You’ve definitely heard of fruity floral but have you heard of a fruity aquatic? You have but they are not encountered that often. When you do find them it is usually just an infusion of basic fruits onto a Calone foundation. For the new brand Orlov Paris one of their debut releases, Sea of Light, is something slightly different.
Daria-i-Noor Diamond
Like all of the Orlov Paris perfumes they are named after a real-life diamond. This perfume is inspired by the Daria-i-Noor (Sea of Light in Persian) 182 carat pink diamond that might, or might not, have been one of the Iranian Crown Jewels. The actual stone has a tumultuous history including where it can be found today. Either a vault in Dhaka, Bangladesh or Tehran, Iran. It is a stunning looking diamond with the pale pink color adding in a subtle shading and nuance to the natural brilliance of the diamond. Perfumer Dominique Ropion would be inspired to layer a pale shade of fruitiness over a brilliantly sparkling white musk and sea spray accord.
Sea of Light stands out among the five debut perfumes of Orlov Paris for that lightness. The others have the heft of the huge gems they are named after. Sea of Light has the facets of light captured within the cut of the Daria-i-Noor tinted with the watercolor pink.
Dominique Ropion
Sea of Light opens with petitgrain leavened with mandarin. This is a common citrus opening and it is executed here by M. Ropion as if it is a reflection of the light caught in the stone. It pulses with a pinpoint radiance. M. Ropion brings in two stalwarts from the fruity floral category, peach and blackcurrant, to provide a deeper fruit. The peach has its more fizzy nature brought to the fore again evoking the light effects across the surface of a piece of jewelry. The blackcurrant provides the only point of shadow in the whole composition as it tries to dim the shine, unsuccessfully. This leads to the base which is my favorite part of Sea of Light. Here M. Ropion takes a soft combination of white musks and keeps them from being as high-pitched as they can often be. This soft skin accord is then covered with the spray of the ocean as it dries in the sun. It forms an overall accord of the smell of skin covered in the mist off the ocean.
Sea of Light has 10-12 hour longevity and above average sillage.
As I already mentioned Sea of Light stands out for being the lightest fragrance in the debut Orlov Paris collection. It also stands out for M. Ropion’s take on the aquatic genre which is surprisingly made better with a fruit cocktail bobbing on the water. The entire debut collection will be coming to stores this month and if you want one to wear right now in the summer Sea of Light should be where you start.
Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by Orlov Paris at Esxence 2015.
–Mark Behnke
Editor’s Note: If you are going to be attending Cosmoprof in Las Vegas over July 12-14, 2015 Orlov Paris will be one of the perfumes featured in the Discover Scent exhibit curated by Karen Dubin and Karen Adams of Sniffapalooza.
