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ippolons – :
I came across Flor Azteca and the work of Juan Perez while googling tuberose fragrances; tuberose is a favorite note of mine and I’ve greatly enjoyed meandering through its many perfume iterations. Carnal Flower and Tubereuse Criminelle are my go-to tuberoses and have been for some time. I am thrilled to say that they have a new companion in Flor Azteca, a wildly good tuberose scent that stunned and captivated me at first sniff.
I bought it unsniffed. I have been greatly rewarded for taking the risk. Flor Azteca is a wow. A heady, honeyed, fiery wow. Its roster of notes doesn’t begin to tell the story of how the tuberose is brilliantly supported by a datura note and how they both are struck by ginger and red pepper right off the top, making for a blazing opening of sweet heat, with a note of unsweet chocolate (the darkest kind) adding an earthy depth rather than a gourmand flavor.
Flor Azteca is meant to illustrate a “shaman’s garden” and it is a very lush garden indeed, and one that is scripted with a high concentration of flower absolutes and smells it. We learn that the shaman’s garden is a sultry, steamy place where the best and headiest white flowers grow and bloom through night’s longest shadows. It is a dream place, a dream perfume, rather than a reality perfume, and it smells of magic and mystery and is very nearly something one can touch and taste, such is the summons.
This is a woody floral, something at which Juan Perez absolutely excels. Rather than mushing his scents out in white musk, he supports them with dry wood and incense notes and a lashing of a non-gourmand vanilla and tonka bean. It’s sexy as all get-out, a take-no-prisoners approach that while smelling very modern is also from a school of perfumery where big and bold are still alive and kicking, not drowned in a vat of synthetic ozone and water notes. Flor Azteca is huge the way Fracas is huge; it is up to you to either gently dab a bit behind your ear like a floral adornment or to indulge in the stuff as I did with three sprays from the flacon so that I could, at home in the evening, be surrounded by and surrendered to it. I am indeed its prisoner.
It is a pleasure to my nose that the honeyed petals last and last, never giving way or giving over to the base but rather marrying to it. I could drink the stuff, really. I wish for a perfume version and a body lotion and a soap. I am greedy and want it all and worship at its feet, so outstandingly good is it. And I am a tough customer for a perfumer; something must be truly different and truly a work of art for me to bother to start writing something about it. Here, we have the pantheon of white-flower perfumery, the titanic tuberose nonpareil, unparalleled, and I want to thrust Juan Perez onto the world stage where I am sure he will soon take over the perfumed jetstream vacated by Malle’s corporate sale and Lutens’ vagaries. Flor Azteca is a gorgeous showcase for tuberose; Juan Perez has done this flower proud. Relative to other tuberose mainstays, Flor Azteca is not as sweet as Fracas, not as green as either Carnal Flower or MPG Tubereuse or Caron; there is no wintergreen note as in Tubereuse Criminelle and the fattiness of L’Artisan Tubereuse (not Nuit de Tubereuse) is kept in check by the addition of datura. I do notice the datura right alongside the tuberose and I point it out because unless one is familiar with that note it would be hard to name it; I am and I can smell it quite clearly as it melds with the tuberose to become one flower. I don’t pick up on listed magnolia note, likely because datura is always a stand-out note for me. The listed mineral note is a piece of cool river rock or so it strikes me, adding an interesting minor base support.
The chocolate note becomes more apparent once the fiery spices have dried out, but don’t mistake this for a gourmand scent. It isn’t. It is true white floral and a visionary one, a love letter of complexity and singularity, suitable for both women and men. Juan’s work is so much opposed to industry-driven (and ruinously reformulated) “basura” that I hope he has a long and very successful reign. People, we have crowned a new king. This line of perfumes is only available in small batches and then only on Etsy. His perfumes are both chic and beautiful, modern and classic. Cannot recommend highly enough while at the same time wanting to keep the secret to myself. The best new perfumer you’ve never heard of is alive and well and making exceptional juice in Puerto Rico.
corey79 – :
this is too strong for me , even if quality is excellent . I got it from my husband after a trip to Portorico
knigi-HIFS – :
Correction to perfumecritic’s review below: this scent is not created from all natural materials. It is a mix of naturals and synthetics.
shumaherppf – :
True scent of tuberose, I love this fragrance. To me this fragrance reminds me my childhood years, when crossing in front of the flower shop full of buckets of tuberoses on the sidewalk on a fresh rainy day. The incense notes reminds me cars passing by the shop.Chocolate notes the candy at the flower shop. The mineral notes reminds me the street and I am there at the door. I just simply love it!
heroin13 – :
Gorgeous, enigmatic, sexy. When it’s hot and humid outside, heady jasmines/tubesroses/etc. sicken me to no end. Except for Flor Azteca, which has the amazing ability to astral-plane you to some exotic jungle, where you run wild smelling as if you, yourself, sprouted from the surrounding flora. So indeed worthy of ownership. Glad to have it and support an indie perfumer.
demon752 – :
Beautiful tuberose. Dry down of lovely vanilla. Such high quality ingredients. Highly recommend for tuberose lovers.
yxg057Bessinepome – :
Absolutely agree with you ;o) Juan’s perfumes are amazing, this one together with Magnolia and Oudh, is my favorite. I haven’t smell such a pure nice tuberose for a long time. ;O)
zac985speagoessenda – :
Absolutely stunning and unique fragrance made all the more impressive as it is created from all natural materials. Incredible sillage and longevity as well! Check out the entire line, I bet you’ll be impressed 😉