Description
“St. Petersburg, circa 1897. Mr. Bojnokopff’s Purple Hat is the title of my most elaborate feat of illusion, which had astounded and enthralled viewers, en masse in years gone by. Hastily filling my grand, purple suede top hat with the finest French lavender, vanilla and lashings of rich Belgian chocolate, creating a small explosion, resulting in a thick plume of white smoke. Smoke dissipating, my vanishing act begins, with mouths agape as my hat is all that remains on stage. This has now been branded pretentious, hackneyed and “of its time”. I always preferred a nice woody gourmand anyway!” – a note from the brand.
Mr. Bojnokopff`s Purple Hat by Fort & Manle is a Oriental Woody fragrance for women and men. Mr. Bojnokopff`s Purple Hat was launched in 2015. The nose behind this fragrance is Rasei Fort. Top note is lavender; middle notes are dark chocolate and vanilla; base notes are vetiver, cedar, guaiac wood and agarwood (oud).
sergei-sypalo – :
Fort & Manle Mr. Bojnokopff’s Purple Hat
I confess that I was initially skeptical of Fort & Manle perfumes, mainly because of the unexpected appearance of the brand on the discussion circuit. Was the appraisal legitimate or just part of a marketing strategy to leverage brand awareness? I questioned this given the elaborate, professional level presentation for a recent and supposedly indie brand. Researching more about Fort & Manle and knowing one of their perfumes I see that the success is due to a brand carefully designed for the public passionate about perfumes by a perfume lover, Rasei Fort. The impression I had is that Rasei has elaborated for years a sophisticated concept, something that mixes a romantic aesthetic with something gothic, passion for classic perfumery and oriental perfumery and that the result as a whole is very well tied. It’s not just an image or marketing trick.
Curiously, the asset of Rasei Fort is precisely the magic and the tricks and Mr. Bojonokopff’s Purple Hat reflects this in its theme and its aroma. It is interesting that Rasei as a self-taught perfumer considers himself a court jester among professional perfumers since the end result of his work sounds very professional and far-fetched. Consider that there is an extra difficulty of composition here, the abundant use of natural materials in a scent that does not sound thick or rough in its aspects – difficult especially when working with natural elements used to create oriental perfumes. It is a professional illusion, of an artist and not of an amateur magician. And the illusion here revolves around the lavender and the gourmands touches in a perfume that is neither functional and much less sweet.
The fragrance has an interesting aroma, a combination of touches of bitter chocolate with an herbal and floral freshness, certainly from lavender. Something creates the illusion of a touch of blueberry and herbs while the background is smoky and woody, completing the idea of the purple hat emanating a mysterious scent of lavender, chocolate and smoke. Slowly the composition turns into a woody and refined incense scent, which puts prominence in rare natural ouds without giving the composition an animalal or heavy aura. Vetiver and Guaiac wood complement the woody background and it is interesting that the fragrance retains some of the aromatic floral luster at this stage. In fact, something surprising given the natural and orientalist character of the composition is the abstract aspect of the perfume, where although it is possible to identify the notes it is perceived that they have been balanced to form a more abstract and complex whole. It is a type of work that takes time and requires in addition to talent knowledge. It may be a trick, but it’s more for a master trick than a jester one.
zzc950InsuffBooni – :
Mr Bojnokopff’s Purple Hat is the first one from the Fort & Manle line that I have tried as it has been hyped so much (just like the whole fragrance house). MBPH opens up with a strong dose of guaiac wood, vanilla, lavander, and dark chocolate. This reminds me of Memoirs of a Trespasser by Imaginary Authors being mixed with some Lavender & Wool by Linda Landenberg. This stays mostly as a guaiac/vanilla smokey mix with cedar popping out a bit. It projects well for just about 10 minutes, to then turning into a skin scent that lasts for about 8-10 hours. It’s great, but it is too bad that I can barely smell it. People have been saying how unusual the scents are from this house, but MBPH is uncannily close to Memoirs of a Trespasser (which projects better, lasts about the same amount of time and costs less). Same thing can be said with some other offerings from this house, to which I will get into later, in my other upcoming reviews (after more testing). So, in my opinion, I love this scent, but it feels a bit redundant.
dotohka – :
Lavender balm
This is the hand thick lavendar essence balm, so thick and rich. It has patchouli, oud, and thick creamy gelatinous lavender.
The drydown goes more to the woody side with doses of vetiver, cedar, and sandalwood. It’s nice for a lavender woody based scent.
Eventually, to be honest, this house is just as i expected! From the reviews, the hype and how people reacts to it, i knew that it’s just another fragrance house, nothing astonishing, groundbreaking, or revolutionary.
Agissespospew – :
Stunning just like most of the fort and manle line, the quality is evident and uniqueness is top notch! maduro and this one are my favourites… the price is a bit steep like most niche houses.. 9/10
stopshopbgs – :
Setting aside the current hype, this house has created some really pleasant and very interesting original fragrances. Kudos to them for their originality
The bottle looks great and the name is fantastic. I wanted to love it, but I don’t, although I do like it.
For me, it is about three things mainly.
A dark chocolate note that is really pleasant, in combination with the accord created between lavender and vanilla, which is well recognised and perhaps became popular first with Caron’s Pour un Homme, and finally there are some darker woods in the base.
The lavender with vanilla sometimes causes a ‘clash’ that creates a powdery effect. Here it sort of turns the chocolate into cocoa powder. Mmmmmm. I do not get either lavender or vanilla on thier own, just the accord of them together
Modest projection and 4-6 hours longevity on my skin. The woods in the base may creater greater longevity for some people. A man or a woman could wear it.
It is interesting and unusual and pleasant and to me seems original and some people will love it. Maybe it is indeed what might come from a magician’s purple hat..lol
Definitely worth trying.
liflinka – :
a half hour in, all i get is vetiver.
i hate vetiver.
there’s like only ONE vetiver perfume i like (vetyverio by diptyque), and everything else is just too green and biter smelling.
i can smell something floral lurking in the background, but it’s overpowered by the vetiver.
anyway, here’s hoping it develops…
dio512 – :
Fort & Manle Mr Bojnokopff Purple Hat opens up on my skin with a dry lavender in combination with a sweet somewhat fruity chocolate note, the overall introductory effect is almost boozy for some weird reason, quite different,
As I start to reach into the heart, the fruity introduction loosen up, and Mr Bojnokopff begins transitioning into a dark woody scent, with noticeable vetiver picking its head quickly.
The full drydown features a western oud of a smoky variety, none animalic, well polished, but very dark.
The exquisite woody base is softened by sweet shades of sensual vanilla for an immaculate and long lasting ride.
Instagram: Mrzayas81
NabuccoBal – :
Where to begin with this? There’s something repellant, even sickening, in its DNA and yet it’s profoundly compelling and ultimately very beautiful. Lavender, my natural foe, is kept from trampling the integrity of the scent by powerful, squeaky oud, vetiver and chocolate notes. The resultant blend is weird, hair-raising and forceful in its totally unique identity. The first thirty minutes are moderately offputting to me, yet I can’t stop huffing it like a hemophobe would, drawn to the scent of blood by her lizard brain. The drydown segues into a calmer, soft-focus riff on the opening (here is when the cedar and sweetness emerge) that is perhaps less polarizing but never betrays its heart of quirkiness. I wouldn’t buy a full bottle of something that throttles my senses so thoroughly but I’m convinced that I need a decant in my rotation.
macha05 – :
This one and the Garden Gnome are the most noteworthy to me; unfortunately this is $55 more being oud-centered.
Иса Мусаев – :
One of the best from the discovery set. It’s beautiful and completely original! I cannot comment on performance yet, as I am just sampling, but if the performance is good this is definitely FB worthy! I find it unisex bc I would love to wear it, and would love to smell it on a man!
ham-bmw – :
My final sample to try from the present seven-sample pack of Fort & Manle, Mr. Bojnokopff’s Purple Hat undoubtedly has the best name, but it’s also perhaps the most interesting blend of the lot.
Composed of vanilla, chocolate, lavender, oud, cedar, guaiac, and vetiver, this is a great take on the “sweet meets dirty” concept, but admittedly not that dirty, as the oud and vetiver don’t nearly match the sweetness of the vanilla and chocolate (and to some extent, guaiac) but rather play off of those key notes.
The main players here are the vanilla, chocolate, lavender, and oud, the woody notes adding some grounded evenness in the background, mainly.
It’s overall a sweet experience with a fresh, floral edge from the lavender and dark, earthy undertones from the oud, anchored by the vetiver, cedar, and guaiac.
How fascinating a blend this, appealing to both gourmand lovers like myself and perhaps oud lovers, and woody-note lovers.
It’s strong, performance-wise, perhaps not quite as strong as Amber Absolutely but comparable, and so it’s roughly the second strongest offering from the house.
Bojnokopff scratches a similar itch to what Kerosene Blackmail does, similarly pairing oud with a whole lot of sweetness, but surely the lavender throws off the balance from being essentially the same as Blackmail.
It’s certainly geared more toward cold weather wearing but it’s nice enough that I must just darn well wear it anytime. And I can see these being pretty unisex, too, without any real leaning as far as masculine vs. feminine. Very impressive overall, and it concludes a sample of a very nice up-and-coming house with an already-strong catalog.
I’ll tentatively be adding this to my “to buy” list along with Amber Absolutely and Maduro. Do check it out!
8 out of 10
severborisovich – :
I love it so much; it’s absolutely beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Super-sexy-sweet-lilting-oud with exquisitely balanced restraint and bravado. OMG!!!! Almost like a lavender-off note of whiskey, yes, whiskey, and definitely get the smoke, the wood and the interesting pine. Some camphor, so restrained, but like a haze. It reminds me of a fall-colored-rainbow of smoky taupes and silvery browns, lol. A drunk foXXXy-brown rainbow. Love it!
nicks74 – :
Quite unique and mysterious to me, so it seems to have met its brief. I initially mainly get oud and a very natural lavender here, just like i would smell if i was holding a fresh cut bouquet.
After this, the gaiac wood introduces a mild smoky accord which also evokes a slightly skanky leather. Hours later, when you think the dark chocolate and vanilla were never there, there they appear, like an illusion.
Definitely a very interesting scent that will probably reveal more character with subsequent wearings, so definitely a must to sample first.