Penhaligon's
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Saffron's peppery spice collides immediately with bergamot's citrus snap, whilst absinth's green herbal edge and davana's leathery warmth create an almost uncomfortable dissonance—nothing smells quite like perfume, which is precisely the point. You're immediately unsettled, intrigued, and committed to discovering what happens next.
Rose and jasmine emerge but never dominate; instead, clove and cardamom surge forward, transforming the composition into something resembling spiced tea with floral accents rather than a traditional perfume. Labdanum's amber sweetness attempts reconciliation with carnation's peppery soap, but the tension remains productive, never settling into easy harmony. The fragrance becomes almost animalic as these mid-notes collide.
Oud and myrrh build into a deeply resinous base where gaiac wood's medicinal smoke becomes the central character, supported by sandalwood, vanilla, and a dry, skin-like musk that smells less like fragrance and more like an aspect of your own body chemistry. The patchouli adds earthy weight, and the composition settles into an almost medicinal dryness that lasts defiantly.
As Sawira unfolds as a deliberately disorienting oriental—one that privileges spice and resin over the floral sweetness its heart notes might suggest. The saffron arrives with genuine peppery bite, its earthy metallicism immediately complicated by bergamot's brightness and the peculiar anise-tinged herbal snap of absinth. Davana adds a leathery, almost tobacco-like warmth that prevents this opening from feeling fresh or inviting; instead, it establishes a sensory friction, as though you've stepped into a crowded souk at dusk rather than a garden at dawn.
What distinguishes As Sawira is how the heart refuses to soften the composition's edges. Rather than allowing rose and jasmine to dominate, Christian Provenzano lets clove and cardamom dominate the mid-development, creating an almost spiced-tea quality—think heavily clove-studded mulled wine rather than perfume-counter florals. Carnation adds a slightly peppery, slightly soapy character that pushes against the labdanum's amber sweetness, creating genuine tension within the scent's architecture. This is fragrance as conversation rather than monologue.
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3.9/5 (169)