OLYMPIC ORCHIDS
Tropic of Capricorn

2013

PERFUMER
Ellen Covey

mango
jasmine
frangipani
tuberose
magnolia
osmanthus
maile vine
Bourbon vanilla
Africa stone
ambergris
benzoin
New Caledonian sandalwood

As perhaps to be expected based on what I know of Olympic Orchids so far, Tropic Of Capricorn is something quite out of the norm. For such a fruity, tropical concoction, I found it not the easiest to pull off, but it was worth the ride.

Surprisingly, this is not because of the animalics. They’re there and there’s a good amount of skank in this, but I’d say, that’s what you want. What does give me a bit of a hard time here is the sweetness.

While you get a lot fruitiness straight away, this lacks the levity and brightness that one may expect from fruity notes. It’s more like a fruit candy. After a while it starts to smell like a peach liqueur to me.

At the same time, there’s a dry, slightly indolic white floral accord and earthiness. This is quite nice and reminds me a bit of some of the chocolate-earthy-florals from Azman Majnoon.

The sweet fruitiness combined with the florals give off this bubblegummy quality. The more I smelled my wrist up close, the more sweet bubblegum tuberose I got from Tropic of Capricorn.

I think I would enjoy this a lot more with some elements turned way down, in particular the sweetness and fruitiness. As it stands, it’s a big perfume to wear and I couldn’t see myself pulling it off in many occasions.