Puredistance Strikes Gold

To discuss Puredistance Gold, the newest offering from the prestige brand based in the Netherlands, I would like to start at the end rather than the beginning. When initially trying out the perfume, it had been two sleeps since I sprayed Gold on my wrist. Initial impressions: Gold is a perfume that wears close to the skin and is fairly quiet in its reach. Yet as I lay with my  hand resting near my face I was startled by the most beautiful smell, a quiet imprint of Gold still present on my skin as if it has become part of my DNA. Puredistance has firmly positioned itself as a luxury perfumer and one of it's hallmarks is using a high percentage of perfume oils in its fragrances. This doesn't come at a cheap price, but here on my wrist, a full thirty-something hours later, is the result.

Puredistance is one of those rare perfume houses that doesn't flood the market with something new every quarter. Usually once a year a release that has been thoughtfully curated and tweaked will be introduced and in late 2019 this release was Puredistance Gold. The introduction of gold completes Puredistance founder Jan Ewoud Vos' vision of a trilogy based on the brand's three signature colors: Black, White, and Gold. Vos created his own Golden Mondriaan, a term coined to reference Dutch painter Piet Mondriaan who had a huge influence on modern art using a limited palette of colors and brush strokes. Vos wanted his perfume to display "a rich and harmonious fusion of gold tones", and I do find the perfume moves seamlessly through various stages, as if displaying various aspects and hues of the golden color.

When I hear the word gold in relation to perfume I tend to think of glitz and an almost gaudy display of wealth. Puredistance Gold takes the meaning of gold in its original connotation; a measure of something fine and rare. A perfumer has their vision when they create, but a beautiful perfume will connect with users on their own personal level. For me, Gold presented itself as the splendor and beauty of the color gold in the natural world. Gold represents warmth, be it a setting sun or a crackling fire. As the sun hits the water it can glisten and shimmer. This is what the fragrance of Gold suggests; shimmer, sparkle, warmth, glow.

The thing that cannot be argued when you smell a fragrance from Puredistance is the quality of the ingredients. A card came with the Gold sample, listing the top, middle and base notes along with their country of origin. It looks like a tiny menu in a haute cuisine restaurant and it is obvious that much pride is taken in the listed oils. Like all Puredistance perfumes, Gold has a high oil content, this time it is 36 percent.

Let me be honest. I've waited for a while to write this review because although I found the scent of Gold to be beautiful, it didn't initially move me, as when I first sprayed Puredistance Warszawa and heard church bells ringing, angels weeping, and fireworks exploding. Gold was undeniably fine, but was it me? But I kept thinking about Gold and spraying it again and each time I appreciated its beauty more and more. I enjoyed the way the fragrance kept unfolding literally hours after initially spraying. Gold has a certain fluidity as it gently changes and morphs ebbs and flows.

Image photographed by Anh Hoi from web.500px.com

Let's start with the top notes. At first spray, the green mandarin essence from Italy comes out singing. Green mandarin essence along with the Calabrian bergamot essence are front and center but they smell more zesty and green, rather than of lemons or oranges. Pink peppercorn, rosemary essence, and clove bud essence also appear in the opening. Do you know how the clove smell in carnation scents can be slightly powdery — emphasis slightly. I get a sense of that powder feel, a softness. The overall opening is uplifting and energizing, but also soothing and smooth. At this point it is quietly spicy.

Middle notes are jasmine absolute, geranium essence, cinnamon bark absolute, and cistus absolute. I never clearly smell jasmine. I do catch a touch of cinnamon and ciste absolute. The ciste labdanum is what begins to take this fragrance in the direction of a soft oriental perfume. It adds an amber and slightly fruity element to the scent. Gold is not about picking out individual notes, however. The development of this perfume is slow and unhurried and the various notes blend to a harmonious whole.

Photo from wake-my-soul.tumblr.com

Base notes further increase oriental aspects of Gold. There is styrax essence, benzoin resins, myrrhe, vanilla green beans, tonka beans, castoreum, and vetiver. My experience was that the perfume became pretty faint for quite some time, only to surprise me later with alluring aromas that were quietly intense. Benzoin, labdanum, and myrrhe are someof my favorite notes, but rarely have I seen them so masterfully hum with a soft warm energy.

Jan Ewoud Vos turned again to perfumer Antoine Lie to create his latest visionary scent. Lie is also the perfumer for Puredistance White, Black, Warszawa, and Aenotus. 

Don't try Puredistance Gold expecting a pyrotechnic display. Gold doesn't need to call attention to itself. It is pure class and elegance. The scent stays close to the skin, and in my opinion is worn for the wearer's pleasure rather than to elicit comments from those in your orbit. I am far too fickle and too much of a thrill seeker to ever have just one signature scent. If I were so inclined, however, I can see Gold's quiet charm and surprisingly seductive allure persuading me that it could be that one!

Thank you to Puredistance for the sample of Gold. The photo of the bottle is from the Puredistance website. Any other pictures not labeled are Pinterest images.