Lily Gris: Purple Sultani

Iris is one of my many obsessions. But those who know me know the love I have for lilies. The challenge is that while iris offers you an actual extract to work with, lily – much like gardenia – is a subject of great craft and imagination. And imagination is where the perfumer truly abides. It’s easy to put out a scent pyramid that reads like a million bucks, but to evoke gardenias out of jasmine and tuberose, to craft the perfect ambergris accord or to give sandalwood the heft and volume of rose – these are different matters altogether. There are two types of lilies in perfumery. One of them is the woodland lily-of-the-valley. The other is my great love, famously presented to you in avant-garde self-destructive fashion in compositions like Mystical Lotus and Blue Kalbar. But while Mystical Lotus was full-on blue lotus, the secret to this composition was to strip the blue lotus of its blue and turn it toward the valley – this requires the same olfactory feat that mutes the purple facets of iris and turns them white. Here, the hedonistic carnality of the blue butteriness of the water lily must sacrifice itself to give life to its unattainable terrestrial counterpart – the docile, ever-flirtatious, never-attainable lily of the valley. A rendezvous where that inimitable beauty of the valley’s ethereal grace and fleetingness melts into the narcotic buttery accord of blue, also known as nymphaea caerulea (only the most beautiful aromatic could be named nymph of the waters). This meeting of blue and blanc gives you the Lily – but what about the Gris? Ancient Egyptians couldn’t resist the narcotic aphrodisiacal quality of blue water lilies, and neither could I. As a perfumer, you start to wonder: Civet and orange, cumin and musk, oud and rose, the tantalizing touch of a lily and… what? In Yemen, ambergris is consumed for sexuality. It’s heated and infused into teas and drank for… you know what. So, what could be more apt (and rapt!) than to let our nymphs escape the pond and freely bathe in a sensual pool of sunshine, sea salt, and iodine! If you own Jamaican Ambergris and/or Ottoman Ambergris, it is high time you add Lily Gris to your ambergris curriculum. All three feature heavy doses of agarwood, which in each case leaves a thick trail of oud spirited by vintage ambergris. Yet, each couldn’t smell more different from the other. The trio is a fascinating and blissfully enjoyable olfactory journey into the world of oud and ambergris. And now, of course… lily! If lily and ambergris were not the weak spot of this perfumer, I would have called this my Japanese plum blossom incense installment, in line with Iris Blanc and Yamanashi. This edition dips that incense in drops of glistening bubbles that pop open to ooze out the finest oud you can wish to smell. And this time, the oud is purple. Purple Sultani follows in an exquisite lineage of purple sinking kinamic kodo bliss, the likes of Brunei Kynam and Kannan Koh. Here it arrives as Purple Mélange – my in-house chord of Purple Sultani, Terengganu, and King Super – ouds most collectors would lock away as heirloom distillations. This is the very same Purple Mélange I used to create the sold-out leather edition of Jamaican Ambergris that people still email us about. If you know what those ouds did there, it’s high time you smell what they do to Lily Gris. When it came to deciding which oud to grace this Lily Gris with, I barely had to think about it. Purple Mélange. What could be better? Which oud could make the lilies pop and make the gris fly over your skin and rain down purple K better than a marriage of super-king sinking legends? Every 50 ml of this edition contains three full grams of Purple Mélange – a lavishness that makes no sense on paper, given how sparingly oud like this is usually used. Three grams of irreplaceable vintage legends that let you smell the scent of super-king, sinking agarwood distilled decades ago from Malay and Brunei-grade slabs that no longer exist, and aged long enough to go proper purple – dense, resin-saturated, iris-toned, and piercing in that unmistakable kinamic way. Oud of this kind does not exist anywhere else. #Only@EO At this concentration, that’s not a subtle hint of oud. The mélange injects a deep, resinous oud spine directly into the ambergris, letting the sandy, dry beach facets of the old grey amber diffuse through mature purple oud rather than synthetics or smoke tricks. On skin, the effect is immediate: a pure oud presence hovering close, wrapped in the glowing halo of ambergris that has always defined Lily Gris. The lily-of-the-valley heart and its blue-lotus carnality lend their controlled sweetness without softening the structure, while a measured splash of rose otto lifts the diffusion and sharpens the profile. Purple Mélange doesn’t decorate Lily Gris… it seeps through and turns the whole brew purple. Smell Lily Gris closely and you discover that this isn’t only a special place between the pond and the ocean, but that those delicate lilies are donned in the plummy facets of kneaded Japanese incense. Beachcombed white juxtaposed with royal vault vintage grey punctuated by Japanese plum and a zen aesthetic throughout. The Japanese aesthetic is one of complication in simplicity. Overstatement via understatement. With this in mind, imagine you’re attending a kodo sitting and those plummy facets of the incense slowly get fractured through a prism of mauve Purple Sultani resin and pale beachcombed white to create a pristine periwinkle. Imagine those sweet indigo notes dipped into a pond of sinking-grade Malay and Brunei super-king that give lift to the ambergris dancing with blue nymphs of unmistakable purity, all of which – not so coincidentally – give birth to the perfect plum blossom neriko accord… If you want a lily ghalia, this one is not for you. Between the sweet purple repleteness of Purple Rain and the animalic roar of an EO musk, Lily Gris is a scent of immaculate sophistication, elegance, and total zen. Is Lily Gris so singular so as for it to be the only lily-themed ambergris in all of perfumery, kind of like Iris Ghalia is the only iris-centric musk? Or will this become a trend? I wouldn’t be able to tell you because I’m in a field of lilies and the only thing to follow me here is the gentle breeze from the coast carrying upon it the salty savor of the ocean, the tide rolling in purple at my feet. Composition: Purple Sultani · Terengganu · King Super (all sinking-grade oud) · Ambergris · Khmer Musk · Civet · Blue Lotus · Rose · Ylang Extra · Jasmine Tea · Orange Blossom · Frangipani · Saffron · Apple · Tobacco · Myrrh · Raw Crassna Resin · Asian Styrax · Blue Cypress · Sandalwood · Borneo Agarwood Hydrosol #gap-1661247592 { padding-top: 30px; } Review of Previous Editions… Stunning! —Sherling S / USA Lily Gris Sekadau by Ensar Oud – Oud at Its Finest Lily Gris Sekadau is a resinous, floral fragrance which is utterly dominated by Oud. it lasts all day, with just the right amount of sillage which does play an important role. The blue lotus note is ridiculously pronounced, almost edible, and it’s got this subtle earthiness lurking in the background that’s hard to put into words. Ambergris is present throughout, from opening of the fragrance to it’s dry down, with its intensity shifting subtly over time. That indolic jasmine note adds a wild, reckless touch, but Oud is the real star here. It starts off peppery and spicy, then mellows into this gorgeous, leathery note that pairs perfectly with the mineralic ambergris. —Sunny C / USA The finest lotus swimming in a pool of oud. A true zen perfume. One spray is all you need and you’ll get a luxurious, calming and meditative experience. —Chris A / Germany I have just received my Lily Gris: Sekadau today, wow! Thats exactly what i love about Ensar fragrances. I am getting a lot of blue Lotus and ambergris from it, just as expected. It showcases the mouthwatering fruity facets and the earthy ones of the lotus so well, without being flat, or overly sweet. Mystical Lotus: Abu Yog is more elegant, complex, a bit darker and more aquatic, while Lily Gris really takes the Lotus out of the muddy water and gives it a dry, woody and earthy environment. It’s more like the smell of blue lotus oil when it dries down, super easy to wear and really likeable floral heavy composition, like Purple Kinam PP. Also tried the Sekadau sample and it ‘s a beautiful Oud, feels like a green and spicy jungle, but without smelling wet, rather a sunny day in the jungle with some delicate flowers covering the trees. Really refined with a flower like smoothness, soft woody tones and a resinous touch. Great release and choice for Lily Gris. —Patrick / Germany Lily Gris is… very good. You get the core DNA of the OG Lily Gris but then there’s the Oud… The oud is so intense, and it works very well with the Lily Gris DNA. Abu Yog was very bright, slightly soapy and sweet, this one is a heavy version with an in-your-face oud punch in the opening… UPDATE: …Lily Gris Sekadau is my favourite version of Lily Gris. The depth of the oud blends in perfectly with the lotus and the ambergris and gives you a great floral-oud experience. The bottom of the bottle is covered by little oil bubbles and I’m sure that this one will become even better once it has macerated for a while. So far I’m very happy to have this one in my collection. Complex, oudy and absolutely precious scent. Sillage and longevity are great as well! UPDATE: Everything that was good about the first version has been made even better in this new sekadau version. The opening is a blast of oud, lotus and florals that melts together with the ambergris and tea notes. It’s like a walk through a zen temple full of aromatic florals, lotus ponds, burning incense and that beautiful oud smell of the sekadau oud in the air. 10/10 perfume! —Chris A / Germany Ambergris, florals & ouds : The amount of complexity they can bring to a blend, if from higher quality, is showcased here. Salty, mineralic, sparkling & with a musk-like creaminess : Ambergris vibrates from start to finish. It collides with intense floral tones in the beginning, like blue lotus (!), one of the main stars next to ambergris, which starts off lavish-green, almost indolic (like jasmin) & gets fruitier (like yuzu) through time. Orange blossom & rose add the impression of a clean soap. This bright floral middle, in combination with the ambergris, slightly reminded me of Iris Blanc without the iris. But oh boy, what follows shortly after, is a different world. Dark ouds from Malaysia & Borneo start to pulsate loudly, giving off that bold Tigerwood-ish vintage SQ profile (like the burmese one), ranging from green-terpenic, earthy & leathery to animalic. The intense floral ambergris start & the potent oud later on, I didn’t expect them & the blend in general to be this dense. My personal highlight was the fruity blue lotus note which I enjoyed in Irian Green as well. I would recommend this perfume to people who enjoy intense compositions with ambergris, blue lotus & oud. —Schoeib K / Afghanistan #gap-113640219 { padding-top: 30px; } This one is the most unique… I don’t think I’ve ever encountered something that smells like this. I would have loved to come to know this beautiful scent over many years of wearing it on special occasions as I love dense floral compositions. This is another fragrance that suits my personal tastes perfectly. A tart, semi-sweet plum in the opening is quickly joined by pastel-coloured florals. The floral landscape is really the star of the fragrance, tremendously lush and airy. It has a doughy, smooth, periwinkle tone, and even as early as 10 minutes in a haze of kodo incense was joining the fray. It is extremely unique. The only thing I can compare it to style-wise is Mystical Lotus in that I consider both to be masterful uses of lush florals even though they smell very different. Very luxurious, smooth, balanced, powerful. —Renzo C / Canada It starts with a heavy dose of florals and a slightly creaminess. The lotus is very strong and adds a slightly soapy touch to the sweet notes of orange and plum blossom. The ambergris combined with the blue profile of the abu yog oud compliments the floral bouquet with a nice oceanic breeze. It started quite soapy (probably the lotus) but it got sweeter and sweeter the more it dried down. After a while you’ll notice how everything melts together into a nice incense like smell of sweet and salty aromatics. That’s just my first impression, I still have to give it a full wear and spend some time with it but the single spray on my arm was already a super intense experience. —Chris A / Germany Spectacularly beautiful. Delicate but I don’t mind that. Springlike freshness in a bottle, I think of white light dappling over water, hints of jasmine and violets within the lily. Orange and plum blossom impressions amongst the white and blue. Visions of purity, of luck, humility and kindness with a little something more peppered in – it’s a genius move honestly – as Lily always seems to carry that just very slight subtle dirty quality amongst its purity, and the turn towards the peppery oud creates a similar but novel (in my opinion more enjoyable) note. The cooling quality of the oud again just adding to the bliss, my goodness. Ensar writes about how perfumers work in the imagination, and I’m floored at what he brings here as the accord for lilies of the valley. Exalted, yet soft, buttery and fleeting. Very zen, very beautiful. The ambergris melts in perfectly, where its strongly there but also a part of the whole, it shows itself more fully during the drydown. Gorgeous incense floral for a refined palate. Unisex in how a luxury spa is unisex. A nice lunch on a yacht. Like the lapel of a groom in white tie. Love Lily Gris. —Chano V / UK