEMBRE
The first flare is a big bright citrus and ginger, reminiscent of Origins Ginger Essences, which gets me so excited, and then, just to upset me, it collapses immediately into an ordinary cloying fruity-floral grapefruit-rose with an unnecessarily heavy amber base and a bit of something like Thymes Ginger Milk trying without much success to be heard. Why, oh, why? Naturally, this is the strongest, most powerful scent in the whole batch. I can’t even wash it off.
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Second opinion from the husband, after forcing him to sniff my knee: “It’s like a flower arrangement in a bar.”

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

Nelly Rodi is a French forecasting agency, focusing on fashion consulting and analysis of fashion trends. For its 20th anniversary, the company commissioned eight perfumes from several noses, providing them with ample budget to exercise their creativity, limited only by the genre. The first set from Scent Factory is oriental, with fragrances in eau de parfum concentration including such traditional notes as cinnamon, saffron, incense, rose and cardamom. Having sampled all eight, I would characterize them as fairly minimalistic takes on an oriental theme, with varying results.  However, as fragrance highlights a particular note, I would imagine that many of them would layer well.

Parfum 1: Incense
Created Alexis Dadier of Mane, Incense is a swirl of sweet spices folded into resinous smooth foil of frankincense. This is my favorite of the first four fragrances, due to its interesting rendition of incense. Although Armani Privé Bois d’Encens stands as unrivaled incense in my mind, Nelly Rodi Incense is a beautiful composition. The pairing of frankincense with nutmeg results in an almost floral chord of carnation petals caught in the wave of resinous sweetness. Supported by dark vanillic notes and cinnamon dusted sandalwood, the composition has a dusky richness that I find very alluring.

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These reviews are written by Tania Sanchez.

Who is Nelly Rodi? Any relation to Nelly? Do Oompah Loompahs work in Nelly’s Scent Factory? These things I cannot tell you. Instead, I will tell you what the scents smell like to me. Even though I have a cold. And because of that, I will also tell you what some of the scents smell like to my husband, who’s a real sport about these things.

#1: INCENSE I’ve smelled a lot of incense scents in my day. Or at least, that’s what I feel like. People are always telling me, “Such and such a scent is a beautiful incense scent!” and I smell it and think, “Does incense not smell like I think it smells?”

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