Oriza L.Legrand - Rêve d'Ossian

Picture:Rêve d'Ossian (Ossians dream)
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, oil on canvas 1813
Wikimedia commons

Rêve d'Ossian from the old, established 1720 as a producer of hair and whig-powder, Oriza L.Legrand, is a woody oriental with major elements of incense. The house Oriza L.Legrand is conncting to its heritage with newly created fragrances with inspiration from the past. When it comes to Rêve d'Ossian the inspiration is to quote themarketing buzz: "Ossianizm is a romantic poetry style in Europe in the XIX centurary. Ossian is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of celtic and epic poems. Ossian was influent of the developement of the romantic movement of the XVIIIth and the XIXth century. The poems achieved international success (Napoleon Bonaparte was a great fan) and many writers, paniters and artists were influenced by the works, including Ingres, Schubert and Oriza L.Legrand Parfumes. The work also had a timly resonance for those swept away by the romantic movement and the teory of the "noble savage".

How does this romantic perfume that make us dream like Ossian smell? It depends on in which phase as Rêve d'Ossian has different guises in different stages of its dry down. Rêve d'Ossian starts as a fragrance where incense is the prominent but not totally dominant note as in most "straight forward" incensefragrances. The incense is embedded with sweet, woody and tart notes which creates an intriguing and wellbalanced composition. As Rd'O developes the incense emerges back and forward, in different strenghts and positions versus the other woody and resin notes. Even if not mentioned among the notes, to my nose vanilla or a note akin to vanilla is present in the blend. But on the other hand, vanillic notes could also be present as some vanilic substanses are extracted from wood. When Rd'O is resting in the basenotes for many hours, the sweet, woody notes at least are overcoming the incense. Especially in this stage Rd'O reminds me of a gentler and smoother version of Diors Dolce Vita, the 1990s formulation, but Dolce Vita has sharper, cedarwood notes. Also in some earlier stages when sweeter notes are interacting with the woods and incense, the latter not appearant in Dolce Vita, Dolce Vita comes to my mind. There is also a conncetion to Shiseido Feminte du Bois just as in the case of Dolce Vita. Also the beautiful, wellbalanced incensefragrances from Maria Candida Gentile Sideris and Exultat comes to my mind.These fragrances highlighting, just as Rd'O, the incense as a protagonist, but not as a note that overwhelms the other.

Rêve d'Ossian is a beautiful, a bit sweet, woody, incense perfume, the perfect comfortblanket for chilly days. A very interesting and versatile fragrance that enjoys the wearer during the whole dry down. Longevity is very good and the sillage is close to the wearer. In some stages a bit too close but strangly enough, it recovers in strange in a later phase and this "phenomen" is appearing several times during the dry down.

Rating:  5

Notes: Incense, Aldehydes, Maritime Pine, Cinnamon, Benzoin, Elemi, Tonka Bean, Guaiac Wood, Opoponax, Balsamic notes, Sandalwood, Leather, Labdanum, Amber, Musk

Thanks to Fragrance & Art for the sample used to test this beautiful fragrance. F&A has, among others, a exquisite selection of some unusual, quality fragrances.

Rêve d'Ossian Oriza L.Legrand
Photo from Fragrance & Art