IUNX is the Paris-exclusive perfume line by Olivia Giacobetti* (Dzing!, Fou d`Absinthe, Premier Figuier, Tea for Two, The Pour Un Ete, Philosykos, Hiris, and the entire Honore des Pres line). You can only buy it in person at the small boutique outside the Hotel Costes (here's my report of visiting the store), a fact that makes absolutely no sense.
IUNX perfumes bear Olivia Giacobetti's signature light hand, and Splash Forte is an excellent example of that. Spicy woody scents can be quite intense, but Splash Forte goes in a different direction. There's supposed to be a cumin note there but I get none. Instead, I smell clove and cinnamon. The cinnamon is more pronounced on the Husband's skin, while I become all clove, pepper, and a strong tea blend: black and roobios. The Blond also thinks of tea, but he's reminded of Harney & Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice.
As Splash Forte rests on skin it's less spicy and more about wood-- mostly cedar. I keep thinking about tall and dark trees illuminated by the setting sun against the darkening sky. A light wind is rustling through the red branches, as Splash Forte is surprisingly airy and crisp. The fragrance wears close to the skin. I spray quite heavily, hoping to amplify the pleasure (it's somewhere between gorgeous and delicious), but like all IUNX perfumes that I've tried, it doesn't work this way. Splash Forte is a bit aloof. I want to bury my face in its lap and take it in big gulps, but no. It hangs in the still air of the night, twinkling like a distant star. Now you smell it, then you think it's gone only to catch a whiff of it again as you move. It keeps playing this game for hours as the wood softens and becomes a little musky (if there's a strong musk base there I might be anosmic to it). Eventually Splash Forte reminds me of the way it feels to half awaken at the early hours of the night, realizing there's still time to sleep. I pull the covers tightly around me and fall back asleep in the warmth of my bed.
Notes: cumin, bay leaves, nutmeg, red cedarwood, musk and quinine wood.
*She's also the namesake of my cat, Olivia.
Art by Ford Smith (fordsmithfineart.com).
Great review! Incredibly beautiful image of the trees and sky and so perfect for this scent. Transparent and/or light are not exactly on my list of things I look for in a perfume, so I take it as a testament to her absolute genius that she's one of my all time favorite perfumers. It's not easy for me to choose which scents of hers I like the best, but this one is definitely in the top three. Adore it - a very frequently reached for comfort scent. But I need to remember to continue to pray to the perfume gods that she relents and makes this more accessible to those of us not within easy reach of the Costes.
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