Aftelier Perfumes Tango

Any discussion of the natural perfume movement will at some stage take you to Mandy Aftel. Ms Aftel is one of the pioneers of natural perfumery, and wrote the book 'Essence and Alchemy: A Book of Perfume' in 2001. She also runs classes in natural perfume, and three of her fragrances have recently been nominated for the 2011 FiFi awards (the perfume equivalent of the Oscars).

I finally took the plunge recently and ordered a few samples from the www.aftelier.com website. One that I was absolutely sure I wanted to try was Tango, a smoky dry wood fragrance.

Tango opens on my skin as a spiced honey orange citrus, then the rich floral heart of the fragrance blossoms in a cloud of smoky tobacco; the coffee CO2 extraction in the heart notes lends a smokiness to the scent rather than an out and out coffee note. I get a soft petrol/tarry note about ten minutes into the fragrance that hangs around for an hour or so, until it morphs into the salty smokiness of the basenotes (I think both notes are from the choya; roasted seashells) rounded out by warm, slightly spicy ambery-vanilla tonka.

If you like the smell of Ojon hair treatment (some people love it) then Aftelier Tango is a must-sample. It's more of a Havana cafe than Ojon's Paris cafe (the smoke in Tango is from a good Cuban cigar, rather than a rough-as-guts Gauloises cigarette) but the feeling is similar, although much refined.

I love this fragrance. The disparate elements of the fragrance blend smoothly under Ms Aftel's expert hand (and nose), and it's unusual but not jarring, warm and alluring. I find it has good sillage and lasting power on my skin for a natural perfume, and lasts for a good three hours on me even without any layering. I do particularly like it layered over or underneath Aftelier Muse solid though; Muse is a simple warm amber fragrance that combines beautifully with Tango.

Aftelier fragrances are available from the website at www.aftelier.com, and 1/4ml samples of most fragrances are available for $6-$8 each (the exception is the  Parfum Prive, made from extremely expensive raw materials, which is $22 for a sample).