This fragrance certainly has a story attached to it.
The opening is interesting, thought provoking and sweet.
It has a “liquored up” feel to it with the combination of bourbon-like vanilla and myrrh fighting for dominance.
The vanilla wins, its still quite sweet after an hour before the woods start to come to the front.
Vanilla melts in with the oak and guaiac to give it a sweet, woody, smoky feel.
There is benzion here to smooth things out, but the roughness of the wood is still apparent.
The wood is freshly split, the wood is on the wet ground (clay), and someone is attempting to light it unsuccessfully, it smokes but never lights.
One of the many things I like about this fragrance is, it goes in the exact opposite direction of development as most other Vanilla/Wood combo scents.
This one starts sweet and gets woodier as you go.
The opening may be unisex, but the dry down is very masculine.
The sweet, smoked rough wood carries the scent on for 10+ hours.
A worthy try, and even the sample may last you a full winter considering how potent this fragrance is.
This is a richer, better done Thierry Mugler Pure Wood. The syrup vanilla in that one is a major turn off.
Memoirs of a Trespasser is a good scent for very cold days, casual, probably not work friendly with its potency.
Tough to find too many occasions to wear this one out of the house, especially in warmer climates.
Ratings
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7/10
-
9/10
Summary
A woody and smoky fragrance featuring charred oak and vanilla. Performance is excellent, but be prepared, its balance is skewed significantly sweet.