Lignum Vitae

This is literally the smell of food storage on an old ship at sea. Biscuits, citrus, fruits, vanilla and caramel deserts. It all blends into an impression of a banquet to me. The salty sea surrounds you, as you stand on old wood boards, baked in the sun all day. The promise of a feast for the olfactory senses, fulfilled. The opening reminded me of caramel popcorn. Quickly, the citrus changed it, and made it multi directional. Like entering the candy store in a theater. The fruity accords floods in, and makes it almost impossible to know where one treat starts and another ends. There is a salty note to it all. Probably why I thought popcorn in the opening. As the scent develops, the woods rise through the fragrance and becomes the foundation on which the scent stands. And the smell of ocean water. Clean ocean water, like out on the open sea. What a Spectacular journey. I am impressed beyond expectations. After buying samples of the whole "Come Hell Or High Water" series, my level of impressed, is very high. First I sampled "Vi Et Armis" and being very impressed, giving it 9.5/10, planning to purchase a full bottle. Then 2nd smelling "1805 Tonnerre", which brought me down a bit, earning a 8.5/10. Impressive, and worth sampling/buying. 3rd, I smelled "Fathom V". That blew my mind, becoming my 5th ever perfect 10/10. I've smelled Well over 500 fragrances, probably closer to 1000, and that's my 5th 10/10. Obviously, bottle will be ordered Very soon. When I smelled this, as the 4th of the 5, I was again very impressed. The scent smells so realistic, so transportative, creating a perfect imagery of a banquet on an old naval ship. Personal score: 9.5/10. I can't do anything but give it a 9.5/10. I'll be purchasing a bottle of this as well (the while series will be purchased i suspect). This is olfactory art at it's finest. If you love art, get a sample.

A risky blind buy that turned out really well. While pottering about on the internet as one does, I was presented with a page of the Bloom perfumery, a niche specialist with a shop in London (which for the sake of my finances I must never visit). It offered me 50% off one of the Beaufort 'Come Hell or High Water' collection, 'Lignum Vitae'. I was tempted and I fell, or at least my credit card did. 'Lignum Vitae' is named after the tropical hardwood which had a significant role in solving the 18th-century "longitude problem" because it is self-lubricating, corrosion-resistant and allowed clock mechanisms to be produced that would keep accurate time on ships at sea. I vaguely remembered that a book about this, 'Longtitude', was popular a few years back so I beetled off to Ebay to get a used copy. You have to love a perfumery acquisition which comes with homework. And what does it smell like? Well, initially biscuits or cake, depending on whether your cultural leaning is towards lemon oatmeal cookies, ginger nut biscuits or Madeleine cakes. Apparently, that is the sort of smell Lignum Vitae wood gives off when sawn. Unexpectedly yummy. And not at all what I expected from Beaufort, whose enthusiasm for the tougher bits of British maritime history would have suggested hardtack biscuits with a sprinkling of weevils. The drydown (after eight hours) is an attractive skinscent of soft woods, vanilla, and a bit of ginger. Plus a distant echo of the citrus note, so I think it would pair well with a soft, non-astringent citrus scent like Rook's 'Jaffa' or Chopard's 'Happy Chopard Lemon Dulci'. If you are after a cheesecake effect, obviously

I found different phases un this perfume: - the opening is amazing. Is un this phase where i can find the lemon cookies wverybody speaks about, during this time the fragance behave as a proper gourmand... It is sweet, Deep, intense, tasty but citrusy. - after a while the perfume begins yo change and become a more classic fragance, It remembrr me a bit to some shaving foams. This monent i thought, ok, now is when the British gentleman that the brand name an the bottlw evoke appears. Is nice but during this time this is not really my vio of tea... - suddenly, some hours later, i realized the perfume had changed a lot again. It had turned very animalic and un this face the dry down remebered me a bit to some perfumes like kouros, but a bit more citric. - after 10 hours i can stil feel some smell on my skin but very subtle. Now It snells just like lemon candies and It remembrr me to the dry down of perfumes like habit Rouge or even q bit to terre d'hermes. Therefore i am not sure what to think... I really LOVE the opening but the first dry down gets me a bit bored... The middle dry down is interesting but on their last monents It is only a common lemon scent so... I would buy It? Probably un a Next futuro but not for now... Scent: 8 Longevity: 8 Sillage: 6 Originality: 7 Versatility: 8 Quality/price:5 Global: 7.5

Easily the most accessible of the Beaufort London line, having tested all four. The two that got me were 1805 Tonnerre, and this, both with prominent lime aspects. Lime can be deathly dull, but when it works it rocks, Tonnerre uses lime completely differently to this, amidst smoke, gunpowder, blood, etc, it's a lime for the night! I said that in a metal voice hence the exclamation mark. Lignum Vitae is a day lime, a lime shortbread, forget about everything else, this walks like a zesty lime/citrus shortbread biscuit, not too heavy or sweet, but decent sillage and longevity, an uplifting spring unto the shore after enduring a stormy Tonnerre night aboard the galleon, and all that jazz. Gourmand, fool! Unisex, love it, or die alone, pleasing. Oh yeah, you definitely get the ginger as part of the mix, it sits in there perfectly.

Salted lemon creme biscuits on the beach... that's definitely the vibe, and it's perfection! This note pyramid is also segmented perfectly. The oud accord, pepper and guaiac together with the aforementioned biscuits at the beach combine wonderfully together and I don't even know how. You would NEVER think of them going together all that well; it's a different mood to Oud Minerale, which is more like hot leather car seats. This is just memories being brought back. I honestly can't see this fragrance being "too much" for anyone. It's just a good amount of fun. I'd wanted to try this for ages, and when I was finally able to buy a sample, I was taken away. I left it until I got home, and it didn't disappoint. Perfect! Edit: the longevity might actually be too good. I love it, but it gets a bit much after a while.