Venezia Giardini Segreti
AbdesSalaam Attar Profumo (2013)

Since I spent part of my childhood on the island of Taiwan, jasmine sambac and the tea made with it is one of those smells that immediately evokes a nostalgic fondness that puts me in a good mood, like I have heard vanilla and cinnamon are for some others. Years ago I had acquired from White Lotus Aromatics a “Ruh Bela” copper vat hydrodistillation of a sambac jasmine; just a drop of it on skin was enough to make the most lovely round fragrant jasmine tea. No other jasmine had ever come close for me, whether natural or any of the niche fragrances I’ve tried. When the owner of White Lotus retired I was wondering, whatever will do when what I have finally runs out??

It turns out the answer was "Venezia, Giardini Segreti." In fact, it did something I hadn't thought possible before: it was even better.

The jasmine in Venezia Giardini Segreti immediately envelops you, in a way that is not smothering. The hint of "milkiness” of the ambergris for me does not bring to mind milk itself as some other reviewers on the site have said, but rather it makes me think of the soft white lactonic petals of a living jasmine flower. In fact the texture of a petal is the best analogy I can come up with the effect of Venezia Giardini Segreti: delicate, smooth, and silken. But of course there is more to it than that, and the layers and depth is what makes it surpass even my beloved Ruh Bela.

When I put my nose closer to my arm, I detect the hum of the lively spices underneath. This is something I have noticed with my experience of Salaam’s perfumes: entirely different facets and ingredients of the perfume seem to reveal themselves at different distances to a dramatic degree! Up close I almost don’t detect the jasmine, while farther away the spices subside beneath the jasmine canopy. Together it is harmony, which has definitely been a recurring theme in the fragrances I have tried from Salaam.

Update:
I tried a bigger dosing of it for a wear and wow, the opening bursts with anisic and green notes that weren't there before! I can definitely smell the "secret gardens" inspiration much more with this wear. Everything I wrote about before is still there but this definitely added another layer of loveliness.

Florals galore! - This is the nutshell summary of the opening phase and of most of the subsequent development. Jasmine is the star, quite green with a woodsy underdone, a bit powdery and with an indolic character that reminds me of certain tuberoses at time, although I cannot detect the latter in this product.

The drydown rolls out more floral delights, including some oleander, a nice and slightly sweet magnolia; a milky impression in the background is evident occasionally. Later on a slightly salty ambergris develops, bit it is a rather low-key event on me and emanates touches of a subdued spiciness. Transiently whiffs of nutmegs enhance the spicy side even more. It has a touch of a leathery character towards the end.

I get moderate sillage, very good projection, and seven hours of longevity on my skin.

A jasmine-dominates scent for cooler spring days, which, in spite of later ambergris and other spicier additions remains smooth throughout. Whilst is it not particularly original in the choice of ingredients in some ways, they are combined in a way not encountered too frequently, and the quality of the natural ingredients is excellent. Overall 3.5/5

Last year, at the beginning of June, I had the chance to spend a week end in Venice: jasmin shrubs, wisterias, the huge magnolias in the Public Gardens, linden blossoms in the rare alleys were in full bloom and the air was thick with a heady scent of white flowers. If you add the pervasive and ubiquitous scent of sea, slightly swampy, and the delicious smell of fried fish oozing from private houses and restaurant kitchens, you get the olfactory picture in all its complexity. No surprise then that master perfumer AbdesSalaam Attar found here inspiration for his fragrance in the Italian cities series.
No fried fish nor conventional marine notes, actually, but a multilayered composition around white flowers- jasmin and wisteria, with their hefty dose of indoles, but also a greener, lemony magnolia note- enveloping a balmy, aromatic core: myrrh, the signature blend of resins AbdesSalaam uses and creamy and salty ambergris conjure a spicy, slightly astringent and milky base. AbdesSalaam says ambergris smells like human milk- to my nose, familair to none of these notes in purity, the composition recalls the smell of jasmin tea with a drop of milk.
A superb fragrance, with a predictably poor longevity. Too bad, given the beauty and the cost. A treasure to smell quietly and intensely on a wrist rather than a fragrance to wear liberally.

Less of a green scent than I'd expected: more of a floral, with that bright translucent quality that scents derived from all-natural sources often possess. Begins with a strong blast of rose and jasmine, coupled with a lemon-creamy scent that sometimes smells more like gardenia, and sometimes more like magnolia. At first these two sound a unified accord. After the first couple of minutes, the magnolia fades out; the jasmine blooms more forcefully, humming along with a current of mellow woods and ambergris beneath. An orange blossom note can be perceived as well, but this is primarily a powerful and eloquent jasmine scent–with the slight tang of earthy decay that complicates jasmine's understory. Truly, I hadn't previously realized to what extent it was possible to craft a compelling floral scent from natural materials. So Venezia Gardenia Secreta is an impressive achievement, but it does lose much of its complexity with time. The longevity is poor, and after ten minutes or so many of the more complex floral notes had faded; only an increasingly dry, austere jasmine backed by woody notes and ambergris remained.

November 11, 2014

An extremely powerful and vibrant jasmine soliflore. Rich, rooty, raw, on oak moss and not much more (cloves, perhaps patchouli). As usual with Dubrana, an incredibly wide range of nuance arises from the simplest composition. The name fits the scent perfectly, jasmine here tells you tales of mystery, romanticism, quiet, comprising the narcotic power of flowers with rose and anise aftertaste, but also a powdery-soapy note which makes you think of silky bedsheets, abandoned rooms in a Venetian rainy evening, antique furniture, mysterious corners, wet streets and as the name goes, secret gardens. As minutes pass the scent becomes drier and darker, bringing in a smoky, ghastly, chypre dry note of dust and ash, with a hint of incense but also of burning wood and dry tobacco, with an aftertaste of shady earthy aromas of coffee, tanning leather, and again, gloomy humid floral notes. At this stage is more austere and mysterious, less sensual and raw than the first stages. On the drydown, a mellow smell of wet grass and the balmy breeze preceding a thunderstorm. Utterly evocative despite its dry-to-the-bone simplicity. It soon becomes quite light, as it often happens with all-natural scents, but it's long-lasting and terribly refined in its discreet presence. Not "unique", but a perfectly well-made must for all jasmine fans (or well, for all perfume fans wanting to smell a honest, powerful and evocative natural scent).

8/10

The first approach is rose for a about 20 seconds, than the jasmine jumps on the stage. The floral feel is totally realistic and any specific word can express thoroughly this concept, just we can smell the almost dirty/stale feel I can detect for instance in Acampora Jasmine T where the floral approach is anyway less sharp, more "pollen centered" and more dense. The rose/jasmine combo is here almost hypnotic, something obsessive and sinister. You can capture that sort of acid mephitis that uses to rise up from the putrid water stale inside a flowerpot. I don't detect myrrh for sure and the ambergris effect i detect is something slightly animalic and dirty. The floral miasm is supported by herbal/lymphatic notes, leaves and woods. Effectively the stale and slightly camphoraceous floral aroma well fits to the image of an old secret garded of nobiliar building somewhat abandoned and spoiled. A romantic and decidedly decadent one Venezia Giardini Segreti, despite not properly "accomplished", sophisticated and structured, is an evocative and nostalgic "odour" conjuring an arcane idea of silence, ghosts and left over seasons. The longevity is poor as can be normal (and probably acceptable) for such hyper-natural concoctions.