Bruno Fazzolari- Lampblack

The very last minutes right before a big storm are magical. The sky is darkens all of a sudden midday, the air, full of anticipation and danger, smells combustible. You open the door or window feeling a strange awareness of earth, sky, and almost every molecule around you. The light diminishes right in front of your eyes and the sense of time becomes skewed. Has it been hours or seconds since you've been standing there? Is it night already?

Lampblack by artist and perfumer Bruno Fazzolari reminds me of this unsettling feeling. It's a smoky vetiver fragrance that takes tar and ink notes and uses them to sketch a dark picture illuminated by a flameable and bitter citrus note. The perfume is slightly sooty in a way that fully made sense to me only after I read Ayala's brilliant and evocative review.  In Lampblack, Bruno Fazzolari makes use of vetiver in an incredibly interesting way. The grassy oil's emotional range is expanded far beyond the usual boundaries of earth and leaves. This effect reminds me of Onda, though the perfumes are very different. Lampblack is an introvert and avoids drama and grand gestures, unlike the animalic Onda.

Still, it's worth your time and skin if you like variations on the smoky vetiver themes. Lampblack has an excellent longevity (vetiver usually lasts forever on my skin) and even dabbing from a sample gives a noticeable sillage.

Nores: Notes: Sweet Orange, Black Pepper, Bitter Grapefruit, Nagarmotha (a vetiver like grass), Benzoin, Vetiver. Fantasy Note: Shadow

Bruno Fazzolari- Lampblack ($65, 30ml EDT) is available from brunofazzolari.com. The sample for this review was sent for my consideration by the perfumer.

Photo: nbcnews.com