White Castitas Extrait de Parfum

Anyone who finds most floral fragrances too polite should give Memoize London White Castitas Extrait de Parfum a hearing, because the second half of it is not polite at all.

It begins conventionally enough. Violet is powdery and cool, lemon is sharp and short lived, and for a few minutes you could mistake this for something simple. Rose and plum then deepen it considerably, the flower rich and the fruit winey, and licorice arrives to darken the middle with a sweet, chewy heaviness that very few floral compositions would risk. From there it descends into oud, which is resinous and animal and takes up a great deal of room, with patchouli adding damp earth beneath it, amber supplying warmth, sandalwood bringing a creamy smoothness, vanilla sweetening the last hours and musk making it adhere. Eleven materials, and the journey from powdery to heavy is the whole attraction. At extrait strength the heavy end dominates. Expect one application to last the day and most of the evening, sitting close rather than projecting, and expect it to leave traces on clothing days later. The violet is worth dwelling on, because it is responsible for the first impression and almost nothing after it. For about fifteen minutes this smells restrained and slightly nostalgic, and then it does not, which is either a clever piece of construction or a bait and switch depending on your temperament.

This is a cold weather, after dark bottle. It reads unisex, since the oud and licorice take it well away from anything conventionally feminine, and it suits people who want to be remembered rather than approved of. A smaller eau de parfum version exists for anyone who needs convincing before buying at this strength.