Monocle Scent Three: Sugi Comme des Garçons 2013

At first, I wanted to comment on the above fragrance notes, I would have titled it: Lost in Space!

I wanted to write that the perfumer has transformed the colorful photo of the warm, Mediterranean cypress into black and white mode, then cranked up the contrast to the maximum and finally slightly pixelated the remaining silhouette cypress trees: From sun-drenched, resinous-scented cypress trees, an aesthetically distant abstract fragrance portrait was created, cooled down to space temperature.

Further testing on a quiet holiday, previously Googled information: Sugi, the "Japanese cedar," is not actually a cedar but represents its own plant family. Fast-growing, an important timber tree in Japan, particularly planted in monocultures after World War II. The light wood is used for chopsticks, Japanese tatami mats, and furniture. Seeds can be used to grow bonsais. Images of the Sugi forests show dark, uninviting monocultures, with individual Sugi trees standing gnarled, dark, and serious.

Now I believe I understand the scent better: thousands of kilometers away from Mediterranean cypress trees!

Gin upon spraying - could be. Then dark coniferous green develops, also a bit herbal, I associate parsley. A tiny pee note, which I thought I perceived during the first test, I do not find again in further tests. Dark green, conifer needles and herbal notes quickly lose intensity, leaving behind a close, calm, serious wood scent that carries the hints of the top notes for a few hours.

Reduced Zen scent, dark and serious and cool. Unsuitable for a lively workday. Nice for a gloomy, free day when I allow myself solitude and melancholy - wonderfully described by the previous commentators.

And yet: Today I prefer to meditate under a warm Mediterranean cypress rather than lost in the dark, cool Sugi forest.