wickette

Cognoscenti #44 Fire & Rain is odd and unexpected, but in the best possible way. For me, it opens with dominant petrichor, a feeling of charred stone, and the barest whisper of florals on an ocean breeze. That charred, wet stone slowly gives way to sunny neroli, taking #44 from austere to hopeful. Creator, Danielle Sergeant, uses architecture and contrast in her olfactive love letter to California to take us on a very specific journey. Her story mirrors how I have experienced wildfires in my area of the U.S. - smoky air, charred earth and wood, and mineralic rock faces dotted with aromatic sage and fragrant wildflowers after the land has been scrubbed clean by fire. For me, this is an indie standout; the most realistic and honest atmospheric expression of water, rocky cliffsides, and smoky char. While not an everyday crowd-pleasing fragrance, I have certainly enjoyed experiencing Danielle's vision.

Kunlun, for me, opened as a dense fog of oud, sweat, and indolic florals. Given 20 minutes, Kunlun developed from that relatively jarring start to a gorgeously spicy, dry woods within an earthy green frame. I tested this in the height of summer understanding that will likely develop a little differently and perform best in cooler temperatures. I look forward to trying Kunlun on a more ideal setting. Even so, I really enjoyed testing Kunlun.

Orchid Mantis is not soft like Cow; it is beast mode tropical floral. (I learned the hard way that one spray is plenty.) This opens as a humid, dense, sun-soaked floral that is hardly tamed by leaf and rice. Floral remains throughout but does soften to allow mossy, earth incense to appear. This is a hyper-realistic floral with a touch of animalic beeswax and musk and lots of warm, earthy spice. Orchid Mantis has attitude - roaring when you'd guess that it would stalk quietly on your skin. Instant love for the right occasion/season.