Black Pepper & Amber, Neroli by Zielinski & Rozen

I work in the art field, I have to meet new people all the time, each one is unique in their own way, even what people wear as perfume. My encounter with pepper took place on the following shoot: the doors open, a girl in black walks in, with lips painted red and a French-style haircut, the pepper hits my nose and I realise I’ve fallen in love. The energy mixed with black pepper won me over. It’s an incredible scent that stays etched in anyone’s memory. If you want to get compliments and make people fall in love with you from the very first second, take it, take it, you won’t regret it, a fragrance for the times, a fragrance that you either love or you don’t love, it’s just like falling in love. Either it happens or it passes by. My favourite perfume on my shelf. I’ll buy it whenever I miss it.

Spicy start, fresh aromatic sharpness. Nose definitely tingles, shouldn’t risk spraying it in public. Takes time to settle. The declared pyramid is a joke, but the official website says there are actually 30 components! I won’t guess, but if you look at the pyramids of Initio Rehab and Hemingway HdP, which are very similar in their direction, you can understand what is meant. However, the main difference between this fragrance and the previous ones is its exaggerated pepper. Very long-lasting and very loud. For all seasons, unisex, but still sweet in the base.

I came across several fragrances from the brand in passing, tried them on blotters in the shop, on my friends wrists, all in the same style – bright, loud, as if made from natural extracts and oils. At first it intimidated me, then it started to draw me in, I wanted to choose one for myself and get to know it properly. I ordered Black Pepper 10 ml based on the reviews, I was not worried, I was sure that even if I did not fall in love, I would still finish it anyway, because it is my favourite perfume direction. It arrived, I smelt orientals and spices right from the branded pouch, applied it right in the street and went for a walk. It was uncomfortable, it felt like I was walking carrying an entire perfumery on my back, the sound is loud, with character. Slightly medicinal start, oud-peachy, then cherry and bong. Opening, all pretty standard, and then nothing. I do not know how to describe it, I know with my mind that I smell, but I do not catch it with my nose, I can hardly say what it smells of, something resinous, slightly woody-burnt in the far background, with bitterness or pepperiness (neroli?). In the following days I started to apply more and more, up to 5 sprays, and the more I sprayed, the faster the opening and then the crash. I thought its strength was blocking my receptors, but people around me also did not complain about me overdoing the perfume. And the strange thing is that with all this, I want a big bottle!!! I barely perceive it with my sense of smell, but the echo that reaches me, my brain reads as something beautiful, harmonious, like a puzzle piece that fits me 100%. A sort of drug. I even went to the shop and sniffed all the fragrances in this line, and I realise they are like lifeless synthetic variations, and I am wearing something alive and real. It is mystical.

It smells like Mancera’s Kumkat Wood to me.