Bohemian Spice
April Aromatics (2011)

Bohemian Spice is a juicy pomander orange studded with shards of black pepper, rolled in the earthy, almost chocolatey darkness of patchouli and vetiver. Its genius lies in its balance of light and dark. I notice a lot of dry, smoky labdanum in the eau de parfum that is neither listed nor noted in most reviews. (It doesn’t show up at all in the perfume oil). Its effect is marvelous, merging with the frankincense to form a hulking amber-incense backdrop that reminds me of Amber Absolute and Sahara Noir, both by Tom Ford. Most find Calling All Angels to closely resemble Sahara Noir, but with its sour orange and resinous frankincense-amber duet, Bohemian Spice is arguably the closer match.

Bohemian Spice is a touchstone of natural perfumery for me, because even though it doesn’t contain any synthetic musks or woody ambers, it manages to be rich, complex, and long-lasting. If you’re a Doubting Thomas on the whole natural, crunchy-granola perfumery scene, then roll the dice on a sample of Bohemian Spice. Smelling Bohemian Spice as an introduction to the all-natural scene is like reluctantly trudging along to a vegan dinner at a friend’s house and finding yourself completely satisfied (not to mention quasi-converted) by the end of the meal.

Love the opening scent dried orange peels with hints of smoke and spices. The longevity is excellent, but sillage can be better.

The spices and vanilla are warm and sweet. The patchouli and Vetiver are cool and dirty. The combination just doesn't work. It is a thick, sticky dark fragrance. If you mixed S.L. Fille en Aiguilles and Patchouli and Vetiver. Like molasses and Ketchup...just won't work.

Another quality made fragrance for April Aromatics. This is a good one folks. Spice and woods are the main characters in this one. A nice dose of incense gives this a alluring effect to the smeller. Smell like a campfire with several spices just thrown in as the fire intensifies. As mentioned in other reviews of AA fragrances, the price compared to quantity ratio is off. 8/10

I struggled to find the appeal in Bohemian Spice other than the fact that it is very well constructed for an all-natural composition. It features a melange of dry herbaceous spices over a base of vetiver and patchouli. Well, so do a half dozen others with more wallet-friendly price tags. It brings nothing new to the table.

Coming off the back of my recent review of Sharif, Bohemian Spice feels decidedly less refined, more organic. Aptly named perhaps but for what it does I can't help but feel it is ridiculously priced.

Bohemian Spice is basically a nice, “raw” spiced patchouli with woody and camphoraceous notes, among which a vetiver note which emerges soon providing its signature sort of zesty-salty woody rootiness, quite astringent too here. The peculiarity of Bohemian Spice if compared to many other patchouli scents lies in my opinion in its texture, which isn't dark, earthy or “thick” as many patchouli fragrances tend to be; on the contrary it's rather bright, much dry and woody, with a palette of nuances reminding me of many Oriental fougères of the past mostly for the camphoraceous-vanillic base notes, which smell a bit like a sort of civilised, tamed-down castoreum, and a “masculine” floral accord providing a subtle barbershop feel. A licorice whiff comes and goes, I guess due to patchouli. All rather dusty and dry as I said. Shortly a patchouli-vetiver blend vaguely musky and really natural, with a nostalgic heart. My opinion on this scent is that it's undoubtedly nice to wear, well made, effortlessly elegant and also a tad more creative than most of other patchouli scents – a sort of more “dry”, spicy, pleasantly outdated and thin rewriting of this theme. Nice!

7/10