The Six Scents Fragrance Initiative debuted last year. The project is a collaboration between Symrise, Metaproject and Seven New York: each year, they'll release six new fragrances, each one pairing a Symrise perfumer with a designer, and donate a portion of the proceeds to charity. The beneficiary of the 2008 collection will be Designers Against AIDS.
Several of the fragrances in the 2008 collection were interesting (I'm still mulling over No. 2, Wicken 3000 oops, make that No. 4, Diagonal) but No. 3, The Spirit of Wood was the only one that inspired love at first sniff. No. 3 was developed by perfumer Philippe Paparella-Paris for Cosmic Wonder Light Source, the fashion line of Japanese designer Yukinori Maeda, and it's worth repeating the perfumer's statement from the ad copy:
The inspiration for this fragrance comes from Cosmic Wonder Light Source’s nature oriented fashion collection. Inspired by the designers memory of a scent experienced during a walk through an eucalyptus forest, a selection of fresh green top notes were combined with fig leaves and enlightened by green grass playing with fresh cut cypress. The idea was to create a rough and natural fragrance, using a lot of essential oils with a focus on the woody notes such as vetiver and hinoki.
That gives a pretty good idea of what to expect; this is a green vetiver-woods fragrance, very outdoorsy, more fresh than deep in the opening, earthier and woodier as it dries down (notes, other than those mentioned above, include elemi, coriander, cedar and white amber). The fig is subtle but lends some roundness to the early stages. Do think "forest" instead of "hunk of wood" — it isn't as raw or woody as say, Monocle + Comme des Garçons Scent One: Hinoki, but it's woodier and less summery than many of my green favorites such as Miller et Bertaux's No. 3 (Green, green, green and green). Whether or not you'll find it "rough" probably depends on where you're coming from — I find it more smooth than not. Very wearable, and I'd like to have a bottle.
Six Scents: Series One, No. 3 The Spirit of Wood is a limited edition (2000 numbered bottles) and is available in 50 ml Eau de Toilette for $85. For buying information, see the listing for Six Scents under Perfume Houses.
That's a good cause, and a nice affordable price point for a limited edition scent, especially when compared to CDG Hinoki. I hope its still around this Spring when I'll get a chance to go by Bendel's.
It really isn't a bad price. 2000 bottles seems like a lot to me for a project like this, but don't know how much the fashion brands are doing to sell their own scents…so would think Bendels would still have it, but what do I know?
I was going to ask if you tried these
I think I was interested in 4 and 5. but one of them also kind of scared me.
No. 3 sounds ok I'll actually read the review after I've gone to bed and my computer stops spinning
were these collaborations between a fashion designer and a perfumer, because I thought one of them was related to Gareth Pugh
This is the scent from the series that interested me the most also. I will sample for sure. Would you say it has an incense feel to it, or simply forest?
Thanks!
I'm so glad you mentioned Gareth Pugh, because I was mixed up — his scent, Diagonal, is the other one I found most interesting. Just fixed that in the article.
Not until the far dry down, and then only light to my nose.
Wow! The New Year has just started and you have already found a new fragrance that you love, R?
I told you 2009 was going to be a better year for new releases. Watch your wallet!
Hugs!
I'm not buying it! Really! Going to be very good this year 😉
Okay, so more green than incense. Hmmm, wonder which of my incense frags I could layer this with? '~)
I rec'd a sample order a couple of days ago with the whole CdG incense series, among others. So far I have only tried the Avignon…love it!
The Spirit of Wood is being added to my next sample order as we speak.
Maybe treat yourself to a decant of this Robin, and then you don't have to count it in your quarterly/yearly tally. :~)
Signed,
The Enabler from California
Thank you for the review. This one sounds like a must sniff!
Isn't Avignon wonderful? Try the CdG Kyoto — that one has some green, and it's another I'd like to have a bottle of! The Ouarzazate is one I most frequently use for layering though.
And thanks but I don't need much extra enabling, LOL…
Hi. Speaking of new fragrances, and I'm not sure any of these are new, REAL SIMPLE put out a list of “winter fragrances”.
Thought I would share…
http://tinyurl.com/9c4lgz
Good to know about Kyoto and Quarzazate! Thanks again, Robin.
hmmmmmmmmmmmm…………….
First off, can I say how happy I am to see something for less than a hundred bucks? And I smiled when I read the notes — it sounds very very much “you.” So I'm glad it is. I have not tried any of these. I see eucalyptus forest — is it camphoraceous like Hinoki?
~~And I smiled when I read the notes — it sounds very very much “you.”~~
I remember thinking the same thing when Robin posted about their release a bit ago, March. Yes, nice to still be able to find scents that are relatively affordable.
Yeah yeah…
Worth a shot 🙂
Thanks, I'll take a peek!
I'm so predictable, aren't I?
Not camphoraceous, no. Doesn't really remind me of the smell of eucalyptus forest either — I adore that smell, which is so different from eucalyptus “products”.
If it helps, my categorization of this after 2 seconds of wear was: vetiver fragrance.
LOL — and sort of sad that $85 still sounds affordable! Shows how much prices have changed in the last 5 years.
And, I've got a bridge I can sell you in Brooklyn…Really!!
R out of curiosity I went to the Real Simple article to see what they'd recommend (I was expecting a bunch of hippie love oils, for no good reason other than I thought they'd want “natural.”) The list was actually much more interesting.
At this point? $85 is the new free.
Not entirely. But you like what you like, and it's nice to have something live up to the notes rather than be a big disappointment.
March, I thought we agreed $100 is the new free, so $85 is like actually getting a rebate, no? LOL
BTW, I still haven't put any LL Poivre 23 on my credit card. HA!
This sounds good, but I'm kind of trying to just enjoy my collection for awhile. So I'm on sniffing/sampling hiatus for another, oh, two days or so. No, seriously, I'll put it on the mental list. Sounds like something I'd enjoy as well.
Yes. You are correct. At $85 they're paying US to wear it.
I didn't put my Poivre on my credit card either. I used PayPal. Oh, wait, it links back to my…
Ack. I said that wrong — meant that $85 now seems affordable. Whatever. You guys are right, it's a rebate.
Is that your NY's resolution?
I agree — they've got a nice mix, and they covered all the bases from mainstream to niche & expensive to dirt-cheap.
HA!
I'll have to try No. 3, 4 and 5 then
Have you tried no. 5?
Yes. It's a mostly clean aldehydic floral with just a touch of something skanky underneath. More wearable than I expected, but didn't really interest me.
~~So I'm on sniffing/sampling hiatus for another, oh, two days or so.~~
Ha! Seriously. :~)
Absolutely not. Haha. I wouldn't make such a crazy resolution! However, I do feel like (a) I'm making a conscious effort to ratchet down my mania and (b) I do want to relax and enjoy some of the nice things I've acquired recently. We'll see how long that lasts, though.
This needs to be a year of paring down and getting rid of junk, which is no small task.
A worthy effort. I feel like I managed it for a couple of years, but don't know what happened to me in 2008!
Well, you just burst my bubble…