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Les Nombre’s D’Or: Vanille by Mona Di Orio 2011

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Hey there Niche Nerds,

Les Nombres d`Or: Vanille by Mona di Orio 2011

Les Nombres d`Or Vanille Mona di Orio FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Petitgrain, clove, rum, bitter orange
Heart: Vetiver, sandalwood, guaiac wood, ylang-ylang
Base: Amber, tonka bean, vanille, tolu balsam, leather, musk

The box and bottle are the first things you notice about Vanille. They are both so beautiful, sturdy, hefty and both also have a feeling that the creator is fueled by an ascetic of simple, elegant, design and longevity, this lovely glass brick and lid is completed by the useless but interesting, and intrinsic to its look of utter completeness, wire cage and ring pull. I find myself reaching for the joy of the box and bottle as much as I do for the juice inside, which is no less lovely, complete, designed and created.

Vanille Mona Di OrioPhoto Stolen Mona di Orio

Before doing this review I had not looked at a note list except in passing in preparation for my purchase after going through a decant at light speed. When I saw a nearly full bottle being sold very reasonably on facebook I jumped on it. Since its arrival it has had the second most skin time of any fragrance in my wardrobe and I reach for it even more often without spritzing, just to enjoy its whole beauty. So it was quite a surprise to come back now and find that loads of people are talking about the amazing top note of bitter orange, which I now completely get. Ha ha ha the joke is on me, I had NO IDEA. My nose gave me only the spicy, fizzy, citrus like clove and some booze on a sweet vanilla and amber. I knew there was much more and the smokiness, earth and woods were more like the dying embers of a BarBQ for me than specifics. I felt the darkness, soared with the sensual ylang and dug down into the grounding vetiver without knowing what or why, Vanille is beyond lovely. It’s interesting, full of twists and turns that unexpectedly jump somewhere new but through it all I find it wearable, unchallenging, accessible and comfortable.

Vanille by Mona Di Orio HappyHome TheCoastPhoto Stolen TheCoastNZ

Surprisingly Vanille is becoming my comfortable jeans and favourite hoody. I have sometimes said a fragrance feels like a hug, this is a bear hug under a blanket with the one you love on a rainy day where you have cancelled all plans and have oodles of yummy leftovers and an endless supply of delicious teas, coffee and hot chocolate, and LOADS of Ferrero Rocher. I can wear it to slum, dine, relax, go out and stay home sniffing the story. I urge you to try Vanille and then come tell me if you enjoyed it. It’s pretty enough to gift a non perfumista and intriguing enough to keep a hard core perfumista entertained for hours.

EXTRA: I did a side by side throw down of Vanille MdO and Vanille Absolument L’Artisan the other day. The MdO is more interesting and has a better journey but the L’Artisan is warm amber, vanilla and booze all the way through, it’s richer, grander and sticks like glue in a very linear progression. Of the two I still find MdO a more relaxed and comfortable fit but L’Artisan has done an excellent job if you are thinking about grabbing it before it disappears forever.

Vanille by Mona di Orio The Picnic Manet WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels takes us beautifully through the scent and Scents Of Self talks of Mona di Orio.
Parfum1 has $230/100ml (and I tell you to join their mailing list for the 20% Discount coupons that come every so often)
Surrender To Chance starts at $7/ml

Have you tried the Mona di Orio scents? Which did you like? Do you have a favourite vanilla other than this? I love them and want to know more.

See you tomorrow,
Portia xx

Petit Fracas 2012 by Aurelien Guichard for Robert Piguet

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Hello Fragrance Family,

For many years tuberose lovers, white flower lovers, would talk lovingly of Fracas: that saucy, sensual, bubblegum fragrance that lured many a perfumista through the doorway and down the wormhole. Even the Fracas haters would compliment its artistry, its sweet green sappiness that could read as erotic or toxic, depending on your viewpoint and skin chemistry. I have a very old spray set of Fracas parfum that has weathered time quite well and a bottle of the modern EdP.

As you may know we had Joe Garces from Robert Piguet in Sydney this week and he kindly offered us a special APJ Piguet Masterclass. You’ll find some of the snaps here at APJ on Wednesday if you’re interested in the fun day we had. It was EXCELLENT!

Petit Fracas 2012 by Robert Piguet

Petit Fracas FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, mandarin, pear
Heart: Tuberose, jasmine, gardenia
Base: Cocoa, musk, sandalwood

Recently I got a bottle of Petit Fracas from Libertine Perfumerie and can’t believe how similar and different the Petit Fracas and original Fracas are. Joe Garces tells us that when he went to be CEO for Robert Piguet the house was in deep shit. It needed to be turned around somehow so they decided to add some new fragrances and revitalise some of the old ones with reconstructions that are as close a nod to their same name predecessors as can be produced in modern perfumerie. As they still had a bestseller called Fracas why would they tamper?

Well the story goes that Joe’s daughter hates Fracas, detests it. Which is highly believable in the current age of fragrance tastes. So Joe had the idea to bring something completely new and modern to Fracas to make it more youth oriented, a better version of the fragrances that what many younger fragrance wearers are spritzing now: with its basic body coming from the Fracas mold. I can’t remember who had the idea but someone said gourmand was in and they should add chocolate. ADD CHOCOLATE? To FRACAS?!? So someone DID add chocolate to Fracas, lightened it up, gave it a fruity punch at the beginning and a more interesting and traveling story than original Fracas.

Fracas Sexy Ladies Telegraph.UKPhoto Stolen TelegraphUK

How does it smell on me? Well the fruit leads the way and it’s a milky fruit, like pear and citrus zest whipped cream with a dash of vanilla ( but that could be early chocolate signs). The white flowers are already a part of the equation but they don’t fully take centre stage because there is no room for them until about 20-40 minutes in. It’s fruit, fruit, fruit but not in the ubiquitous modern designer fragrance way, this is hefty fragrance and you feel fully perfumed though in a modern way. There is still some air between the notes, like a glossy, bright and very slightly fizzy aura. The bubble gum, sticky, sappy green candy swoosh heralds the moment of white flower take over. It is regal and alluring, a powerful intoxicant that is less herbaceous than Fracas original and a little bit more fun.  Maybe I’m imagining it but Petit fracas is not Petit, it is younger but not smaller and I think it would be an excellent choice for brides and girls on a night out.

The chocolate is not as pronounced as I expected it to be and reads more vanilla in my nose, and milky, and there is something dark that may be a nod to chocolate, but it seems like dark, bitter chocolate, and only a hint.

Wear time is better than average wit whispers left after 7 hours and I think it way too fragrant for most offices but try it, see if they let you. It’s worth it.

Joe Garces #01Joe Garces: Robert Piguet CEO

Joe was honest about the need to continually tweak to maintain currency and to stay within the IFRA guidelines, also the need to keep the juice consistent because some years the naturals that are used come in extremely different to previous years, or way more expensive or less product because of drought etc so every batch is tweaked to make it as much the same smell as every other bottle you’ve purchased as possible. Interesting.

Further reading: The Candy Perfume Boy and Ca Fleure Bon
Libertine Perfumerie has $198/100ml
I could not find a sample of Petit fracas on any of the major sites. SO ANNOYING!! You’ll have to go to your nearest department store that stocks Robert Piguet.

See you tomorrow. I hope your weekend was good.
Portia xx

Sun by Pierre Bourdon for Jil Sander 1989

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

Hello Fragrant Fairies,

While in Europe this was an impulse buy, it was a good deal and I love the packaging. It’s not something I’ve seen available in Australia which is funny because I think it the perfect Aussie scent.

Sun by Jil Sander 1989

Jil Sander Sun FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Amalfi lemon, bergamot, cassis, palisander rosewood, fruity notes, African orange blossom
Heart: Iris (orris root), ylang-ylang, heliotrope, carnation, lily of the valley,
Base: Vanilla, tonka, cedar, benzoin, styrax, amber, patchouli, sandalwood, musk

The night after I bought Sun, Jin and I were having dinner with Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) and her adorable husband Michael and I decided in the minus 5-10 Celcius weather that I definitely needed a little Sun. Interestingly it was Michael who said he recognised the fragrance and Birgit was so surprised, it was one of her favourite fragrances when they were first dating. How uncanny is that?

I can understand it being a great love of a fragrance because it’s so fun and easy to wear. While not being a super force power frag it is beautifully blended and noticeable, quite often people will ask what I’m wearing when I am in Sun. Honestly I find it extremely hard to pick out the notes listed in Sun but like the sun it’s warm and I also find it comfortable like an old jumper or jeans that you love and they fit perfectly. That’s how Sun makes me feel. Like the feeling of contentment, you don’t have to push to enjoy it, it just is.

Sun Jil Sander Sun Through Trees hdwallpaperslistPhoto Stolen hdwallpaperslist

I get the green, fruity, citrus opening and the flowers all come rushing in dressed up as a fabulous bouquet with a lean towards white floral and as it warms into amber woodsiness after about 6 hours I know there will still be remnants tomorrow morning that will smell fresh and clean and beautiful. No wonder Sun has been around for so long, every year it gets a couple of flankers too but Sun continues and there are hardly any in the online discount stores.

I think you could definitely wear Sun as a guy or a girl, it would be a super work scent as long as your office isn’t frag-phobic and it even goes beautifully with date night, sensual rather than siren but they’ll get the idea. Sun has stayed on my bureau since we returned from Europe and gets quite a lot of skin time, it’s a spritz and forget frag that I know smells awesome and goes with everything. Tonight I wore it out with friends for dinner at a bar and Trivia and then Bingo at another bar, Sun was a perfect fit.

Sun Jil Sander MeetUpPhoto Stolen MeetUp

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels
Essential Mall has $50/75ml
ThePerfumedCourt is the only place I could find samples and start at $4/ml

Have you ever tried Sun? Or any of its flankers? Did you love it?
Portia xx

The ad is KILLER!!

I’d like to thank the gorgeous Neela Vermiere for telling me to change perfumers name from Bourbon to Bourdon. THANKS!!

Le Cherche Midi: Kickstart Program

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Hey All You New Niche Nerds,

I found this wonderful new (to me) fragrance house and their idea through Perfume Shrine yesterday, and this is what they had to say about Le Cherche Midi:
This is the page on the Kickstarter site and they have 11 days to run till completion. There are clips and information on the new fragrances there and you can see the rewards for the pledges (yes, there is some instant gratification built in too)
As you can see the participation starts extremely low (just 1$!) so everyone can help out.

Le Cherche Midi 3 packLe Cherche Midi 3 Pack

Nathan and I had to chat because originally it was only being shipped to the USA. So Portia, the most annoying Aussie on earth, wrote and begged for a worldwide shipping availability. Guess what? Within an hour Nathan had organised it so with a little extra payment you can get your lovely new fragrances shipped around the world. That’s the kind of Customer Service that deserves rewards! So I bought the fabulous 3 pack of 100ml bottles for under $200 including shipping! What a great deal.

If you happen to have $1000 lying around they will do a bespoke fragrance for you! I know it sounds a lot but Mandy Aftel starts at $1600 and Francis Kurkdjian goes from $15,000-$250,000. There are many in between too.

Jump to KickStart now and help this wonderful company grow by pledging some money, and get terrific gifts for doing so.

Le Cherche Midi BespokeLe Cherche Midi Bespoke

http://www.lecherchemidi.com/

http://www.bespokefragrance.com

Thank you!
Portia xxxx

Spiritus / Land #2 by Miller et Bertaux 2004 (?)

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Post by Poodle

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The cottage was a mess when she inherited it. No one had lived there since her grandfather died. Her family thought it was too small, too rustic and that she should sell it. She thought it held a certain charm and now it was hers. It needed a lot of work but she had vision to see past the years of dirt that had accumulated in every crack and crevice. She scrubbed every inch of it until her fingers were raw. She remembered her grandmother used to burn incense to purify the air. She loved the smell of incense sticks but not the smoke so she would tuck them strategically around the house like potpourri. She washed and polished the wood floors. She put fresh new curtains on the windows. Little by little it regained some of its former beauty.

Spiritus/Land #2 gum-tree-cottage TripAdvisorPhoto Stolen TripAdvisor

She was now finally able to sit back and admire the results of her hard work. The warm spice tea she cradled in her hands comforted her. The smell of the ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg brought back memories of when her grandmother used to bake in this very kitchen. It was early fall and still warm enough to keep the windows open. On the breeze she could smell the lavender and geraniums she had planted in the window box. Every now and then she caught a whiff of the late summer roses but they were far from the house so it was only ever a fleeting scent. Sunlight streamed into the kitchen in the late afternoon. She was convinced that as the floorboards warmed under the sunlight she could smell the wood and even after all of her cleaning efforts and bucketfuls of soapy water, a touch of her grandfather’s tobacco still lingered.

 Spiritus/Land #2 by Miller et Bertaux

Spiritus : Land #2 Miller et Bertaux FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Top: bergamot, rosemary, incense
Heart: lavender, rose, geranium, ginger, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg
Base: sandalwood, teak wood, patchouli, tobacco

When I got the sample for Spiritus / Land I was expecting something earthy and dirty. It has a dusty quality to it but it’s clean and fresh at the same time. I saw it described as an incense scent but this is not churchy at all. It smells more like the unlit sticks. It’s also a soapy scent. It opens somewhat herbal, fresh, and woody all at the same time and then hits you with ginger and spice. Not like dessert spices, these are spices without the sugar. The spices are prominent throughout its development and the wood notes seem to come and go. Yet for all the spice and woods it is a very clean smelling fragrance because it has a very strong soapy quality to it that persists throughout. It also seems to smell cleaner as it develops instead of getting woodier and dirtier in the base. This isn’t the modern clean of laundry fabric softener. It’s more along the lines of an old fashioned guest soap. If soap isn’t your thing you might want to pass on this one. If you’re looking for a clean scent without citrus or marine accords it might be worth a try. The lack of sweetness in the spice might make it lean more masculine to some. Longevity on the average person is probably pretty good. My scent eating skin got a few hours out of it and at the end my skin had a just out of the shower scent to it. This was the first perfume I’ve tried from this line and while it was not true love on me I imagine it would be wonderful on the right person.

Spiritus:Land #2 Spices ehowPhoto Stolen ehow

Further reading: Perfume Smellin’ Things and Now Smell This
Libertine Parfumerie has $165/100ml with FREE postage within Australia
Aedes de Venustas has $145/100ml
Surrender To Chance start at $3/ml

Thanks for reading<
Poodle xx

Magnolia Grandiflora by Sandrine Videault for Grandiflora 2013

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Guest Post by Jordan River

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Magnolia Grandiflora by Grandiflora 2013

Magnolia flower

A fragrance is about to bloom out of Sydney, Australia.
Floral Artisan, Saskia Havekes and perfumer Sandrine Videault have combined their artistic talents to produce a perfume. First let’s take a look at some of Saskia’s other work or more correctly, heartwork which includes indoor and outdoor arrangements as well as books on floral art.

grandiflora sydney saskia the fragrant man thefragrantman tulips

Flowers by Saskia

grandiflora sydney saskia the fragrant man thefragrantman archway flowers floral grandiflora sydney saskia the fragrant man thefragrantman orchids

Grandiflora Arrangements cover

image

Many flowers today are bred to be beautiful but not necessarily fragrant. Saskia has sources for particularly fragrant flowers which she artfully combines with beautifully bred ones for a scented atmosphere with visual delights. Photographing nature is also a passion.

grandiflora sydney saskia the fragrant man thefragrantman orchid poppy

Grandiflora is the name of Saskia’s atelier in Potts Point. Magnolia Grandiflora is the name of her about-to-be-released perfume.

Saskia outside Grandiflora, her atelier in Potts Point, Sydney.

Saskia outside Grandiflora, her atelier in Potts Point, Sydney.

The story of this fragrance begins millions of years ago, before humans or many other creatures we know today existed. The ancient genus Magnolia appeared before bees did, and pollination occurred thanks to the help of beetles. The tree adapted to the strength of its hardworking pollinators, resulting in the longevity of this beautiful, fragrant tree.

The magnolia is a true sight to behold – tall trees mantled with startling blossoms come to life in the springtime, shrouding surrounding areas in a fragrance known to this earth for more than 20 million years. The magnolia’s timber is heavy and robust, and the flower has continued to bloom and burst with lush fragrance across the ages, yet the flowers fade so fast. To hold magnolia’s fragrance is a kind of magical blessing.

Amer who lives in the magnolia-filled country of Greece had this to say just last week:

this tree is very common where I live and now it is blooming. It is too tall to allow picking of the flowers but today while walking casually, a huge petal, as big as my palm landed in front of me. I picked it up and it smelled like lemon, very much different to the other, bush like variety with the flame shaped flowers. The petal was sturdy and somewhat fleshy. I was on my way to meet a friend for coffee so I brought it with me as a gift for her. A gift of one petal instead of a whole flower, stingy one might say but she seemed thrilled to receive it none the less.
– Amer

Magnolia Grandiflora Bottle Hero

Magnolia Grandiflora
Perfumer: Sandrine Videault
Release Date: August 2013
Classification: Soliflore
EDP 100ml
Recommended Retail Price: $185 AUD / $168 EUR
Pre-orders: fragrance@grandiflora.net

Notes
Top citrus, grapefruit, pepper
Heart dry woods, fresh garden accord,
Drydown marine, musk

Saskia is currently traveling through Grasse on perfume business before returning to Sydney to launch her perfume.

grandiflora sydney saskia the fragrant man thefragrantman magnolia

Waking up in Grasse. View from Saskia's window.

Waking up in Grasse. View from Saskia’s window.
Photo: Saskia Havekes

A garden in Grasse. Photo: Saskia Havekes

A garden in Grasse.
Photo: Saskia Havekes

We managed to track her down and ask her the following questions:

How long did you dream of making your own fragrance?

I have dreamed of creating fragrance for many years. The Magnolia grandiflora trees that line Macleay Street (outside our studio) start flowering in October and have been the inspiration for our identity and many photos by Gary Heery (my partner). As we base the beginning of nearly all our arrangements around this flower and its leaves it seemed the obvious first choice. Along with the unique fragrance and elegance, to capture her was a journey for both Sandrine and myself. The heart was illusive and very transient.

How long from the decision to act to the release date in August 2013?

The journey began three years ago.
In Grasse we were able to combine many personal highs with connecting with our manufacturers and their famous gardens. It was one of my most delightful moments so far when I was rolling in pink rose petals by the truck load on a sunny morning.

grandiflora sydney saskia the fragrant man thefragrantman rose petals
I really felt like a bee during the pollination process. On entering Grasse from Nice airport I spotted a Magnolia grandiflora tree loaded with masses of blooms, a welcome that was a sign of good things ahead.

Magnolia Grandiflora Packaging
Grandiflora is available August 2013.
Pre-orders: fragrance@grandiflora.net

(Stockist enquiries: http://www.grandiflorafragrance.com )

Guest Post by Jordan River

Further Reading
Magnolia for Men
Magnolia for Everyone
Grandiflora in Potts Point
Grain de Musc – Denyse Beaulieu’s Top 10 Picks for Summer

Grandiflora by Sandrine Videault for Magnolia 2013: New Perfume

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 1 Comment
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Post by Jordan River
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Magnolia for Everyone

Grandiflora

Sydney floral artisan Saskia Havekes and perfumer Sandrine Videault are preparing Grandiflora’s first perfume which will be a magnolia scent. The juice is macerating as we write. In the meantime you can enjoy Saskia’s aesthetic on the cover of Michael Edwards’s Fragrances of The World 2013.

Fragrances of the world 2013

Photo: Gary Heery
Flowers: Saskia Hevekes for Michael Edwards

When I lived in Sydney I would often walk past Grandiflora in Potts Point just to breathe the fragrant air. The sign of a superlative Sydney restaurant was and still is flower arrangements by Saskia whose signature flower is magnolia. Magnolia is also known as Grandiflora, and is therefore the name of her floral atelier and her upcoming scent. Branches, leaves and flowers are hallmarks of Saskia’s style.

Magnolia is the new white.

Jordan River xx

This is a simultaneous post with The Fragrant Man: New Zealand’s best loved fragrance blog and it’s blogger, APJ contributor and my buddy Jordan River

Dry Wood by Ramon Monegal 2012

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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

Dry Woods Ramon Monegal fragranticaPhoto 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.

Dry Wood Ramon Monegal 1ms.netPhoto 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.

slice of dry wood timber natural backgroundPhoto 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

Athunis by Enrico Buccella for Sigilli 2010

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Hey Hey Happy Huffers,

Earlier this year Jin and I travelled through Europe meeting some fabulous perfumistas along the way. One of those was Birgit from Olfactoria’s Travels who loaded me down with a multitude of samples. This is one from that extremely daunting because it’s so enormously FULL box. I decanted the 2ml manufacturers dab vial into a spritzer for more realistic testing. I have a FB of another of the Sigilli line, Pyrgos, which is made around the scented remnants in vessels recently unearthed at an archaeological site, very interesting and we’ll be reviewing it here soon.

Athunis by Sigilli 2010

Athunis is said to be named after the Etruscan god of beauty.

Athunis Sigilli FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Cedar
Heart: Java vetiver, cedar
Base: Java vetiver, musk.

If you like your fragrance woody and smoky, herbal, slightly bitter and earthy then this could be the one for you. The woody opening is like being at a lumber yard after everyone has gone home, you can smell the fresh sawdust, the timbers both green and fully dried, the machinery cooling and the very last whiff of humanity as the sun goes down cooling everything. When the initial blast of wood dies down I find myself in earthy country, humus rich compost and garden soil, still woody but more interesting. The smokiness comes and goes, sometimes it’s an incense style smoke other times it’s a wood fire crackling warmly, not intrusive but pleasantly washing a patina over the woods themselves. Lastly, many hours later, as a change from the earthy, resinous, woodsiness there is a soft musk that is quite human, clean but not freshly washed, that works beautifully alongside whats left of the woods and then gone.

Athunis lumber yard TapHardWoodsPhoto Stolen TapHardWoods

This is called a masculine and it skews that way decidedly but I think that any woman who likes a woody fragrance would smell incredible if she gave Athunis a shot. I find it much like Tam Dao but more powerful, less intricate and with excellent lifespan, I would not have picked this for myself based on the notes but have really enjoyed wearing Athunis and will definitely use up this decant. Will I spring for FB? There is an opening for something so outrageously woody in my collection and I would probably wear it, TSO Jin would be ALL OVER THIS though and I may just grab him a bottle.

Athunis stick-incense DivineAncestryPhoto Stolen DivineAncestry

Further reading: Scent For Thought
I could find other Sigilli samples but not this one
First In Fragrance has 100ml €90

Do you have a woody favourite perfume? Have you tried the Sigilli line?
Portia xx