'Tis Not Madness

[Ina Garten Davita]

This is the air; that is the glorious sun;
This pearl she gave me, I do feel’t and see’t;
And though ’tis wonder that enwraps me thus,
Yet ’tis not madness.
— Sebastian

A vibrant swirl of orange blossom, sweet patchouli, vetiver, and sandalwood.

[starbrow]

This is exactly everything I hoped and dreamed it would be. Orange blossom is one of my favorite scents in the world, and it's been hard to find any blends where it doesn't get overwhelmed by other top notes. This blend was made for orange blossom lovers of the world. It is queen, ruling over its woodland subjects. The patch is indeed sweet and well-behaved, the vetiver an earthy but not acrid smokiness, and the sandalwood is quiet as always but I keep getting whiffs that remind me very much of the sandalwood from They Shut Me In Prose, that sweet-ghostly pale wood that wafts and wafts.

 

Is it possible? Have I found my orange blossom holy grail? Fresh, this one is a quiet one, with a close throw but in that small inner cloud near the skin, it has wonderful presence. I am curious to see how this ages. I hope the orange blossom doesn't age out quickly. I might get a backup bottle of this one anyways!

 

[kscha2017]

Sweet, rich, deep, and bright. So lovely and as I am a fan of each element separately, so perfect.

[zankoku_zen]

Orange blossom woven with patchouli and sandalwood. It's earthier, grittier, than say some of the Shunga scents. Not as delicate. But its that same sort of yuxtaposition. Full of contraditions. Medium throw and wear length.

[supreme_c0rt]

I tend to be wary of anything that says "orange blossom" and not "neroli" because that often means "sike, it's just sweet orange." This is definitely neroli! Or orange blossom, I guess. They're different extraction methods, apparently? Anyway.

 

Neroli/orange blossom is one of my all time favorite scents in the world, and Tis Madness is a stunning showcase for it. In the bottle, I got really excited because of its similarity to Happy Happy Joy Joy (my Lush fave). I have been looking for a BPAL dupe for that and this is a great start.

 

Once on, the complexity of the other notes come forward. Sweet patchouli and sandalwood give it a nice warm base, and the vetiver makes it just a touch earthy. But no doubt about it, neroli is front and center and stays that way throughout the drydown. The supporting notes do a great job of grounding this stunning floral top note. After about 30 minutes or so the base notes fade out a little more and sweet floral neroli just glows, almost as a single note. The other stuff is there, but just barely.  

 

Add a little rose to this and you'd easily have a HHJJ dupe. Just on its own, it's a sweet, happy, lilting ode to the end of summer. I will cherish this in the dark throes of mid-winter when I need a double hit of happy and joy. 

Edited September 3, 2019 by supreme_c0rt

[milo]

This is much brighter than I expected.  I thought it would be a moodier, darker orange blossom blend.  I'm getting a soapier OB than I'm used to, but it dries only slightly less soapy.  I don't mind this, but I think I need OB with amber to really make a perfume shine on me.  I'll probably use the decant in warmer months.

[theredkilt]

I got a decant of it in early autumn and didn't think much of it. After 6 months, i retested it and i have a whole new perspective on it. It's centered around the orange blossom that gives off a slight soapy vibe, but it behaves nicely. What is keeping it in check is the patch and sandalwood, which are more obvious on the dry down. It's a clean soapy (orange blossom) patchouli rounded by the sandalwood. 

[Rane.]

This is such a lovely scent. Reminds me of something I've smelled at some point in childhood & it stuck with me. Maybe a perfume someone wore. I'm head over heels for this one. It's sweet, & slightly floral. Even my wife loves to wear it.

[VioletChaos]

Vetiver and orange blossom are both my number one jams right now, so it seemed like a total imperative to pick up a bottle of nothing that contained both, and I am simply *delighted* that I did.

I, too, had the sensation of some unnameable aspect of childhood memory wash over me for just an instant when I first opened the bottle. Once it starts to warm up on my skin, the various notes pull apart ever so slightly, and the neroli comes to the fore, though not in a rambunctious way, which was a bit surprising, because I wondered how on earth such a light top note was going to compete otherwise with all these heavy hitter base notes.

But neroli doesn't need to, because neroli just glides on gossamer wings, gently touching all who are close enough to notice. As the scent warms further and dries down, neroli continues to hold her own, but the other notes bring up the rear nicely. Those who fear patchouli's deep, dirty history or vetiver's smoke needn't worry about either- though very much present in the mix, these richer notes stay strongly in their supporting role, and none of the undernotes ever stray from their backing position.

I expect this to age very well and look forward to wearing it in the meantime.

[Anna-Marina]

I'm not sure what is going on, but this is going sharp and dry on me. 😭
Oddly enough, I'm also getting tobacco, so I'm not sure if it's an unlisted note or it's a combo of the vetiver and sandalwood. Its dried down to a really nice men's cologne, but it's entirely different from what I thought it would be. This is going back in the rest drawer for now.

[VetchVesper]

This is mostly orange blossom and sandalwood on me.  After warming on my skin for a while, a smooth, subtle vetiver shows up.  'Tis Not Madness has a very eastern, old world vibe, like something I'd expect to smell at an incense shop.  It's not soapy, but I keep thinking of nice, Indian soaps. nI wouldn't call it masculine, but I think a man could wear it.  It's not super floral or sweet.  It has a similar feel to Paramatman, but is more subtle.  It fades quickly and becomes more of a skin scent, again leaving me with the impression of having washed with a luxury soap. 

 

Mildly incensey, gender neutral, orange blossom soap.   

 

Fun fact - Orange blossom and neroli both come from the blossoms of the bitter orange tree, but OB uses fats to extract the blossom's fragrance, while neroli is steam distilled. Petitgrain comes from the same tree, but is distilled from the leaves and twigs of the plant vs. flower petals.  🤓

Edited March 27, 2021 by VetchVesper

[sunshinedaisybliss]

This one is like an olfactory version of Cluedo.

 

It's orange blossom, sweet and sultry, on the balcony in the sunshine.

It's sweet patchouli, in the den, with a velvet blanket.

It's vetiver, in the garden, with a bag of dirt.

It's sandalwood, in the bedroom, with a dusky lampshade.

 

It's each note on its own, then combined, then on its own again - like one of those ensemble shows where each character sings a solo then the group comes together in chorus, then back to the solos. It's like whack-a-mole - one note pops up, then goes away and another one pops up and goes away and so on etc etc.

 

Could I use any more metaphors? No, that will do. This one just doesn't work for me - it's too cacophonous, it never settles comfortably and doesn't really smell very nice on me at all. Boo!