Neroli Nasimba bottle

Is is the story of how we begin to remember
This is the powerful pulsing of love in the vein
After the dream of falling and calling your name out
These are the roots of rhythm
And the roots of rhythm remain -“Under African Skies” by Paul Simon

It’s late afternoon. You are walking a dirt path under an April sun. But this is deep south of the equator, where the air is so dry it snaps like twigs, and the sun has no time for complaining. There’s a buzz of insects, louder, fainter, as they make their dizzy way to nowhere, to somewhere. Everywhere is the clinging odor of dust, an old smell of millennia of those who travelled this road before you. Then, a few minutes more, a faint reek of hide; animals are nearby. The terrain shifts; there’s water ahead. As you walk on, a green-sweet aroma beckons, just perceptible through the bleaching heat. Then, the wind, which has been silent, picks up suddenly. An angry whirl of dust grabs at your ankles, and the wide-branched trees shrug and bow. But as it quiets, the honeyed savor of orange blossom fills the breeze, so bridal that it seems to have got lost on its way to a wedding far away. A grove is just beyond, and, as you approach, everything stands still for just a moment. The air relaxes, and neroli’s lush, green-sweet savor puffs through the swelter. The bitter orange trees release their perfume like a promise kept, their green-tinged, snowy blossoms swaying in joyful symphony until the air is thick as Devon cream with their scent.

 Paul Guerlain, image via IFF

Maison Crivelli Neroli Nasimba is built on the memory of such a walk in South Africa, when, on safari in South Africa, brand founder Thibaud Crivelli found himself engulfed by the heady beauty of young orange blossom trees from a nearby grove. Composed by IFF perfumer Paul Guerlain, this is an outstanding, unorthodox interpretation of neroli that blends the ambrosial, soapy-green sapor of neroli with the dense, parched aroma of saffron and rich saffiano leather. Made with an 18% concentration of perfume oils and absolutes, Neroli Nasimba is an elegant, beautifully balanced fragrance that has me rethinking two notes with which I have sometimes struggled.

So, let me start by disclosing that generally neroli and saffron are not amongst my favourite notes in perfumery. I often find neroli too soapy and one-dimensional, saffron too rubbery. But here, it all works like magic, and I find myself anxiously reapplying over and over throughout the week to get that weirdly beautiful union of ingenue flower and desiccated spice. Now, saffron is not, strangely, listed in the notes, but I smell it everywhere in Neroli Nasimba. Whether it is simply not mentioned or it is the result of a trompe nez created by saffiano leather note combining with the fruitier aspects, I’m not sure. But it certainly has me rethinking my sometime aversion to that pricey spice.

African sky via the brand

Punchy notes of fruity pink pepper, tangerine, and petitgrain in the top add juiciness and bounce to the neroli in Neroli Nasimba’s early stages. Petitgrain in particular was a wise choice to tone down the sudsier aspects of neroli, providing its characteristic, no-nonsense bitterness as a welcome counterpoint. But the creative masterstroke here is the inclusion of cardamon alongside the leather note in the heart. The combination of off-sweet, dusty spice and just slightly animalic leather creates a suede-like effect that is both realistic and impressionistic. Stepping away from Neroli Nasimba and smelling it afresh, the suede note reminds me of the way moccasins smelled when I was a kid, with their unmistakable woody/sandy, animal redolence. The leather amps up the animal warmth that hums through the perfume but never overwhelms the other key notes.

Now comes the neroli. As this satiny flower plays with saffron and leather, I am put in mind of Jeanne Moreau in Jules et Jim; a free-spirited, joyful fragrance bouncing between saffron and suede, never quite belonging to either of them, but in love with both at separate times. The flower’s sweet trill is most evident in the top, but, as it settles down, the neroli becomes the quietly lush centerpiece of the composition, green-edged, and creamy.

Dusty footsteps via the brand

An hour later, Neroli Nasimba is gorgeously grassy, silky, dusty, tinged with green, and very sophisticated. There is a spareness to the selection of notes and trust in the quality of the ingredients that sings through Guerlain’s work here, and he has achieved something I rather doubted could happen: he made me fall for a saffron-neroli fragrance. Not only that, but even though I’ve yet to visit Africa, Neroli Nasimba has a specificity that truly makes me feel like I am walking alongside him on that parched road near the orange grove. One of the year’s best to date.

Notes: Tangerine, CO2 extract of pink peppercorn (LMR naturals®), cardamom essential oil (LMR naturals®), orange blossom absolute, neroli essential oil (LMR naturals®), petit grain essential oil (LMR naturals®), leather, vetiver essence (LMR naturals®).

Disclaimer: Sample of Maison Crivelli Neroli Nasimba kindly supplied by Scent Bar, New York (my thanks to September). My opinions, as always, are my own. All images courtesy of the brand unless otherwise noted.

Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor

Maison Crivelli Neroli Nasimba

Thanks to the generosity of LUCKYSCENT we 5x.07.0z samples of Maison Crivelli Neroli Nasimba for a registered CaFleureBon reader and the U.S. only. To be eligible please leave a comment saying what strikes you about Neroli Nasimba based on Lauryn’s review and whether you have tried any Maison Crivelli fragrances. Draw closes 5/1/2023.

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Please read Senior Contributor Olya Bar’s review of Bois Datchai  and Rose Saltifolia here, Hibsicus Mahajad here and Editor Emmanuelle Varron’s review Citrus Batikanga here

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