Did you groan when you saw this was a review of yet another new, obscure niche perfume? I admit I let whole perfume lines go untested simply because it’s so hard to get samples. Besides, how fun could it be for readers to wade through yet another review of something they may never be able to sniff? But some lines — small and hard to find as they are — merit the extra effort. For instance, I’d always want to smell something new by Vero Profumo, Parfums DelRae, or Ormonde Jayne. From testing Ys Uzac Pohadka, I wonder if Switzerland-based Ys Uzac might join that list.
Pohadka Eau de Parfum, which comes with the subtitle “Ainsi la nuit,” is a light, complex tobacco fragrance. Notes for Pohadka mentioned on Ys Uzac’s website include fresh cut grass, blond tobacco, immortelle, jasmine, smoked vanilla and fresh herbs. The website adds that each of the company’s four fragrances incorporates about 90 percent natural ingredients.
When I think of a tobacco-centered fragrance, my thoughts go to perfumes evoking pouches of scented pipe tobacco, such as Serge Lutens Fumerie Turque. I think of tobacco’s sweet chewiness paired with wood, spice and smoke. I think of winter fires and wood-paneled libraries. Pohadka is nothing like that.
Instead, Pohadka is light and sheer — almost refreshing. Green hay and elastic, round tobacco dominate, but an almost soapy immortelle washes through it. Hints of spearmint and pepper keep the fragrance from getting too thick. Pohadka is warm but feather-light. It smells singular and intriguing, yet not bizarre enough to overwhelm.
Pohadka reminds me a little of Etat Libre D’Orange Like This and Christian Dior Eau Noire not just in its use of immortelle, but in how cleverly it mixes freshness and warmth with unusual character. Like This pulls it off by adding clean musk to its thick pumpkin flesh. Eau Noire works it through a piquancy nearly summoning Worcestershire sauce. But Pohadka is more sheer and soft than both of these fragrances. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last as long, either. On my skin, Pohadka burns with an intimate sillage for about four hours.
The Ys Uzac website offers a wardrobe suggestion to go with Pohadka, saying, “Editor’s note: An all black outfit with metallic embellishment to complete a guaranteed uniqueness for a black tie event.” I beg to differ (and not just with the idea that black with metallic embellishment is somehow unique). To me, Pohadka isn’t fancy. It’s comfortable and slightly bohemian. I see hip furniture makers in clunky glasses and intellectual garage band enthusiasts loving it. I know I’d wear it to work, at home, or even to dinner, where Pohadka’s gentle, easy warmth wouldn’t mess with the entrée.
Will Ys Uzac’s other three fragrances live up to the promise of Pohadka? At least Ys Uzac makes it easy to find out by offering a sample set for an affordable five euros. I’ll be ordering one soon. Who knows? I might just have another perfume house to add to my “must smell” list.
Ys Uzac Pohadka Eau de Parfum is available on the Ys Uzac website in 50 ml (115€) and 100 ml (160€) bottles. Luckyscent sells 50 ml bottles for $150.
Hi, Angie: FIGURES! I have samples of all these scents EXCEPT Pohadka! The others? MEH. They were a bit “washed out”/watered down for my taste. But certainly if Pohadka comes my way I’ll sniff it since I love tobacco.
I’ll send you the rest of my sample! Besides, I owe you a whole bunch of samples and some decants. Then you can tell me what YOU think of it.
Angela: I’ll send you my samples of this line..so don’t buy them!
You are kind! I’ll put together that long-promised package for you.
The immortelle is scaring me.
I wouldn’t call the immortelle strong, but it’s definitely present. If you’re not a fan, then you probably wouldn’t like Pohadka, is my guess.
Ooooooohhhh *rushes off to the site to buy her 103929309th set of samples*
Do you know, since I started this perfume journey not so long ago, I have ordered/won almost 80 samples, all of which are still on their way??
It’ll be Christmas time very soon for me!
I know exactly where you’re at. I have a drawer full of samples, and only a very few that I really love. Still, I don’t want to let them go, since you never know how your tastes may change in the future! For example, I initially didn’t care much for PG Drama Nuit, but now I am so in love with it that I’m thinking about buying a bottle.
Funny you should mention Drama Nuui! I’m planning to test that one today.
You guys are making me want to find my Drama Nuui sample again.
Well, I’m not sure what I’ll do when 80 samples pop up on my doorstep in one go though!
I might choose to drown myself in all of them (I did that on a very weird and impulsive night with my Amouage samples until I got a headache – kept showering and switching scents).
Also, I totally understand the not givin away scents. I’m only giving away two because I simply think they’re ok. I think it’s the “UGH” scents that I want to keep as they end up getting only extreme responses from me. For example, SL got me gagging and now I crave it. Miss Dior Original and Shalimar both bring out nothing but civet on my skin, and now I crave Amouage Ubar for doing… exactly the same thing.
Ah, what drama we perfumistas go through!
SL being Serge Lutens scents.
Yes, the drama! Yet we always come back for more…
I can’t tell you how many times the exact same things has happened to me–first I don’t like something, and in the end, sometimes months later, I love it.
Might as well buy them all, right?
As my signature on basenotes says:
Perfume appeals to my nose the way music appeals to my ears, exquisite food to my taste buds, photography to my eyes, and great loving from my man to my sense of touch.
I can safely conclude, then, that PERFUME IS ART in its purest form.
As an artist, I therefore have a responsibility to buy as much perfume as I can. You know, to learn about art and all.
You have plenty of company here!
I hope you don’t get overwhelmed by all those samples! Still, it sounds like a lot of fun is coming your way.
No, I’ll try one a day, and then often go back to wearing the familiar bottles I own. I should be happy for about 4-6 months.
Speaking of which, do you ever have it that you have been testing so long, that you put on a fragrance you used to wear often at one point, and go “Why on earth am I testing? This is so delicious!”
(Of course, you forget this feeling the next day and continue looking for more to test)
That has happened to me, and no doubt to a great many others here. Sometimes, after testing about a bazillion new scents, I will conclude that none of them can surpass what I already have. On the other hand, I have had the opposite experience as well. Sometimes, after testing a great many new fragrances, I will return to something that used to be a favorite, only to find that the magic is gone; a perfume I once loved is now only OK. It is all part of the education of your sense of smell.
I think you are totally right–it’s all about educating your nose and developing your taste.
I’ve been fascinated by how my feelings for my favorite perfumes have changed as I’ve continued to sample new things. I see it as a plus–I know I’m learning something and honing my taste. But it’s always such a bummer when a bottle I own fails to please like it used to!
Not quite the same but sometimes I’ll be sampling something, decide it’s not quite hitting the spot right at that moment, wash it off and then go hunt up something familiar and RIGHT. After all, I try to only buy full bottles of perfumes that I love so those already appeal to me.
Finding that “right” perfume for the day (or evening or whenever) really does make a difference. There’ve been a few times when I’ve returned to the house to switch perfumes because the one I had on felt wrong.
I admit that I was overcome with niche-fatigue when I first saw this line on Luckyscent. Thanks for the review, Angela — it sounds worth a sniff after all, and the comparison to Like This certainly got my attention!
You named it exactly: niche fatigue. A new perfumista term. On one hand, I like it that there are so many niche perfumes, because they be so high quality. But they can also be so mediocre–not to mention hard to get.
Hey Angie, so glad you enjoyed Pohadka! Though you might. It’s definitely the most interesting in this new line. Most of the people who’d sampled it at Esxence in Milan singled it out.
Thank you for giving me the sample (and so many others)! I’ve been enjoying them. I’m not surprised it was singled out.
Hi Angela, I ordered a full bottle of Dzing yesterday and I’m soooo excited with anticipation, as I’m in Australia I have never seen the brand l’ artisan anywhere. It also allowed me to request a few samples with my order ! I certainly feel like a lucky family member reading the comments today! I spent the whole day reading comments on Dzing as there is a lot of opinions on this juice, as it’s my birthday in a few weeks I gave myself permission to get myself a gift ( you know what I mean , any excuse ) I have no idea what to expect and I love it ! Thanks for the review and also the great comment conversation , I love u guys, feel free to share your opinion on d zing !
Dzing is one of my favorites–I hope you like it! It sounds like you bought it unsniffed. It’s an oddball fragrance, and not everyone likes it, but if you don’t love it right away, be sure to give it at least a few tries and see what you think. As I said, I think it’s wonderful, from its funky hay and rubber top to its sweet musky bottom. Here’s my NST review of Dzing, in case you haven’t read it: http://tinyurl.com/69pr4tc
Thank you for taking the time to respond ! I think I read your great review at least 5 times ! I like to go back and re read after I have read others opinions to see how similar / dis similar they are ! Yes , a blind buy , I have a habit of doing that – I gives me a mini high when I imagine how it will smell ! I love unique fragrances so this will be right up my nostrils !! Bulgari black is in my wardrobe so I’m sure I will love smelling like all the things people say I does! Im really intrigued about the animalic notes! I think I will read your review one more time as u were so kind to provide the link and then I will try to stop thinking about it!
If you like Bulgari Black, I bet you’ll love Dzing. Happy Birthday!
Thank you Angela, x
This sounds lovely! Lovely enough to disregard the wardrobe suggestion. And the fact that there is one.
It’s nice to see you!
I love a wardrobe suggestion, mostly because it gives me something to be cranky and particular about. But yes, it is a lovely, interesting, and calm fragrance. No metallic bits in sight!
Lovely review! You make this sound so enticing (don’t you always, you enabler!), but apropos of the comments above regarding sampling, it’s these newer, niche fragrances that tend to disappoint either initially or over time. I find it’s my vintage frags that seem to please me year in and year out. I’m wearing vintage Vol de Nuit parfum today, and if I wear it three days in a row, it will be slightly different each day: powdery iris, green petitgrain or jasmine and sandalwood. These new fragrances are very linear in comparison.
I sound old don’t I??
The classics are classics for a reason, that’s for sure. Your description of Vol de Nuit makes me swoon! I love that fragrance. It used to me mostly the parfum that I loved, but I’ve come to embrace the EdT, too.
Just got the samples; they sent them out before I even finished the transaction because I had sent them a screenshot of it, which I found very nice.
OH but they are heavenly, and fresh in both scent as well as figuratively; they have a “newness” about them, sort of like a young woman walking into an office full of men – full of potential and unexpected changes.
I love Lale and Monodie; they’re fruity florals yes, but somehow not the same as the mass marketed perfumes for the youth (lol! I AM the youth, but you get my point). I’d say that comparing these to normal florals is like saying wine and champagne are the same because they are both alcohol. they have similarities, but one is slightly more sparkling and classy. I really like these and, although they aren’t groundbreaking, I’ll probably turn to them on happy summer days when all is well – they really make me feel joyful and light.
Metaboles disappeared before I could decide what to think of it (I wore a drop of all 4 on both hands), but it started out gorgeous so I’ll give that one another try by fully wearing it.
Pohadka is so very interesting – I cannot make out whether I would prefer it on my SO or on myself, but it is very interesting.
So happy I ordered the samples thanks to you Angela!
But if I buy it’ll need to be a bottle split
So expensive!!! And I already adore two Amouages….
Believe me, I feel your pain. My “I’d love to have this” list rivals the value of a mortgage payment.
Also, those are lovely with small drops… When a lot of it is on it is too candy-sweet for me. Just thought I’d add this.
I’ll remember that!
Thank you for the mini reviews! You received those samples in record time, too. I’m really looking forward to giving them a try. They sound wonderful for the kind of weather we’re having here, too–warm and moist but not too warm.
I just tried my sample, and it’s interesting, but I don’t love it. I think the reason is that to me it smells almost exactly like Method lemon verbena anti-bacterial kitchen cleaner.. with a little tobacco. It has exactly the same thymol note that the cleaner has. So it’s a scrubber in a different sense.. I smell like I just scrubbed my kitchen..lol.
So it’s been a couple of hours now, and the tobacco is gone. It had a little bit lighter presence than I would have liked anyway. Now I’m just left with the kitchen cleaner. It’s a very herbal scent, and it’s really not bad. I think if i didn’t use that particular cleaner in my kitchen, I might like this more.
I’m just getting ready to try their other fragrances. It sounds like you like them better, actually.
This is the first Ys Uzac I’ve tried. I imagine I will be trying others eventually. I’d be interested to see reviews on their other scents if/when you try them.
And how does one pronounce Ys Uzac anyway? I’ve assumed it’s like Ees Oozak. Is that right?
I’m sorry! I was rushed and confused your comment with Zubi’s, above. In any case, I loved your mini-review. I just got the other samples from Kevin, and I’ll try them tonight. As for how to pronounce the company’s name, I’m stumped. In my mind I’ve been saying it exactly like you’ve written it, though.
That’s so funny–a scrubber that actually smells like a scrubber!