Esxense Milano 2017: My Fragrant Picks

Esxense Fragrance Exhibition, Milano

Where do I start?!?!  I am still suffering from the aftermath of the wonderful Esxence exhibition, which took place in Milano, Italy between 23rd - 26th March 2017.  And what a wonderful place it is!  The exhibition was framed within the beautiful backdrop of a wonderful city – beautiful people, beautiful minds, beautiful souls… all these essences were brought together in this fantastic event, bringing together fragrance aficionados and fanatics like myself!   And what a wonderful get together it was.  My mission was to find the latest and the most intriguing oud scents on the market… or about to come onto the market, should I say!  I wasn’t disappointed!  In fact, I was so mesmerised by the offerings of the various niche brands and their scents, that I almost forgot about the oud!  Blasphemy, I hear you scream!!  Hahaha!  Well, what can one say, when surrounded by such wonderful creations under one roof – paying homage to not only oud based fragrances, but other kind of fragrances too…the utter choice of sophisticated blends and excitement was quite overwhelming, to say the least!  My only regret was not having much sleep before and during the trip!  Ha!  Well, I had an array of scents to allow me to daydream at least 😉

Myself with Paolo Terenzi 

Myself with Tiziana Terenzi

Now there are many scents that I picked up from the show, which I wish I could talk about.  The airport security staff at Milan Airport were bemused with the amount of liquids I had in my hand luggage on return, all measuring below 100ml, as per their requirements.  But although there was a

Myself with Asim Al Qassim, of Anfas Perfumes, UAE

limit to how many of these I was allowed to carry, I think it would be safe to say that my pleading eyes, and to their minds, a seemingly bizzare passion for fragrance had allowed them to overlook the billion and one perfume samples in my hand luggage!  God forbid that I check them in, and they got lost!  I had to have them with me, for Gods sakes!  Hahaha!

12 Parfumeurs Francais, a Paris based fragrance house, kindly gave me the opportunity to sample one of their scents, Chambord. It’s a typically citrusy and very fresh spicy scent – with a wonderfully musky dry down… a perfect light summery day scent! Along with this, I received their other fragrance, Fontainebleau which more woody and a tad heavier, but with a wonderful citrus opening which is perfect for the spring and summer too. Their fragrances are packed in beautifully velvet lined boxes… a beautiful representation of the history of the house. They are called ’12 Parfumeurs’, because of the coming together of 12 perfumers, to create their magic in the form of scent and I must say, their scents really do reflect of French heritage and culture – and of course naturally, their boutique is located in the epi-centre of Paris, Avenue Des Champs-Elysees. My next fragrance I spotted at Esxense, which I have to talk about

about, was Blend Oud – a local Milano based boutique  and niche brand.  What can I say?  I was stunned.  The quality of the fragrances were literally out of this world – and one I tried there, Eclipse, has had me smelling the sample card, a good week after the event!  The dry down is absolutely phenomenal, and I can certainly see myself with this sample card firmly attached to my nose for the long term, if I do not grab myself a bottle soon!!  The base notes consist of oud, birch, cinnamon, oakmoss, patchouli, saffron, sandalwood, ambergris, civet, musk and orris root.  Wow!!  Just wow!  All my favourite notes in a bottle, but that’s just the base notes!!  We have also got the beautiful ylang-ylang, bergamot, lemons and lime… jasmines and rose.  This fragrance literally has my name on it!!  If heaven smelled like anything, it would be near enough to this 😉 So next time your in Milano and fancy yourself an oud treat… pop along to their boutique!

The next fragrance, which I had the complete pleasure of sampling, also, was Embers, by Rouge Bunny Rouge, a UK based brand… It’s a wonderful woody scent, but very light, with a smattering of incense I think thrown in there. This could work as a good beginner’s fragrance into heavy woodsy scents and although this isn’t heavy at all, it’s good as an intro for those intro florals and citrus fragrances. The Jasmine and labdanum are discreet and quite playful and overall, this scent gives me the olfactory sense of camping!!! A beautiful scent worth trying!


Well, that was a summary of some wonderful fragrances I sampled from Exsense… and if you are after more wonderful pictures, then worry not, because I have a dedicated Facebook album of all my favourites from the show. But until next time, happy sniffing!! 😊