Not knowing what’s in this, Cipher is dusty lavender and unclean citrus: antique bar soap, a public restroom. However, if I sniff while reading the description back to myself, I can conceive each note in sequential order, and the result is almost charming. Put the playbook away, though, and I’m left cringing. I don’t fully buy that the herbal core I detect is jasmine. It’s too austere. Maybe it was jasmine at one point, but conservative alchemy has scrubbed it into something synthetic and brittle. Not getting incense either. Instead, there’s a small cloud of used underwear fumes. My nose really isn’t picking up on anything appealing here.
