HS3

I gave a quick first impression of Odin Nomad long ago, but have finally had a chance to give it, along with the other two samples I had, some more attention.

Odin 03 Century – Beautifully blended. For the initiated, you won’t think it’s anything new and certainly relatively. For what it is though, it’s really quite nice. The cypress peeks through nicely, and the musk and amber in the base sweeten it just enough. It does have some unique elements here and there, but ultimately, you’ve got a mild-mannered woody amber with a hint of patchouli to give it some punch. Century is not in-your-face, but seems to have pretty surprising longevity.

*UPDATE* Century has killer longevity – 12 hours and a shower later and I can still smell the musk aromachemicals on my hand!

Odin 01 Nomad – This one holds my interest a bit more than Century. The initial blast has a cleaning supply vibe, but not in a bad way; it’s probably the juniper in the head. That passes within a minute or two and it turns into a tart, creamy cedar. It settles quickly into another variation of the sweetened woody base, this time with tonka instead of amber. The bright tartness (perhaps the bergamot?) hangs around for a while giving a bit of interest. There’s something floral to me as well, but I might just imagining it. Nomad doesn’t have much more tenacity than Century.

Odin 02 Owari – A blast of mandarin with a realistic grapefruit right out of the gate. It’s not the kind of grapefruit I usually loathe, but like freshly torn peel and tart spray. It fades into the heart soon after and a great neroli plays center stage. It’s supported by a slightly sweet base (seems to be a trend here). I can see some resemblance at times to Diptyque’s Eau de Neroli.

Owari seems like something I’d love in warmer months, but I’ve got a stockpile of great neroli scents, so it would have to blow me away to get my wallet out. Century would be nice for someone looking for a safe, woody amber who doesn’t have any of the genre. Nomad is the only of the three that I could imagine for me – it’s nothing daring, but it’s a great, close-wearing scent with decent longevity that would be perfect for office wear. The bergamot, juniper, and sandalwood are a really pleasing combination.

Wow. I love Ulrich Lang Nightscape.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I first sampled it, but reading reviews about its icy patchouli, I had to try it. At first sample, it had to be mine. I’ll try to keep this quick and simple.

Patchouli lovers – you need to try it. It’s not like head shop patchouli, but rather a smooth, crisp, woodsy patchouli. I can totally buy into their marketing; a man out on the town, dressed in great jeans, a dark cotton blazer, a white button down, and an air of confidence. It dries into this gorgeously sleek leather/musk/amber with just a gentle touch of citrus to give a tart, bright element. By the way, if you like this, you might like Montale Pure Gold. And if you like Pure Gold, you might like Chanel Coromandel. Nightscape smells nothing like Coromandel, but just saying… if you like one, etc.

Have some pics – great bottle, with a nice feel in the hand. The cap is a let down as it’s just molded plastic, but without a considerable price hike, there’s not much else they could do with it.

There you go! A gorgeous scent and a great bottle. Check it out – Nightscape by Ulrich Lang.

The latest scent from PdN is Patchouli Homme. I don’t necessarily think the name is appropriate. While it certainly has plenty of patchouli, there are so many aspects to it that some other notes might feel upstaged by that name. I wore Bois 1920 Extreme today with the Patchouli Homme on the back of my hand to experience through the day. After a few hours with the two, I think they’d even layer pretty nicely. The fern characteristics of the Bois 1920 really mix well with the Patchouli Homme.

PH transforms quite a bit on skin. It opens with a sharp, tenacious lavender note with a very classic feel to it. Only minutes after, it begins to mellow and fill out. Notes of vanilla and amber bring it all together in its heart. The drydown takes another big turn, and the end result to me still heavy on lavender, with wisps of incense and patchouli and a slightly sweetened vanilla base in the background. All in all, it’s a really dynamic, well crafted scent. It behaves through its evolution and has a gorgeous, velvety heart and base. If you’re a fan of lavender, fougeres, or patchouli, it’s certainly worth a try!

I tried it at Saks yesterday and while it was interesting and evolved quite a bit, it was a bit over the top and would be hard for me to pull off. It opened with a tart Juicy Fruit gum note that lasted for quite a while… I even had two other SAs there laughing when they made that connection. I took the card with me (along with a few other various scents that I’d sprayed on cards… all neatly separated of course), and left it in the car when I went back to work. Hours later, the car smelled strongly of it and it had overpowered the others, so kudos on tenacity and lasting power. It had dried to a sweet, almost powdery (I’m guessing from the amber note/accord) floral thing. It’s not bad, but I think it would be immediately cloying and a bit much to handle if slightly over applied or worn in humid heat.

Miller Harris L’Air de Rien

This is a fantastic, vanilla sweetened, ambery scent with just the right amount of “dirty” musk. It really evokes the 60s aura that it purports to do (the whole Jane Birkin thing). It’s completely addicting and hard to stop smelling when you put it on. The initial few minutes take a couple times to get to know, but once you do it’s hard not to love it and the dry down is a lovely dusty amber. There are ever so slight touches of potpourri and patchouli hiding in the background that just add to the complexity.

This is a perfect scent for evening moments spent close to someone you love. It evokes sensuality, comfort, and an inviting familiarity. It’s really quite nice once you get to know it. I owned a bottle for a while, but ended up parting ways with it. The first while is so jarringly animalic that I just couldn’t wrap my mind around it long enough to get past that.

Andy Tauer Incense Rosé

This started as a sharp scent with a considerable amount of complexity to it that I wasn’t sure if I was sold on. However, I wore it once and found something in it that I really liked. Then my girlfriend mentioned that she thought a rose and incense scent would be incredible… DING, I grabbed the rest of my sample and told her to try it. She fell in love with it, as did I. It’s now her favorite fragrance and I really do enjoy it. It’s intoxicating.

It shares the base of L’Air, but adds the jammy, sharp rose to the top with some more incense notes throughout. It’s really wonderfully crafted, has a perfect sillage that only informs but does not overwhelm, and is unlike anything else. It’s since become her “power fragrance” and will always bring me a smile and good memories.