1
A bushfire in a bottle
During 2021-22 COVID lockdowns I was working from home a lot. To keep my nose amused I decided to focus on some fragrance accords I really liked and see how far I could push them and still like them.
Smoke was one of the accords, so this naturally lead my to Beaufort, which is well known for its 'smoke bombs'. Tonnerre 1805 is perhaps the smokiest in its range and is often described as 'challenging'.
It opens with a massive blast of smoke. You will smell like you've been fighting a bushfire all day. It is so overwhelming it completely wipes out any other opening notes. It is such sensory overload at this stage that it almost gave me a headache.
I wondered how long I could tolerate this and whether I should shower to scrub it off. But I was up for the 'challenge'.
Eventually, it settles down a little - at this stage it merely smells like you've been manning the BBQ all day - and some lime and boozy notes emerge, and finally some indistinct woody notes. At this stage it's more interesting. If it had opened like this and then become tamer it could be a really interesting fragrance.
But that opening is a sensory assault. It would be hard to sit next to someone wearing this. Now I know that 'challenging' means unwearable.
In the end I did shower to remove the drydown and went fragrance-free the rest of the day to give my nose time to recover.
Beaufort also makes a moustache wax, which is a clue to who their target audience is.
Smoke was one of the accords, so this naturally lead my to Beaufort, which is well known for its 'smoke bombs'. Tonnerre 1805 is perhaps the smokiest in its range and is often described as 'challenging'.
It opens with a massive blast of smoke. You will smell like you've been fighting a bushfire all day. It is so overwhelming it completely wipes out any other opening notes. It is such sensory overload at this stage that it almost gave me a headache.
I wondered how long I could tolerate this and whether I should shower to scrub it off. But I was up for the 'challenge'.
Eventually, it settles down a little - at this stage it merely smells like you've been manning the BBQ all day - and some lime and boozy notes emerge, and finally some indistinct woody notes. At this stage it's more interesting. If it had opened like this and then become tamer it could be a really interesting fragrance.
But that opening is a sensory assault. It would be hard to sit next to someone wearing this. Now I know that 'challenging' means unwearable.
In the end I did shower to remove the drydown and went fragrance-free the rest of the day to give my nose time to recover.
Beaufort also makes a moustache wax, which is a clue to who their target audience is.
Wordsmith
