Two campfires compared

Due to overwhelming demand by exactly nobody I feel obliged to write a comparison between Neandertal Us and Askr . These two perfumes are both very smoky and also both spring from the mind of the brilliant Scottish perfumer Euan McCall.

Neandertal comes in beautiful bottles, whilst Jorum Studio has a more utilitarian design. Neandertal is more expensive, but Jorum has a lot more scents to choose from. For this blog post I am comparing only the scents. Aesthetics and money are another matter.

When sprayed on, they at first smell similar (caveat: to my nose, on my skin), I think Askr has a whiff of shiso leaf in it, and Us has more of a citronella thing going on. I also smell Dettol (a disinfectant). Both perfumes take you to a clearing in a forest where a small fire is burning.

In the dry-down, they start to differ. ASKR turns more dusty/musty, and Us retains some of the citronella freshness. To my mind this gives ASKR more of an 'almost finished campfire' vibe, while Us has the promise of a summer camp night, when you look up at the stars and have the realisation you are still young and many more perfect summer nights like this will follow, even though decades later, you know this kind of perfection is quite rare.

If pressed, I would choose Neandertal Us over Askr, because it gives me more of a poetic feeling I guess. I had to share this, not sure why, because every skin and every nose is different.