As I related in my review of Afrika Olifant last week I received a sampler containing ten perfumes from Nishane Istanbul. When I am working my way through this amount of samples I am usually looking for something different as well as some kind of consistent aesthetic. So many of these lines with so many perfumes in them often feel like box checking exercises to make sure all fragrance styles have been represented. What sets apart the accountants from the perfumers is that elusive cohesion I mentioned.
The owners and creative directors of Nishane Istanbul Mert Guzel and Murat Katran have definitely made sure to create a distinctive aesthetic for their brand. Many of the perfumes show real flashes of inspiration but there were only two of the ten I sampled which made enough of an impression that I wanted to wear them for a couple of days. The second one is Pachuli Kozha.
Jorge Lee
The creative directors again worked with perfumer Jorge Lee on Pachuli Kozha. With Afrika Oliphant I lauded the risk taking. Pachouli Kozha is a more safe fragrance as it doesn’t diverge greatly from other patchouli and incense fragrances out there. Except M. Lee does provide a fascinating floral opening before the fragrance develops in more predictable ways.
Pachuli Kozhla opens with two of the lighter floral notes in hyacinth and camomille. Then M. Lee roughs them up with a slightly oily ylang ylang. I enjoyed the way the ylang sort of oozed over the more polite florals. The patchouli comes next and it is dense earthy patchouli. Again M. Lee roughs it up with the addition of pepper. In this case I found the pepper enhanced the herbal facets of the patchouli by bringing them into a sharper focus. The base is honeyed incense as the slightly metallic incense gets smoothed over with honey. For the final bit of contrast M. Lee uses a leather accord which is more patent leather than leather. It gives a shiny contemporary shine to the incense.
Pachuli Kozhla has 18-24 hour longevity and above average sillage.
Pachuli Kozhla doesn’t take many different turns but M. Lee’s addition of roughly contrasting notes made this a more interesting perfume for those touches. Pachuli Kozhla, like Afrika Olifant, show a real emerging aesthetic of orthogonal contrasts throughout the line. When it works it makes for something very nice to wear.
Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by Twisted Lily.
–Mark Behnke
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