Hello Frag Hags and Friends,

When Ramon Monegal released their fragrances I thought they made a decided tactical blunder: 14 new fragrances all at once was overwhelming and the few reviews they got either had all 14 mashed together with a paragraph each or they zoomed in on the 4 most interesting/outrageous/perfumista-ish of them. I wish, for them and me, that they had released three a year over five years. That way I definitely would have tried more than one of their fragrances already. What has inspired me today? Birgit from Olfactoria’s Travels added a large sample in her perfume gift pack and after reading her absolute dismissal of the fragrance I am intrigued.

Dry Wood by Ramon Monegal

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Citron, bay leaf, pepper, moss, sandalwood, cedar, cashmeran, amber, woody notes and satureja

Firstly, I think Dry Wood is a rotten misnomer. Dry Wood is neither specifically Dry or Woodsy, at least not till the very end. Maybe this is why Birgit was so dismissive. Dry Wood opens with a very old fashioned masculine citrus and herbs, the kind of scent reminiscent of something that you can buy very inexpensively at the drug store but smoother, the herbs are green and interesting and there is a very human breath-ish something in there too. The pepper is wet and spicy and I think there is a watery (not water but wetness) feel too, which is why I don’t get the name. Here we have a beautiful spring meadow after rain and we’re driving through it in a new convertible so we also get the torn grass, wildflowers and earth. The sun is shining coolly and as we drive up to the house there is a woodpile all freshly chopped and ready for the fire. As Dry Wood dries down there is a warming by the amber and slight drying towards woodiness but I would have called this Spring Fling or Country Cottage.

Photo Stolen 1ms.net

Personally, I have enjoyed this ride immensely and will use up my sample in a jiffy. It is a reinvention of barbershop fragrance, classy, interesting and absolutely wearable. I could imagine this going on after sport or gym and going back to work having people ask what smells so damn good. Great date frag too. Ladies, don’t be shy here, you will find this beautiful too.

I thought these two short reviews so fabulously different that I wanted to include them both:
BoisDeJasmine: Dry Wood contains a sharp and bracing white sandalwood note beneath a flurry of pine/turpentine “aftershave” notes. This is the most masculine and the least softly focused of the line.  It’s a bit sharp at the edges, but this is a quality I find stimulating.  I easily used up the sample; while I might not wear this with a gown, I found its stereotypical “male” aesthetic pleasing (I like sharp sandalwood).
Olfactoria’sTravels: Dry Wood: This is the only one of the fourteen I absolutely hate. It is a harsh, overly manly, wooden “screecher” of a scent. It smells artificial and frankly, cheap. Well, every line has to have a bummer and for me, this is it. But one out of fourteen is not a bad cut.

Photo Stolen colourbox

LuckyScent has $185/50ml and samples
Ramon Monegal has 107,44€/50ml (not available to Australia sadly)

Which of the line did you try? I really want one of their gorgeous bottles in my collection so I’m going to have to try them all.

Portia xx