Cologne de l'Empereur
AbdesSalaam Attar Profumo

Great for what it is. A bright, natural citrus eau de cologne. The additional of natural civet piqued my interest and I wrongly suspected it would add longevity. That is not the case. This eau lasts maybe 15 minutes.

The heart of Damascus rose, neroli, and lavender takes on a candied floral water/fruit accord.

The civet adds depth and a little funk, but it is barely noticeable. The opening is a hesperidic overture followed by some muted candied fruit accords, and a drop of civet (perhaps for the best as I have a natural civet tincture and it is quite potent but surprisingly dry).

Not bad and a great effort to recreate a historical fragrance, but there are several similar colognes that are much less expensive. Any of the Guerlain eaux, Villoresi, Farina, etc.

Worthy of its name. I expected it to be drier, but to my delight it was on the sweeter side of things, perfectly balanced by the herbal and floral notes. A cologne with a capital C.

This was actually the first perfume from Master Salaam that I smelled, and also my first contact with natural perfume after years of battling the (chemical) illusions of commercial perfumery. Based on my limited experience I expected CdlE to be my favourite of all the samples I ordered, but I was greeted by something very different. I will never forget the first time I tried it, smelling a very pleasant combination of citruses and flowers upon application, taking whiffs of it with my nose almost pressed to my skin and then WHAM, a smell reminiscent of my cat’s litter box, but sharper and more potent hit my nose just as I took another of those deep whiffs. The effect it had on me was something I imagine smelling salts do to people. Despite having been fully awake before I was now somehow decidedly more awake, with a rush in my head and a warmth spreading through my body. The civet extended its hand to greet me and I timidly shook it. I wore it a couple of times and despite getting used to the civet note my nose was simply not developed enough to integrate it into the whole of the perfume, and what I got were pleasant cologne notes with occasional whiffs of cat urine. So, I let it sit in the cupboard and focused on experiencing many other Scents of the Soul over time.

After more than half a year, I suddenly got a yearning to smell CdlE again. Upon application, I could hardly believe this was the same fragrance. This was super pleasant and completely inoffensive! My nose seems to have developed through smelling a plethora of different natural essences, including notes such as castoreum, ambergris and others. CdlE opens with a beautiful bergamot, the first time I actually got an Earl Grey association with this note, like a cup of freshly brewed tea was steaming in front of my nose. Another review of this fragrance specified a basil-oregano accord and I have to agree with this observation, as this herbal accord emerges early on and keeps fading in and out for quite some time. To my nose there is more basil than oregano, and together with the citrus notes this makes for a great refreshing accord. I also get an occasional whiff of clove or some other warm spice, but this might be my nose playing tricks on me with the overall tea-like vibe of this fragrance.

After some time, this is joined by a tranquil, sedating neroli and a tart, juicy rose. Together with the bergamot and the herbal notes from the opening, this forms an accord I would never have guessed to be possible using just natural essences. To be specific, it reminds me of hard citrus-flavoured herbal candy, something like Ricola if you’ve ever tried it. The rose however makes it even more juicy, sweet and pleasant, with the total effect being something akin to drinking rose tea in some garden, melting a piece of hard candy in your mouth. The civet joins this accord to provide a powdered sugar effect, with a powdery musky note that makes this scent almost irresistible. This combined accord is the main body of the fragrance, which overtime melts into your skin, creating an absolutely gorgeous skin scent. There are occasional wafts of a leathery, slightly funky civet note, but this is never sharp, urinal or otherwise unpleasant, it’s more like a floral skin scent than anything else really. Also, oddly enough I smell very little lavender in this perfume, not that it’s not there but I smell all other notes that I listed more than I smell the lavender.

This perfume is not a civet bomb by any means, but I wouldn’t recommend it to someone not familiar with natural animalic scents, and not as an introduction to AbdesSalaam’s fragrances either. It might have to do with how sensitive one’s nose is, but in any case, it might turn some people off. Something like Bambini might be a better fragrance for that first contact. With that said, this is an absolute masterpiece of a fragrance, indeed as Salaam specified on his website, “a casual but assertive perfume for everyday life.” It is also probably the most convincingly unisex perfume I have ever tried. All in all, a sweet orange-floral fragrance with herbal accents and a powdery musky base that gives it that certain “je ne sais quoi”. What’s there not to love?

The opening does the name justice, with its fresh, bright and crisp acidic hesperidic, evoking memories of some of the components of Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet. The are hints of lemon present a bit later too.

The drydown is more in the sweetish side, with a pleasant rose impression combining with lavender. Now the main player on my skin is a green jasmine.

The base adds a woodsy note that remains quite nonspecific.

I get moderate sillage, good projection initially and a bit less than three hours of longevity on my skin.

A nice summer Cologne composed of good-quality ingredients. The opening does it all, the rest is not particularly exciting. Its flaw, the lack of longitudinal stamina, is part of the nature of this category of scents. 3.25/5.

La Via del Profumo Cologne de l'Empereur unfolds by soon its classical hesperidic "eau de cologne" outlook recalling easily in style (in a hyper natural way) historical pieces of perfumes a la Eau Sauvage, Blenheim Bouquet, 4711 Echt Kölnisch Wasser, Roger&Gallet Open, Gold Medal Atkinsons, several Guerlain Aqua Allegoria, Mugler Cologne, Eau de Rochas Homme and more (but also the more recent Il Profvmo Imprinting, partially the Meo Fusciuni's "Note" di Viaggio, Askett&English Essential etc etc). You can easily detect a solid main accord of minty lavender, oregano-basil (probably further aromatic greens), bergamot and neroli. The floral heart is refined and romantic, so royal and aristocratic with a stout rose-hesperides (may be jasmine) ethereal hyper Victorian dominant accord. A minimal final touch of animalic civet provides warmth and rounding appeal affording a twist of vibrant sensuality. The outcome is virile, stiff and classic but somewhat dynamic and encompassing. Natural, charismatic and comforting.

Cologne de L'Empereur,is the Dominique Dubrana "first ever made Cologne"interpretation:Napoleon was a great cologne consumer (at the rate of gallons in a month) and Farina was appointed official supplier.Well,this version is somewhat different from J.M.Farina Cologne:I think the animalic note present here would have been disgusting for the Empereur (he could not bear Musk,and so Civet I suppose) but this fragrance is very enticing.CdE is composed in an old fashion way,with two contrasting notes (civet and citrus) exalting herself the one with the other and many components imported from the original Farina's recipie.I like CdE:to me,it seems a "dirty " citrus bomb,at first.Then,the otherplayers announce themselves.Sillage is moderate,longevity is short on me.A rich and expensive Cologne variation.Raw materials are first grade as usual with Profumo Brand.

I was expecting something very dry and bitter but this begins suprisingly sweet. As the alcohol burns off there is a brief wonderful candied mixed up accord, mainly floral with a warm neroli, delicate rose and dry lavender all underlined with dusty animalic civet. As this settles after a minute or so, the bergamot rings out clear, more orange than bitter and quite green too. At this point Guerlain's Eau Du Coq springs to mind somewhat for its juxtaposition of the lavender and civet, though this is sweeter, warmer and friendlier. The bergamot coninues to blossom and is joined by a lovely citrus accord with I think contains cedrat and lime. There are sweetish green notes too.There is now a period where I thought of Creed's Bois de Cedrat. I experience a sheerness and transparency here; it shares the liquid, almost thirst quenching quality of that fragrace. The palpable depth is provided by the fantastic base of civet and maybe a touch of sandalwood? It remains in this balance for quite some time, the citrus and florals fading into the base which endures for many hours. The Guerlainish civet-lavender remains a feature; later on it reminds me more of Mouchoir de Monsieur. The balance of floral notes smells almost plummy at times and really sets this apart.The overall softness and roundness define this and separate it from those other Eaux and similar fragrances. The layering is suprisingly coherent to me and very well conceived giving me a fascinating insight into how a truly natural version of this, perhaps my favourite fragrance style, works. The citrus oils are not sharp or acidic and overall it suprised me how they blend in and even take more time to come to life that the florals.The civet endures to keep this fresh and funky at the same time.Longevity is excellent with the base accord, sillage is on the low side.