Soul of the Forest Maison Margiela 2016

This is definitely an interesting scent from a designer house, and I appreciate Margiela for the concept. But I just think there are so many photorealistic forest scents out there and this one just doesn’t wow me.

It’s resinous, sharp, with a little bit of a petrichor/wet moss thing going on. It’s not unpleasant, I was just hoping to get more deep woods or earthiness from the dry down.

It’s just not really feeling very specific or evocative, which is usually what I love about Replica. I think brands like Pineward have set the bar so high for photorealistic forest scents that this one just kinda falls flat imo.

The first few seconds of Soul Of The Forest paint a vivid picture of water soaked woods after heavy rain. There is dew on the grass, earthy damp soil and wet green leaves keeping this timber themed scent friendly, soft and watery. There is even a sweetness in the air from maple sap dripping onto moist patchouli.

Sadly this beautiful image is fleeting. As if the forest floor was hit by sun rays that managed to find their way through the vegetation, the scent quickly evaporates before our eyes bringing the pleasant experience to an early end. One of the most evocative creations from Margiela, but also one of the most short lived.

The smell of a rich and deep forests - here and there are limestone rocks that fell from higher up the mountain and landed right in the middle of a clearing of a buzzing forest. A rock that quickly gets covered in moss and turns into a habitat for all sorts of animals and plants. The soils is dry but moist full of the pine needles and moss that retain the moisture and every time you step on it, you smell the spice of needles with a mossy green. The scent does not have much to develop and has a quite linear profile into but is yet still rich in every aspect. A perfect scent for someone that likes to hike!

it is said by the wonderful Joni Mitchell, one of the great songwriters of the last century. With 'River', she created a modern, immortal winter classic forty-five years ago. 'I wish I had a river I could skate away on...' - the song tells how loneliness feels even lonelier when no one else is alone - and the longing to escape it by simply gliding away on a river.

And I imagine myself gliding over the smooth, crunching, blue-glossy ice surface of this frozen river - into the unknown, away from the city and the lights. Into a serious and completely silent winter forest, where nothing exists except for the caw of a crow. And then the stars shimmer between the tall firs in the pale blue evening sky - comforting like the greeting of a still distant, new home.

All of this - the frozen river and the winter forest, the loneliness and the longing and the distant hint of something comforting - can be found in Martin Margiela's Soul of The Forest, the calm and contemplative scent of a cold forest: fir, bark, and patchouli - resinous and wintry and still. And I can feel the bare ice beneath the skates as I glide away - away, finally far away - into a lonely and cold winter night.

Conclusion, once again in the infinitely beautiful words of Joni Mitchell:
'I wish I had a river so long. I would teach my feet to fly -
oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on...'

Maison Martin Margiela means something to me in that I once met Mr. Margiela in Normandy. He did not buy the castle I was guarding, but another castle in Belgium. (And once again, it was my fault.) That's the short version of the story. Of course, I found it impressive to guide someone who has his own Wikipedia article in several languages. He was nice and quite unremarkable. Experience shows that you can't tell the richest people by their money.

With this fragrance, he will have nothing to do, except that the fashion house, from which he withdrew years ago, still bears his name. Nevertheless, I was curious about the scents from his house.

I still remember the forest well from my childhood in the Harz. Therefore, I always think that I must like the smell of the forest.

Enthusiastically, I tried the perfume today after work and was immediately terribly disappointed. The top note meant nothing to me, and when it (quickly) disappeared, I smelled licorice. There is absolutely no licorice in it. It must have been another deceptive scent. I sprayed again and did not wait to see when the scent would disappear. Then, while the woody scents came to the forefront, especially the cedar, the incense lay like a wet sack over everything. With good will, it smelled of damp earth and rotting wood.

Then I let the family tester M. smell it. He stated that I needed to spray again. I sprayed again and now smelled forest instead of licorice. I had made the perfume smell nice. M claimed there was no licorice, it smelled great of cedar, and he would let himself be sprayed later too. The more intense components for me are: the fir balsam, the cedar, and unfortunately the incense. I usually perceive incense on me as a bit sweaty or cloying, at least something that starts with "sw" (dizzy, heavy, swaying). Others obviously do not smell it that way, but find it "great," even on me. Otherwise, I think I should just leave incense scents alone, but when you always get such positive feedback... Sighing in the woods.

The scent lasts a few hours, and I find the projection quite decent. A pretty significant cloud of incense. Unlike many people, I think that incense does not smell like smoke, but rather like incense. In my teenage years, I used to like burning incense (I was a hippie), actually, it’s more of a glowing, and it doesn’t really smoke much (yes, altar boys claim otherwise, but I had no church at home). I associate smoke with a wood fire, food cooked by Jamie Oliver, or a house fire for that matter. Smoke that triggers a smoke detector. The attempt to burn paper in a wood stove or damp leaves on also damp branches. Incense, on the other hand, is more about the incense than the smoke, meaning: resinous.

Compared to "Falling Trees" by Régime des Fleurs, I found Soul of the Forest less woody and more "sw," but Soul of the Forest costs significantly less and you don’t have to go through customs when you buy the perfume. Maybe I will be convinced by Soul of the Forest if I just test it often enough.

In my opinion, Soul of the Forest is not for summer, more for men and rather something for evenings and leisure. But everyone has to know that for themselves. For all I care, women can wear it to work in summer, and I will not drag them under a shower.