Beauty Care: Oriza L. Legrand Horizon Perfume Review

Oriza L. Legrand Horizon Eau de Parfum is one of the more patchouli-driven fragrances I’ve come across; and it’s dark, earthy patchouli blended with chocolate that goes from boozy and rich to darker and more bitter. Tobacco and leather accent the composition at times, but largely, Horizon was patchouli and chocolate on me from shortly after opening to the very end gaining subtle additional honeyed sweetness at the drydown.

top notes: bitter orange, candied mandarin, dried roses
heart notes: aged cognac, tobacco leaves, torrefied almonds and cocoa beans, oakwood, patchouli
base notes: benzoin, ambergris, peat, blond tobacco, vanilla, honey, soft leather

It was boozy and rich and chocolaty in its opening minute before becoming darker and darker chocolate grounded into wet soil as the patchouli came in with a bang. The dark chocolate married with orange a few minutes later with a smooth, nuttiness that followed. The dark, earthy patchouli slowly moved to the foreground with as the dark chocolate settled into the background.

Horizon changed minimally over time as patchouli remained the star of the show; it was sometimes accented by tobacco and leather but both were subtle. It was only after four hours of wear that it sweetened considerably and lost some of its earthiness.

Application

For testing, I used half of a 1ml sample vial dabbed to the underside and topside of my wrist area on my left arm. I used an unscented moisturizer prior to applying the scent as this is also my swatching arm (aka, incredibly parched at any given moment) as I found scent did not hold well here otherwise.

Longevity

The sillage was moderate for the first hour, while the projection was moderate before dropping to only a few inches above my skin at the three-hour mark. The fragrance was still readily discernible on my skin after six hours and barely-there after 10 hours.

Personal Thoughts

I’ve enjoy patchouli as note in several fragrances over time, but it was a lovely experience to test something that very much felt like the patchouli took centerstage the whole way through. It didn’t get lost to smoke, leather, amber, or even vanilla. It was much earthier and darker throughout, when I find it is often more spiced and a little sweeter in other scents I’ve loved with it. That being said, perhaps a little too earthy or else I’m not sold on the chocolaty interplay for so long.