Neela Vermeire Créations Eshal | Perfume Posse
We’re in the midst of another mini heat wave. As this post goes up I have my French lesson ‘in town’ on a day when I’d rather stay at home in front of the fan. Needs must.
And yes, I know, both Portia and Tom have already written about today’s fragrance. But, as I’m six months into my no buy of bottles (bar charity shops and nothing from those yet) and samples and I’ve been pretty good I decided I could spring for a sample of Eshal, given how fulsome they both were.
I very much admire Neela Vermeire Créations perfumes but the only one that’s really worked on me so far has been Bombay Bling with that gorgeous mango note. But, then again, there aren’t that many Bertrand Duchaufours that sing on me for whatever reason (l’Artisan Nuit de Tubereuse is one; the outstandingly weird Penhaligon Amaranthine was another).
I grabbed a couple other samples with Eshal as I figured I wouldn’t be buying again till maybe year-end or even next year. Shock, horror, I know.
Anyway, Eshal. Tuberose. I love tuberose and clearly I’ve been good with another Duchaufour tuberose (the l’Artisan). So, it was worth a go.
I did not re-read either of the Posse reviews of this before I did my own testing. And I’m profoundly aware that a bottle of this cost-wise is way above my self-imposed top of budget. In fact, it would be above the ounce of Guerlain Shalimar perfume I gifted myself one birthday a number of years ago. One needs to be mindful of these things when sampling – ie, what happens if I adore it?
Currently, I’ve got four other tuberoses sitting around and I had no intention of doing side by sides. Still feel that way after wearing.
On me, Eshal does way different things vs any of the others.
Not to be repetitive but notes as follows: red mandarin, bitter orange, lime, petit grain, cinnamon, turmeric, beeswax, patchouli, peru balsam, labdanum and, of course, tuberose.
So, what does this do on me first go-round?
It is chewy in the opening. I don’t know how else to describe it. Tuberose with a whisper of petrol but no menthol. Not viscous, not ‘big’, but it has a legible structure.
It gets hot and spicy (cinnamon, turmeric) as it heats up (in our heat wave …). Tuberose with a peppery (cinnamon?) rough (turmeric?) kick.
But then I get a bit of green, broken stems.
It meanders along like this for a bit – now I’ll do this, now I’ll do that — and then does a left turn. Into tuberose with citrus. But not juice. Rather pith and peel, like when you scrape a lemon or orange for baking or cooking.
After a few hours it settles into spicy, peppery (for lack of a better word) tuberose. And the petrol has long disappeared.
Second go-round the opening was different: hefty white floral with tart citrus juice. And then it basically did the same journey as first time.
This is beautiful and interestingly it works on me. It’s not screamy big tuberose — and I could see being asked what is that beautiful smell.
So what to say? Do I want this? I think I do – but I’m going to have to think good and hard about the price point. Ie, this would only be a birthday gift to self. It is just too expensive for a regular ‘I want to buy that’.
After all this, I re-read Tom and Portia’s posts. Tom’s description of the turmeric was far better than mine (“a dry rustle” – exactly that). Portia says sweet tuberose, among other things. It is not that on me. I think the turmeric does what saffron sometimes does in perfumes on me: ie, it cancels out sweetness and then gives whatever main note (musk in the beloved Theo Fennell Scent) Tom’s dry rustle. Which means the fragrance dries down into something that might tip over into sour but instead does something a bit miraculous and just wanders along smelling like possibly among the best elevated skin scents I’ve ever encountered. Not shouty, not my natural ‘odour’; not huge sillage but a very come-hither, you want to get closer and smell more-ish fragrance.
So, I will use up my sample – carefully – and try to forget about this till next year.
Pics: Portia from Posse pics, wiki, pexels
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