If HoM is anything to go by, niche perfumery is growing up fast, both in presentation and in content. Beautiful blue bottles with coppery labels; a distinctive look, half steampunk and half Islamic-abstract; consistently good, properly worked-out perfumes with apt but not hyperbolic names; and an overall cast of high quality and good humor. There is much to like in the 9-perfume collection they sent: Trillium, a herbaceous green-floral that feels mostly natural without being soggy; Orca, a classic oriental with an unusually low-calorie, woody drydown; Madrona, a solid lavender with an interesting vetiver background. My favorite is Black No 1, a wonderfully rich woody oriental. This one reminds me of an organ tutti, all stops pulled out. It careens delightfully from a remarkable, bitter lavender and pine accord up top into a big, soft leather heart with a touch of iris, ending on a warm, vanillic woody-balsamic accord in the manner of Vol de Nuit. Really good stuff.
Categories: niche houses
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