Enslaved (2007)
by Roja Dove

Enslaved is a heavy, one-dimensional perfume that smells chiefly like old fashioned ladies powder, ie. loose powder in a cylindrical container that comes with a luxurious white powder puff. I detected a tiny bit of spiciness in the fragrance which I guess was the carnation and clove trying to get out but, it was firmly "enslaved" by the unrelenting Mistress Powder! None of other notes listed below were detectable. For comparison purposes, Enslaved reminded me a lot of that other cloyingly robust powder fragrance, Etat Libre d'Orange's "Rien" (aka "Dorian Gray").

In the powder/aldehyde genre of perfumery, I much prefer Hermes' Rouge or Le Labo's Aldehyde 44 to Enslaved.

Per The Perfumed Court, here are the notes: Bergamot, Orange, Lemon, Geranium, Orange Blossom, Rose, Ylang Ylang, Jasmine, Carnation, Clove, Oakmoss, Cedarwood, Vetiver, Patchouli, Labdanum, Ambergris and Musk.

This is a real complex beast with great longevity. It also seems to embody certain qualities of many Guerlain vanilla-based classics (so much so that one is forced to conclude that Enslaved aspires to be a Guerlain).

One of its funny characteristics is how it briefly goes awry on my skin only to refrain itself, at some point, from going any further (much to my relief). When it eventually gets itself back on track, it continues to develop wonderfully. The fact that this happens at least twice during its development (and never completely turns on my skin) says a lot about how multi-faceted Enslaved really is.

I can’t make out the notes but, in addition to vanilla, I do sense some peach, spices, opoponax and myrrh during its development. Its composition is far more dense and interwoven than most fragrances I’ve had the pleasure of testing but this is something to be truly admired.

Unfortunately, I really can’t see myself buying a bottle of this. Why not? Well, for £95 I'd prefer it to have much more projection than it currently emits from my skin (which isn’t much). However, there are very few fragrances that I would class as runner-ups, in terms of becoming part of my wardrobe, but Enslaved is certainly one of them.

Regardless of my personal tastes, this still deserves a thumbs up.