Thundarcanna

The initial spritz is the dryest, most vegetal rhubarb and I was obsessed with it when I smelled it - a stalk of rhubarb cut from the plant and snapped in half - green green green, and super fresh but not a hint of sweetness. Unfortunately it dries down to something that, at least up close, is giving me cleaning product and I am not in love. Worth smelling just for the opener though.

Full disclosure I'm just wear testing a sample. I sprayed it and my kid said: "wow, that one really has a smell!" It does a big bright herbal minty fougere thing right away. At first I was pretty sure it wasn't for me-I don't tend to go for the barber shop fragrances-but then a couple of hours in I found myself really enjoying the soapy oak moss situation that was left after the dry down. As often happens to me, I got intrigued and sprayed it again to get a better sense of the artemisia, a note I'm not familiar with. Apparently tarragon is in this family, and I do get a hint of that kind of licoricey herbal vibe. I don't tend to buy into gendered perfumery, but I do think this would smell amazing on a suave, masc-leaning person. I'm kind of into it.

Notes are hot pepper, milk, and that sure is what you get. There's a blast of spiciness followed by sweet milk solids (like Indian milk sweets). The lactonic quality stays present for the life of the perfume, and it lasts on clothes for days, though the spiciness fades pretty quickly. I got a little hint of the folds under a breastfed baby's chin, which I'm not mad about but YMMV. Full disclosure I just tried this on in the store, but I definitely want to get my hands on some.

On first spray, my immediate thought was: church basement. Dank antique store. It is damp, earthy, dark and dusty. Dry in the wine sense - not a hint of sweetness to my nose. Incense, but not the dorm room kind, the kind in those smokey little burners they use in traditional Catholic churches.

Driving around, hanging out with the dry down, some imagery came to me. The first was the Pit of Despair from a Princess Bride --> a dank basement, candles everywhere, maybe some bodies have been embalmed and/or resurrected there. A moment later, another image: a church in Chiapas called San Juan Chamula that was colonized by the Catholics but retained many indigenous traditions. A million candles burning; no other lights, damp, dusty stone and ancient herbs on the floor. Burnt offerings.

This is what I thought Hexennacht by Stora Skuggan or Coven by Andrea Maack would smell like, but they don't. If you like things real dark and witchy, this is your girl.