Pichola Review

Pichola starts off with some tart citrus that’s soon lost to a metallic green accord having the penetrating waxiness of C10/11 aldehyde(s) and the ‘sucked silver spoon’ quality of Helional (as Luca Turin once described the compound). The latter shows prominent watery and ozonic facets and, given the perfume’s name, we might suppose this is intended to represent the famous lake at Pichola in Udaipur.

The dominant floral counterpart is played by jasmine, but this develops some distinct celery-salt and woody qualities suggesting there may be some cis-jasmone complementing the Hedione. Edmond Roudnitska used to advocate placing a drop of fragrance on a piece of wide card in order to observe the physical separation of components and, in a neat example of paper chromatography, the celery-salt note does indeed seem to get pulled further up the paper.  

In contrast to the others in Neela Vermeire’s line, the signature ambery fond is played down in Pichola, providing just enough sweetness to render the sharper notes palatable.

Longevity is not very impressive.

Nose: Bertrand Duchaufour

House: Neela Vermeire

Release date: 2015

Notes (per Fragrantica): cardamom, cinnamon, saffron, juniper, magnolia, neroili oil, clementine, bergamot, orange blossom, rose, tuberose, jasmine sambac, ylang-ylang, benzoin, sandalwood, driftwood, Haitian vetiver.