Bottle Design:
Aesthete, Thierry de Baschmakoff

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The Big Bad Cedar Atkinsons 2016

7.5 / 10 164 Ratings

A popular perfume by Atkinsons for women and men, released in 2016. The scent is woody-spicy. It is being marketed by EuroItalia.
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Main accords

Woody

Spicy

Green

Resinous

Earthy

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Cardamom

Clary sage Broom

Broom

Heart Notes

Virginia cedar

Base Notes

Moss

Ratings

Scent

7.5164 Ratings

Longevity

7.2143 Ratings

Sillage

6.6145 Ratings

Bottle

7.9148 Ratings

Value for money

6.544 Ratings

Submitted by Sonic · last update on 09/24/2025.

Source-backed & verified

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Reviews

8 in-depth fragrance descriptions

08/21/2022

BobbyGee
230 Reviews

BobbyGee

Atkinsons / The Big Bad Cedar

The smell of cedar, then aromatic cedar and then even more aromatic cedar :-)
And more specifically, it is a coniferous-woody-mixed fragrance. Of course, you can feel the Virginia cedar the most, and besides it, you can feel the notes of cashmere wood combined with moss and cardamom. The smell is very aromatic, expressive, elegant and, I think, more masculine. I see an elegant guy dressed in a well-cut suit and matching the light leather upholstery of the car. Very good projection, durability about 7 hours

08/02/2016

8.5Scent 6Longevity 5Sillage

Leimbacher
2877 Reviews

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Leimbacher

Top Review 16

The Big Bad Wolf

1, 2 - the cedar comes by,
3, 4 - he stands at your door.
5, 6 - he is not in a hurry.
7, 8 - he laughs with a dark voice.
9, 10 - other woods can go.
11, 12 - enough rhyming now: this new Atkinson is a wood hammer & THE highlight of the year for lovers of refined wood scents.

While "Scilly Neroli" & "My Fair Lilly" are good, yet not particularly new fragrances, "The Big Bad Cedar" really makes an impact. The name fits, it always reminds me a bit of the house hit from my headline a few years ago. But that fits too. Because this wood highlight is dark, coating the unusually animalistic cedar wood with masses of moss & moisture, creaminess & finesse, creating at times the impression of a strange oud - without directly recalling the overplayed agarwood. Rather, it’s a perfect, never-before-smelled wood mix that follows in the footsteps of Wonderwoods, but without copying it. This big, bad cedar does not copy, imitate, or resemble anyone. It’s a completely unique thing, a damn great scent. Anyone who even remotely likes wood scents must test this shooting star. High quality meets innovation & individuality meets darkness. Wow! The cardamom makes the scent slightly sweet & the fragrance impressively proves that cedar wood is now undoubtedly my favorite, almost signature-worthy wood. Far ahead of oud or sandalwood, which certainly also claim small side spots here.

Bottle: as always: English classic - modern interpreted!
Sillage: not a compliment-getter, stays close to you.
Longevity: I expected a bit more than 6 hours from these dark woods, but it’s okay.

Conclusion: wood marvelously different - no oud, no sandalwood, not even really distinctly cedar as the name suggests. Anyone who dares to take such a deviation after years of similar woods & the oud craze, and succeeds so well, deserves all the respect!!!

08/10/2016

8Scent 8Longevity 7Sillage

Apicius
1328 Reviews

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Apicius

Top Review 17

Nomen est Omen

Anyone who feels committed to a puristic style in the art of perfumery must choose wisely. The few fragrance notes must be perfectly harmonized. And above all, such a scent should contain at least one component that sparks special interest. Just wood - that would be too little.

The Big Bad Cedar initially brings together 2 aspects of cedar in equal measure - the harsh wood and the ethereal, almost sharp scent of the green needles. A certain medicinal impression emerges, which I find very attractive. The balance lasts quite a while before a pure wood base ultimately defines the fragrance.

A third aspect comes into play right from the start: a sweet-animalic note. Only hinted at, it nudges the scent slightly in an Arabic direction, as I know this note in extreme form from there. If I describe this further, I unfortunately run the risk of scaring off the reader - so be it: it is the very best country air, specifically: pigsty. With the heavy sweetness of a fully bloomed gorse bush, that would also make sense, but perhaps described a bit too harmlessly.

Here, the saying holds: the dose makes the poison. And this dose is very, very weak. But I understand its purpose. Without such animality, the scent would be quite lifeless. One could just as well pour it into the bathtub instead of a fir needle bubble bath. Only this small, dirty animal note transforms Big Bad Cedar into an erotic perfume.

In recent years, we have seen many puristic wood scents. The Big Bad Cedar cautiously explores a difficult boundary in this area, serving as a remedy against the boredom that can arise so quickly with pure wood scents. It succeeds well: I find the fragrance wearable, attractive, and interesting.

Personally, I really enjoy smelling these harsh wood scents - but only on others. Because for me to wear it myself would be too exhausting. At some point, the bitter wood note would bother me - but perceptions certainly differ on that.

For those who can't get enough of Terre d'Hermès, The Big Bad Cedar will surely bring them joy. Others might appreciate it as a functional scent that serves more the attractiveness than the well-being of the man. Classified as a unisex fragrance, I can hardly imagine that it would work the same way for female wearers.

08/13/2020

7.5Scent 7Longevity 7Sillage

Chizza
362 Reviews

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Chizza

Top Review 16

The Lonely Cedar in Dartmoor

Atkinsons often offers solid to good fragrances, but none of their bottles have yet excited me enough to join my scent panorama or the ongoing home exhibition. Big Bad Cedar, however, was promising because some know me here for my leather scents, but I also appreciate intense coniferous fragrances with cool resins and, of course, olfactory cedar presentations.
The big bad cedar indeed starts off significantly more intense and darker than its cheerful and carefree counterparts like Autoportrait, Cedro di Taormina, etc. It almost feels like a dark conifer with a corresponding damp but richly scented forest floor covered in foliage and that characteristic mulch note. I had two questions: where do I buy the fragrance? When do I buy the fragrance?
But it wasn't that simple: Big Bad Cedar remains very linear in its further development, but a fragrance change occurs quite quickly, steering the Atkinsons creation in a different direction. But what exactly happens here? How can a fragrance change so dramatically? Simple: initially, you perceive the top note immediately along with the heart note. This phase lasts only a very short time, the heart note lingers (since the cedar that gives the fragrance its name is present, anything else would be curious), and then the base notes suddenly appear.
At the beginning, we have the broom, which has a herbal scent while radiating warmth that is reflected in the intensity of the opening. The muscatel sage will express itself similarly. Now, the cardamom rounds off the fragrance in a special and, as I find, atypical way. Because it has balsamic undertones, the whole composition feels as wonderfully crafted as described at the outset.
The question is, what happens next with the big bad cedar that it suddenly has slightly sweet, at times almost alcoholic sweet nuances without transition? The culprit is the cashmeran, which wraps the cedar in a silky-soft embrace. The numerous facets of this substance are captured in the perfume; it becomes sweet-spicy, delicately woody, and musky. Everything feels more rounded, smoother, but also less characterful.
This does not destroy Big Bad Cedar in any way. It just no longer pleases me. However, those who enjoy such sweet-woody cedar fragrances should definitely test it. Those familiar with Autoportrait should add the mentioned notes here and subtract a bit of the casual smoothness. That’s roughly how the now not-so-bad big cedar smells. To round off the comment: it will remain nothing more than a loan in the collection, as this Atkinsons is too far removed from the theme of the permanent guests.

10/15/2016

8.5Scent 8Longevity 7Sillage

FRAgrANTIC
20 Reviews

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FRAgrANTIC

Top Review 10

An Evening by the Fireplace

Atkinsons describes “The Big Bad Cedar” with reference to the novel “Wuthering Heights” (Emily Brontë, 1847) and one of the main characters named Heathcliff as “brooding and enigmatic, an extraordinarily stormy interpretation of the Scottish Highlands and wild Virginia cedar.” Images of turbulent skies and rugged mountains, smoking peat fires, cold waters of Scottish mountain lakes, and the twilight of dawn are evoked - “a connection of earth, wood, and fire, preserved for all eternity.”

Brontë's protagonist Heathcliff embodies the nature of the Scottish Highlands: he is stormy-passionate, rough-volatile-repellent, wild-unpredictable, misunderstood, untameable, and at times cruel. TBBC is nothing, but also nothing of all that.

And now - missed the point, grade 6??? No, we don’t want to get too academic…

I can follow the theme of earth, wood, and fire, albeit with a changed scenario: the scent transports me to one of the classic British clubs, sitting in a cashmere sweater in wood-paneled rooms with thick carpeting in incredibly comfortable leather armchairs in front of the glowing fireplace, enjoying my whisky in contemplation.

The opening features cardamom and a slightly citrus note; although lavender is not on the ingredient list, I believe I also catch a hint of it. The Virginia cedar (botanically correctly a juniper, Juniperus virginiana) forms the centerpiece, framed by sage as a green note and dry-sweet gorse. The whole is rounded out and held together by cashmeran and a bit of oak moss; the two create a velvety feel-good atmosphere with an earthy-warm background.

Perfumer Maurice Roucel has achieved a perfectly balanced composition that belies its name: the big bad cedar is in truth a very elegant scent in classic British tradition, which does not attempt to forcibly create olfactory storm depths with unforeseen effects, and that is just fine.

Updated on 05/21/2018

More reviews

Statements

46 short views on the fragrance

Razvanyke

3 years ago

9.5Scent 8Longevity 8Sillage

Who wants YSL 24 but wants to pay less, is here welcomed. Smells luxurious, with a cedar to die for. The clary sage gives a calming vibe.

Smokeyranger

1 year ago

8Scent 5Longevity 7Sillage

Super sharp wood and cardamom. The broom gives a medicinal quality. Sadly, that's also why it fades by hour 3 to the skin.

Axiomatic

1 year ago

6Scent 7Longevity 6Sillage

The horror knows no mercy.
Cedar softened, her behind as soft as cotton balls.
Rosamunde P. & Wedgewood more than pleased. *

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Helena1411

1 year ago

7Scent 7Longevity 6Sillage

KN: What's shimmering here in the cardamom forest?
HN: It's the cedar, big and fierce... but wait...
B: Nothing big, nothing fierce, more loving... and fading away.

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ParfumAholic

1 year ago

6Scent 8Longevity 6Sillage

More BAD than BIG. Right from the broom start, "oh, ah, this is going to be something," but after the super short interlude, it rolls right into the +

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Smoetn

2 years ago

6Scent 6Longevity 5Sillage

Big Bad Cedar? More like a small, cute, woody something. A bit of Cashmeran added, and that’s unfortunately it.

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Floyd

5 years ago

7.5Scent 8Longevity 6Sillage

At the entrance to the tunnel
Of the old graphite mine
Herbs swirl
For hours now
Trees are scribbling into the moss
On the damp walls

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Chizza

5 years ago

7.5Scent 7Longevity 7Sillage

The name fits; the dark cedar brother of the carefree Italian cedars by the sea. It definitely has character and leaves you wanting more.

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Aliana

9 years ago

10Scent 8Longevity 7Sillage

I've rarely encountered such a beautiful wood scent! Soft and pronounced at the same time, cozy, warm, yet expressive! Purchase plans are taking shape.

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