When Parfum d’Empire’s Yuzu Fou and Aziyadé were released last year, I was excited. My excitement waned as soon as I wore the two perfumes. Yuzu Fou (with notes of yuzu, kumquat, orange/bigarade, mint, verbena, green bamboo, blond cedar, neroli, white musk) was my favorite — it provides a burst of bigarade (Seville orange) followed by a blast of cedar; all the ‘filigree’ I expected (mint, verbena, green bamboo) was missing in action. Yuzu Fou is pleasant but unthrilling (it reminds me of Frederic Malle Bigarade). Wearing Aziyadé, I felt as if my body had been dipped in milk and then dredged in cumin (I was ready for the frying pan). I felt attacked by, impregnated with CUMIN. Aziyadé’s cumin was downright hostile.
Parfum d’Empire’s latest release is Wazamba. I have no idea if a “wazamba” is a Bantu midwife, a Congo tribe, or, as Parfum d’Empire defines it: “a musical instrument often used in initiation ceremonies in Western Africa.” This being Parfum d’Empire, I’m just happy ‘Wazamba’ is not the name of a lost pirate empire whose members ate infants for breakfast and clubbed dodo birds into extinction…
