Way back in 2009, I reviewed M#2 Black March, from the indie brand CB I Hate Perfume, and I said that along with Memory of Kindness, it was one of my favorites from the brand. Black March, I said, smelled like late March, and Memory of Kindness smelled like early August. Filling out the calendar, Mr. Hulot's Holiday is July, and Gathering Apples and Burning Leaves would cover October, and Winter 1972 is January into February.* The newer On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (which I'm going to refer to as Clear Day for most of this review, and if you don't get the movie reference, do see here) brings us April: it's about spring-blooming bulbs, or in the words of brand owner / perfumer Christopher Brosius,
I've created an explosion of hyacinth, daffodil, crocus and tulip deeply enriched with the absolutes of real flowers like narcissus and jonquil. I may not yet have the roof to grow them but I do have the exuberant scent of those flowers charging outta their pots as if the police were after 'em. Spring in a bottle.
And that's pretty much just what it is. It has some of the same components as Black March, but rearranged: the smells of earth and sap and wood are still there, along with some greenery and plenty of moisture, but early on especially, they're all buried under the flowers, with the narcissus prominent: it smells like spring bulbs blooming just after a light rain. As it dries down the earth and woods are more obvious, but the soil notes in particular don't reach the levels that some people find overwhelming in Black March, and overall, Clear Day has a much more cheerful feel.
Some of you may remember that Brosius does not do alcohol-based perfumes, and that means if you're looking for serious sillage, you might have to look elsewhere.
Verdict: Clear Day seemed an obvious candidate for an April-in-January kind of tonic, but it's not a powerhouse, and it will probably wear better when there's a bit more warmth + humidity in the air. I'm setting my sample aside for now. Still, I'm already in enough of a state of "deep like" that I immediately checked the price of the small bottle of the water formula, thinking maybe I'd buy a 30 ml of Clear Day, and add a 30 ml of Black March before my decant runs out. But no. The 30 ml bottle of the water formula of Black March is $60, which wouldn't kill my budget, but Clear Day in the same size is $190 — ouch. I will treasure my sample!
CB I Hate Perfume On A Clear Day You Can See Forever is available in 5, 30 or 100 ml Water Perfume; 2 or 10 ml Perfume Absolute ($57 - $375). For buying information, see the listing for CB I Hate Perfume under Perfume Houses.
* There is also M#3 November, and the holiday scent, Gingerbread.
Oh got me intrigued on the narcissus part, i’m always in for a narcissus creation.
I was realizing that I don’t really remember his M#1 narcissus scent, except I know I tried it and it did not stick in my mind, so I guess I didn’t love it?
I bet the narcissus in the Rare Flowers series is fantastic, and was wondering if this is the same absolute — would explain the price.
For that price i recommend you purchasing the Narcisse from Profumo.it collection of materials. It’s already diluted and has a wonderful aroma. This considering that the rare flowers collection are made of fragrance which are just dilutions of rare essential oils.
Thanks for the recommendation! Clear Day seems lovely, and I love narcissus enough that I’d blind buy it instantly if the price wasn’t quite so high.
Good point.
I have a sample of the narcissus one, and I remember being somewhat disappointed. Either it wasn’t as much narcissus as I wanted or it disappeared too quickly.
Ah. It is not a terribly long lasting note in Clear Day either, which is part of why I thought it might do better with some heat & humidity.
Thank you for the review–I will have to get a sample (along with a sample of Do Not Ask Me Why). Oddly enough I am wearing Wild Hunt today which is one of my fave of CB:IHPs. I should wear it more often.
I have so many I love from this brand. He really seems to have slowed down — hope he will do another scent this year!
I love Wild Hunt and haven’t worn it forever. It is one of my favorite CB scents and now I really need to find my decant…
I adore Wild Hunt, but I think my little absolute has turned — I wore it recently and it smelled thin and ozonic and not as richly chanterelle-y forest-y as I remembered…
This sounds so perfect to me that I won’t even try to sample it, for fear I’ll fall for something I can’t afford.
And that’s not meant to disparage him at all, I’m sure the materials are very expensive. I love his fragrances.
I do too, and I wish they were easier to find.
A comparison with Black March makes my ears perk up! That scent changed my whole understanding of what fragrance can be. . . I’ve never purchased more than a sample, since I couldn’t *quite* imagine wearing it, but I love it all the same.
Because of the heavier floral component in this one, it is more conventional than Black March. I should have tried layering them!
Thanks for reviewing this one! I haven’t tried it yet and would love to, though as others have noted the price will prevent me from purchasing a bottle, love or no. It sounds like one of those quintessential CB creations, all earth and greenery and flowers, that are my favorite thing that he does.
Another possibility (I hope Christopher Brosius never sees this because I’m sure he’d be appalled) would be to layer a cheaper narcissus over a tiny dab of Black March. It would not be the same thing but I do think Black March is a great layering agent in general — adds a realistic “wet soil” note to other fragrances.
To See a Flower made me cry – it’s that wet spring dirt thing from Black March and, I think, hyacinth and daffodil. Do you remember that one, Robin? Is On a Clear Day very different?
Yes, but it’s been a good long while — I had forgotten that one, thanks so much for bringing it up! IIRC I think that one had more of a soil note & more of a green note, plus I think basically what he’s done in Clear Day is use higher quality floral absolutes. Now you’ve made me wish I’d tried them both together — See A Flower is MUCH cheaper.
To be clear, can’t really answer your question with any degree of certainty!
FYI to readers in the DC area, Arielle Shoshana carries CBIHP. Not the entire line and she doesn’t have this one listed online yet, but it’s a good opportunity to try some of the classics.