Hidden Shores

Alright, this is quite interesting. Let's face it, I'm a big fan of esoteric topics and Agarthi is a well known topic for me, so when Nicola posted an article about their newest releases, I went digging to know more about the brand, its ideas and I absolutely loved what I saw, so I immediately ordered a bottle of Hidden Shores, which to me seemed like the one I would love the most. Let's the negative out of the way: I found the box to be a little underwhelming. It's very nondescript with only the brand's logo on it and the inside has again the logo and the bottle. I think it would have benefited from having maybe an image from the little video on the brand's site to give a picture of what you're getting yourself into. I do love the bottle presentation however, very nice bottle with the cap representing the Earth cut in half and on top the brand's logo, with the circles reprsenting the Earth and its layers and the eight-pointed star representing universal harmony in sacred geomatria. With the esoteric stuff out of the way, let's get into the juice. It's a very sneaky one! The opening is beautiful, super fresh and brash, you feel invigorated (perhaps that's the stormy imagery from the promo video). The juniper and the tart juiciness of blackcurrant dominate the opening. I was also very surprised to find an unexpected cannabis-like mentholated note here, which I'm guessing is immortelle and conifer. This absolutely had me in love, as I'm a sucker for those kind of notes. This slowly transitions into a ferny, very green phase (that's when you come to shore and venture into the unknown jungle in search of mythical Agarthi). The drydown is perhaps the most challenging part for me but that's very personnal since I tend to struggle with vetiver. Here however, it takes a very woody turn thanks to cedar and fir and it really surrounds you. I kind of imagined coming across a big gaping hole giving off a very earthy, rocky and mineral smell. I'm guessing the rest of the lineup will further my journey towards Agarthi, since I felt like this was only the beginning. On the more technical side, this lasts a good while on my skin, the opening is sadly short-lived (about 1hr) but it projects very well and once it gets into drydown it stays a good 6-8 hrs on me and people seem to be able to pick up my sillage easily. Although this is surprisingly fresh in the opening, I have a feeling it will be at its best in-between seasons, it's a bit much to be a Summer fragrance but it will be great in greener days of Spring and before the colder days of Fall. Honestly, this was a gamble and it really paid off. I'm absolutely hooked and I'm interested in the rest of the brand.

Green lush tropical with a fresh breeze very pleasing to the nose and the pine and other green notes are balanced beautifully so it doesn't smell like a pine forest another winner from the brand