Comfort Zone Perfume: Classic Opoponax

by: Serguey Borisov

If you were to sit by the river and wait patiently, then sooner or later, the newborn amber fragrance from every niche brand would go with the flow past you. And most often “the new interpretation of the amber oriental” appears in the very first collection of the brand. Why? Seems like amber fragrances are the bread and butter for a niche brand. They sell well.

At the same time, amber perfume is a litmus test to determine a brand's quality. Just as some restaurant critics can determine the level of a restaurant by its Caesar salad and Bloody Mary cocktail, so can one define the brand positioning in the perfume market by a well-known amber perfume. One could predict what the brand claims, how original it wants to be, if it wants to surprise us or appeals to the proven accords and tricks, if it looks for a classic combination or if is it ready to create some dissonance—one can understand it all by one fragrance: amber.

A new perfume was launched by niche brand Von Eusersdorff in 2015 called Classic Opoponax, and its name sounds like an application for a new interpretation of some special perfume classic. Opoponax sounds a bit funny, but in its meaning it's far from funny: the Greek words Opos (ὀπός) and Panax (πάναξ) mean respectively “vegetable juice” and “panacea,” that is, the all-healing cure.

Oppoponax or sweet myrrh

Opoponax (aka sweet myrrh from Commiphora) is less popular than its bitter cousin myrrh, and is found in classic 20th century oriental fragrances with warm resinous sillage like Guerlain Shalimar, Jean Patou Chaldée, Coty Emeraude, Royal Bain de Caron, Caron En Avion, Le Galion Special for Gentlemen, Jean DesprezSheherazade, etc. Sometimes opoponax is found in niche fragrances promoting Orientalism and Incense smoke, eg, Diptyque Eau Lente, Xerjoff Amber Star, Amouage Jubilation XXV Man, Tom Ford Noir, Serge Lutens  Un Bois Sepia, etc. And, of course, in natural perfumes Opoponax is just magnificent, as it's quite reminiscent of incense and fresh lacquered wood, and contributes its light “mushroom” accent to the sweet resinous strength with a sweet spirit. Opoponax becomes fluffy, sweet and good-mannered  balsam closer to base, maybe just a tad animalic. Its aromatic profile and impressive durability perfectly manifest themselves in the fougère and oriental compositions, in incense, amber and leather accords—not to mention the fact that in traditional medicine it helps to cure small wounds and digestive tract disorders.

New perfume Classic Opoponax Von Eusersdorff is an oriental amber fragrance with small deviations. Like, sometimes at the start you can smell the spiced rum and chocolate accord, and sometimes it smells like dirty earthy-animal clouds, with sunset rays of May rose that barely make their way through the woody start. Here flowers were used to light up the composition, but they made only some twilight out of darkness. (A citrus-herbal start instead of flowers would have brought us to the beautiful oriental fougères like Guerlain Mouchoir de Monsieur or Le Galion Special for Gentlemen.) Classic Opoponax has two entrances but only one exit—a warm and cozy amber accord in which, as always, a woody and exciting patchouli note is softened by fluffy benzoin and vanilla. The originality of the approach lies in the animalic accent, which is particularly well expressed in the start notes (and slightly accented in the drydown), and also in the transparent simplicity of the perfume.

Despite the intense brown color of the liquid, the fragrance puts no pressure on you. It's not too tight and never ever gives weariness at all. In this, perhaps, is the secret of success for amber fragrances: they are comfortable, cozy and persistent. If the human comfort zone had its own smell, it would have been oriental amber.

This is the smell of a familiar place where you know everything, everyone loves you, and you feel calm and safe. The place where all soul wounds and psychological traumas will be healed—the place of psychological panacea property. Well, it should not necessarily be a harem. In the Scheherazade tales, good people are everywhere, not only in the harems.

Von Eusersdorff Classic Opoponax

Start notes: Rose, Jasmine;
Heart notes: Opoponax, Sandalwood, Benzoin;
Base notes: Castoreum, Amber, Patchouli, Vanilla