Scent Stories Vol.1/Ch.01 - Dune Road MiN New York 2014

First of all: A heartfelt thank you to you, M3000! Your sample of the fantastic DAHAB introduced me to the Scent Stories from MiN New York. The Discovery Set Vol. 1 with 11 fragrances soon became one of my favorite treasure chests. It has never happened to me before that I was delighted by almost every single one of 11 scent stories, with several truly captivating!

Dune Road became my first bottle from the collection - also due to the season:
And that is the secret of the glassy, shiny stylish black bottle: A fresh, light, warm, spicy sea breeze!

The Dune Road leads to a lonely coast, perhaps on the Atlantic, on a sunny summer day in a warm-temperate climate zone. I lay down in the sand, let the sun's rays tickle me, and hear only the wind and the buzzing of a few bees and flies. It smells of seawater, grass, sand, herbs, and a bit of resin. The air and the scents surrounding me are cool, clear, and pure. The scent notes remind me of rosemary (fresh and slightly resinous), perhaps also the wood and resin of low beach pines, dry tufts of grass in the sand (vetiver!), and borage (herbaceous-green, salty, aquatic). I associate the aquatic elements of the fragrance with something like cucumber water - it feels incredibly gentle, clear, and natural, much less strict, oily, and synthetic than I know from other "coastal fragrances" (Sel Marin, Salina, Acqua di Sale).

(Relaxed meditation in a warm, fragrant spa with a cooling, soothing cucumber mask on the face would be another association, even though I have never experienced anything like that :-)).

The relaxing and invigorating late summer late morning sun hours at the beach pass by way too quickly! The mixture of scent components remains quite constant throughout the fragrance development; the sunny-grassy-woody-warm scent components linger a bit longer than the aquatic-fresh ones (morning turns into noon), and the stimulating, flattering breeze slowly loses its strength after about 4-6 hours and gradually fades away. But the memory of it still brings a smile to my face even hours later - and I can always reapply and look forward to the next hours in the sun on the dune!

My comparison with other "sea and coastal fragrances":
Compared to Acqua di Sale (which is oilier, heavier, mustier), Sel Marin (which is sharper, more algal), or Salina (which is louder, more synthetic, and contains sunscreen), Dune Road is more transparent and airy and additionally has this wonderful botanical-resinous wood and dry grass note.
In comparison to Finisterre (which feels more generic and less clear in its expression, also somewhat citrusy), Dune Road is thematically clearer, more puristic, "cleaner," and longer-lasting.

The sillage is that of a fresh breeze - not loud or intrusive.

The Bauhaus-inspired bottle in elegantly shimmering velvety black with a magnetically closing wooden cap emphasizes the value of the fragrance - I find it very beautiful!

The scent journey to the longing dune is certainly not cheap - but it's worth its price!