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Post by Poodle
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Hey APJ,
I was recently sent a lovely box of samples from the 1st Festival of Indie Perfumery in Russia. The non-commercial event is creative exchange between Russian Perfumers and bloggers and reviewers who love perfume. It’s a way of sharing Russian Indie perfumery with the world and was organized by Anna Zworykina. Anna has been making perfume for more than 15 years and has published a book in Russian about natural perfumery. The theme of the event was “Rose and Water” and all the perfumes were created during a six week time period with that theme in mind. There were 18 perfumers who participated and the perfumes covered every aspect of the theme. Some were all natural, others natural and synthetic. It was interesting to sniff so many interpretations of roses and water. The perfumers really managed to show the versatility of roses.
So I picked out my favourite five to highlight for you.
Everything’s Coming Up Russian Roses
Festival of Indie Perfumery in Russia 2015
Pool by Anastasia Denisenkova.
Pool is a bright juicy rose perfume with Rose de Mai, Rose Otto, and Rosa Damascena. It’s highlighted with melon and ozonic notes and grounded with amber, musk, and oakmoss. Melon can be a difficult note for a lot of people but it really does help to give a watery feel to the perfume. Imagine rose petals floating on crystal blue water and you’ve got Pool.
Ophelia by Art of Perfume
This one is an herbal interpretation of roses and water. They could have called it noir if they wanted. It smells like the blackness of water in the moonlight. Walking along the bank there’s the crush of wormwood, lavender, and daisies underfoot, the brush of rose blossoms against you as you pass by. Resins and fir balsam add more darkness and earthiness. I love how this one reminded me of absinthe because of the wormwood.
Winter Rose by Anna Zworykina
The snow might be fluffy but this rose is not powdery at all. The rose’s scent is tempered by the snow. I can smell an almost citrusy sweetness. Although its called Winter Rose it’s not cold or metallic but warm and ambery. Starts cool and frosty but warms to a bouquet seen through Russian amber.
Rose Garden After the Rain byAnna Vtyurina
Think of the rosiest rose you’ve ever smelled. This is a big rose perfume. It opens with a bold citrus and rose. It’s juicy and watery, crisp and green. On me there’s a little tough of mintiness but it’s barely there so I could be mistaken. Remember when those bouquets of roses from the florists actually smelled like roses? This is that smell. The bouquet, the fern green filler, the water in the vase. Early summer bottled.
Marilyn’s Kiss by Galina Anni
This perfume isn’t as rosy as some of the others but was really fun to smell. There’s just enough mint to give it a watery feel along with some citrus. At the heart of it the rose blends with ylang-ylang and fruits. It’s sweet but not like a fruit punch. It’s creamier than that. It’s vanilla pudding with rose petals and buttery ylang-ylang. I didn’t expect to like this but the mint and ylang really make it work.
I’m so happy I got the opportunity to sample all the perfumes from this event. It was interesting to see how each perfumer approached the theme. I hope this will be the first of many such festivals.
Hugs
Poodle
Australian Perfume Junkies 
Hi Poodle. How completely interesting to be able to do that. Toss up between Ophelia and Marilyn´s Kiss for me. Although one never knows. Bussis and love. xxxxx
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It was tough to narrow things down but I couldn’t review them all so I had to make some choices. It was a fun project. Xoxo
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Hey Poodle,
Thanks for fielding this one. I knew you’d love to do it and hoped there would be some stuff you liked.
Can’t wait to see what they do this year.
Portia xx
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Thanks for thinking of me on this one. It was a lot of fun seeing how each perfumer took a different approach to the theme. Most were far more creative than I would have been. Xoxo
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What a great opportunity. Sounds like fun to have been able to try those out. I struggle with rose perfumes as most give me a headache, but Ophelia might actually be doable. Thanks for the reviews!
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Roses often sour on me and some of these were better on paper but that’s not the perfumers fault. A good portion of these weren’t even really that rosy. You’ll find your rose someday. Xoxo
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Lovely reviews, Poodle! From your description Ophelia and Rose Garden would probably be my favorites. Where to go if you want to try these?
Azar xx
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I think the event was to highlight the talents of Russian perfumers. I’m not sure which, if any, are available but I’ll try to find out and let you know.
Xoxo
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Fantastic reviews, Poodle. Winter Rose and Ophelia sound enchanting. I haven’t tried Pool yet but I’ve sniffed some of Anastasia Denisenkova’s perfumes and they are quite unique. I should dig the samples out and have proper sniffing sessions. x
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So you’ve tried some of her other perfumes? That’s wonderful. Pool was really nice. I think my hubby liked that one the best because he’s a fan of fruit notes and likes melon. I’m going to keep my eyes open for more of her work along with a few of the others.
Xoxo
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very interesting package, I think Cafleurebon also had an article on this event
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Yes, I think they did an article on Anna Zworykina. Thanks for reminding me of that. I should go back and read it again.
Xoxo
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Thank you for lovely reviews, Poodle! Glad you find this event interesting)) Going to do the next one this year))
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It was my pleasure! Thanks for reading. I’m happy to hear you’ll be doing it again.
Xoxo
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Thanks a lot for that nice review)
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My pleasure. It’s a lovely perfume and really took me by surprise. Great name too!
Xoxo
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Thank you for the interesting write up: I didn’t realize there were Russian indie perfumers.
My problem with most U.S. indie brands is that those perfumes don’t smell to me of real perfumes but rather like some health store blends.
Would you wear any of these other than for testing?
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Hey Poodle! I’m working on this years Russian Indie competition and was wondering if I could mine some of your info about the event itself? (Btw…. one of the entries has over 100 ingredients/notes. I. Am. Dying. 😳😂 xoxo
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