The past few months I have been following with great interest the first steps of a New Greek Perfumer, Theodoros Kalotinis and was planning to buy his perfumes on my next trip to Greece so I could try them out. My dear friend Stella happened to buy Gardenia for herself and she was so impressed that she contacted him so we could do an article about him and present his creations to the readers of beautyblog.gr and of course to the readers of greekgoddess.london
Soon I received Lily & Gardenia, 2 out of the 3 perfumes Theodoros has launched so far and tried them extensively over a long period of time and in different conditions as in London within a couple of weeks we experienced two or even three out of the four seasons with temperatures and humidity varying dramatically. The names of perfumes initially fool you, as you might think that they are monothematic, but in reality they are multidimensional and change form and expression on the skin providing a unique olfactory experience.
LILY:
This is the first perfume Theodore has created with exotic fruit notes, lilies, lily of the valley, patchouli and vanilla and is inspired by the Minoan civilization of Crete.
The first thing you notice when spraying the perfume is that the smell of alcohol is almost non-existent. This is due to a patent that Theodoros has created and so what you smell on your skin is the "essence" of the fragrance.
Lily opens very lively and green on my skin with intense notes of juicy exotic fruits; it brought to mind an exotic fruit salad served on a shiny green banana leaf. The white flowers and Lily in particular soon make their appearance and the perfume turns into a rich floral bouquet that overwhelms the senses but also remains light and bright, fresh and vibrant even in very hot and humid conditions. The vanilla and patchouli make their appearance after a while dancing with the lilies, giving another dimension to the perfume, more spicy and sweet.
The scent lasts many hours on the skin and has great projection.
GARDENIA:
This is the second fragrance of the series, with powdery notes of gardenia and jasmine. It reflects the efforts of Theodore to "imprison" the idea of gardenia in a bottle. Each perfumer expresses in their own way the idea of gardenia and Theodore chose the colour white as his inspiration.
The first feeling that it gives you when sprayed on the skin is freshness and cleanliness due to the powder that makes a strong appearance but is sweet and refreshing, innocent and carefree. When the gardenia and jasmine appear, like a small explosion, they give their creamy sweetness in the powder and make it a bit more "naughty". The aroma is rich on the skin and remains intense yet soft as cotton, creamy but earthy and playful at the same time. Vanilla gives a sweetness to the whole composition enhancing the feeling of luxury and many times I found myself wondering "what smells so good?" to realize in the end that it was me. Gardenia like Lily lasts many hours on the skin and has great projection.
An excellent start from a very young perfumer who has a bright future ahead of him!
Stay tuned as On Wednesday I will post my interview with him!