After the Flood

The most amazingly artful bucket of wet mud ever to be formulated and sold as perfume. Absolutely fulfills the brief and lives up to its name; sludgy, startling, and spectacular, on its own terms. But certainly not a mainstream pleaser or an easy wear! This is the smell of nature done right - and so unapologetically true to life it can be hard to compute as fragrance. Radiantly humid humus with roots and tendrils sprouting out all over, and maybe a bit of mould in the mix too - the sort of patchouli which evokes damp soil effortlessly. This does for the floodscape what Zoologist's original Bat did for caves: takes you right there, whether you dare or not. And in the right moment, it absolutely sings. (What IS the right moment, though? Maybe quiet or solitary times - not for sophisticated social gatherings or hot dates, but for those days when you really want to reconnect and get back in touch with mother earth, with your trousers rolled up to your knees or your skirt hitched up to avoid getting smirched. Honestly, this one's aura could quench a desert.) Sounds hostile, and it's definitely not trying to pretty anything up; but if you're in the mood to go squelching through real natural quagmire barefoot, it does that for your nose with extreme charisma and conviction. Apoteker Tepe's defiantly original, no-compromise character in action once more. And despite not being pretty, it has an honesty that's precious and even beautiful, if you keep an open mind. My taste doesn't run often to aquatics or greens and this is as watery and sap-heavy as it gets - and even I can appreciate it. As with Anabasis, it makes you perceive the smell of nature in a whole new way.

I definitely understand why some folks smell hints of chocolate in this fragrance because chocolate also often has sweet, milky floral notes. But to me, this fragrance is the smell of ozone, salty Pacific Northwest waves crashing against eroded rocks, foggy wet moss-covered soil. To me this is a great interpretation of the moment immediately following a heavy rain; although, I'm also severely biased as a huge fan of soil tincture fragrances. The hints of violet leaf and water lily combine with patchouli to soften this a bit and make it a tiny bit too powdery or musky for my taste, but overall I really do love and appreciate this fragrance.

Natural euphoria. After the Flood is the smell of nature's rebirth after a cleansing rain. You can smell new blooms, damp earth, fresh wind. There is a sweetness that runs through - probably from the water lily and violet leaf - that unifies the development from the first spritz to the drydown. The other notes develop and wane, as you experience being on the bank of a brook, overrun with wild growth, misty from a spring shower. This perfumer has an amazing ability to bring her vision to reality. This is so realistic that it is a concept fragrance with nothing remotely synthetic in the mix. Longevity all day, sillage moderate.

this has ruined me for other aquatic and faintly floral perfumes. on first usage, this was unpleasantly chemically to me, something underlying it almost like a doll's head, and i was faintly disappointed, but after giving it some time to age, the chemical tinge has gone down for me, and instead has this really intriguing wet, slightly bitter, faintly floral smell. astonishingly compelling in humid weather, but also suits a chill. i say it's ruined me because i can't get enough of "dark aquatic", as it describes itself, despite this not really to my knowledge being an actual perfume category. where are my dank girlies at

A deep, salty sea with inky and floral notes. In the drydown, metallic and alcoholic notes (reminiscent of industrial alcohol) also emerge. I’m not sure I pick up the mushroom note, but there is definitely a slightly dirty undertone. It feels like a late winter rain just as the flowers are about to bloom. Or an 18th-century watercolor portrait of a woman. A truly original marine scent; absolutely worth trying.