Prima T
Bruno Acampora (1977)

It's always fun for me to write a negative review that bucks the trend. You can count on Shycat for her honest opinion.

My first impression was citrus and galbanum. The citrus is fleeting. The galbanum is prominent. The musky chypre base take about 30 minutes to bloom and the galbanum remains a prominent note.


I read the other reviews about violet, jasmine, and rose. I searched for them but didn't find them as individual notes--I didn't feel indoles or flowers except for the violet I found at about an hour. It was musky chypre violet. Not unpleasant. I do tend to like galbanum.


At about three hours I kept getting surprising and unpleasant whiffs of scented deodorant and that was my impression for the rest of the day.

I can't recommend any fragrance that becomes nice after an hour, is nice for two hours, and then smells like a drugstore deodorant for three more hours.

It isn't worth the ride.

Addendum--

It's a long ride. I've had it on for 10 hours now and the soapy/deodorant vibe has faded out to leave a truly miserable acrid smell that makes me flinch a bit.

No poetry for me.

Like others before me have stated so eloquently: This is a Perfume.

What a gorgeous, big, bold, sophisticated creature is Prima T. A floral chypre in the classical tradition, this scent distinguishes itself by that no holds barred, root-and-stem approach to botanicals that typifies the Acampora style. Their perfumes, especially the ones from the 70s, perfectly walk the line between complex, classic perfumery and something more raw and earthy.

In the case of Prima T, this results in a wild, green blast of florals, underpinned by a brisk, bitter-soapy backbone. The jasmine shines in this composition, and it's the same ferocious variety as in Jasmine T. Due to impeding IFRA restrictions on the use of jasmine and the repackaging that has recently swept the Acampora brand I finally bit the bullet and bought an EdP in the old canister package. It's every bit as gorgeous as the perfume oil with more projection, so it's one where a light trigger finger is required.

"This" is a Perfume, indeed.

It's Floral beauty is, one Giant Kaleidoscope of Emotion, Musical Depth and Feminine Majesty.
Layer upon Layer of, well, "The aroma re-proposes, in a modern way....."
This scent captures fully, the Buttery Magic, of a Woody Floral Chypre.
Paying close attention, allows me to vision both the LOV and Lily.
Background is a Savon-Luxe, fit for a Queen.

It's story is so very luxuriously stunning.

Darvant's Poetry is a truth.

This is perfume!

Prima T is a mark of how my tastes have developed. It's a familiar smell to me from my childhood, from my grandaunts and maybe even my grandmother (who died when I was 4). They, or their clothes, smelled something like this and I thought it was old-fashioned or 'perfumy'. So I wandered into my teens and twenties in a haze of green and citrus and sometimes floral, but always on the fresh side.

Then, a few years ago I got samples of this and Iranzol (in oil form) with an order. I tried Iranzol and was put off by the 'mushroom' opening but after an hour I was huffing my wrist as if my life depended on it. A while later I tried this one, and it's been a love of mine since. I was lucky enough to later get 10ml bottles of this and Iranzol. These are the oils - they're now available as extraits and edps but I've never tried them in that form. The only problem with the oils is one of dosage - as the scent develops it gets quite massive for a while and then fades to a skin scent.

It's a chypre, I guess, but it has a certain simplicity or almost a roughness - what I mean is that both this and Iranzol have an architectural feeling, grander but simpler than more refined French scents. Maybe it's because they're Italian - I get something similar with Paloma Picasso (Spanish). Could be that, as with food, these have that quality of great ingredients done perfectly without any fripperies. Anyway, it opens with a tiny bit of bitter dankness followed by a gorgeous sharp but balmy and somehow salty floral hit - this is one of the few perfumes where I can distinguish rose. I don't know what it's called but that sharpish but oily floral and saline feeling is what I associate with perfumes of a couple of generations back. I have no contemporary experience with vintage, but this is the smell of my grandmother's generation when they were in their prime, while my mother's generation were less austere, if these rich chypres can be called austere. It could be because Prima T and other chypres are more complex and less describable. But great!

I can't see myself wearing this every day, as it has such a spellbinding effect on me when I do wear it that I'd prefer to keep the magic alive rather than get too comfortable with it! For me, it knocks the socks off other chypres I have known (even Aromatics Elixir!) and is my perfect special occasion wear (it may even edge out Tiaré).

smells of old things without the beauty of something retro or vintage.

A classic, uncompromising, straightforward genuine floral/chypre scent, quite on the "organic, rural & botanical" side, with a stunning, narcotic initial narcissus note and a fresh balsamic breeze as if there was a slight geranium note too. A discreet, more powdery side (violet) adds a nice soapy and gentle note, which "refines" the haunting rawness of narcissus. Something darker and more animalic hiding below, subtle and shady. Realistic and powerful, extremely elegant in Acampora's Mediterranean way – no aldehydated/resinous French elegance, no Oriental opulence, more the graceful, crisp elegance of a flowers bouquet lying on a garden table, in a sleepy Autumn afternoon. Evocative and timeless, slightly melancholic and gloomy, without any specific "reference", more an eternally romantic, neoclassic personality, lively and vibrant as a Leighton painting. Mellow and cozy drydown. Understated elegance at its best – which is the kind I appreciate the most, and perhaps the most difficult to achieve.

8/10