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.

lignum vitae smells just like having lemon curd shortbread biscuits for breakfast at a cute and cozy seaside hotel. it's a bit cold outside, but you might dare a quick dip in the water, as long as you get a big cup of spicy black tea with ginger and vanilla when you get back to your room. drying your feet you notice tiny grains of sand and salt crystals, rolling off your skin and onto the wooden floorboards... this is one of my all time favorite fragrances, and i'm so happy i finally got around to getting a full bottle. read more of my reviews on instagram: @scentrified

This is a beautiful citrus and baked bread fragrance that is just relaxing. It reminds me of living by a bakery or a brewery where you can smell the the cooked grains and hops in the air, first thing in the morning. Most people buy Tonnerre or Iron Duke as their first Beafort London fragrance. Lignum Vitae was my first purchase and if you want a uniquely delicious fragrance that's sexy, delicious and easy to wear, it will be your first (or next) purchase too.

I love this so much!!! It's so interesting. The opening was a bit shocking: it felt like I was just sniffing on a lemon with some salt on top. Some minutes into it, the biscuit comes through, it grounds the lemon and the salt, and they blend into this beautiful salty lemon cookie. It's really comforting but still fresh, very unique! I definitely feel like this is more masculine than unisex, but I'd love to smell a man with this on.

My personal hidden gem. Starts with a lemon cookie, then slowly steering towards deep and intoxicating oud / bergamot. I'd say it's a great choice for a non-banal everyday scent: accessible and pleasing so that people in the room will notice that you smell amazing. Dark enough not to be mistaken with some crowd-pleasers like Killian or Ex-Nihilo. Projection is moderate though (3-4 hours on my skin and on intimate distance).

Incredibly delightful and realistic lemon biscuits with a hint of salt. Masterfully combined woody, marine and gourmand notes are communicating harmoniously. Cozy, comfortable, positive and funny fragrance. I agree with the opinion that it leans more feminine than unisex. Qualitative and lovely gourmand oddball from Beaufort that differentiates from the rest of the line.

I got a very little sample from it, with only a drop or two inside, so I could try it only once. The smell of is was very unique. I imagine that an old type of galleon/great wooden ship inside could smell something like this. I don't know why, but that was the first thing I thought when I smelled it. I wish I could try it again.

Purchased from Bloom in London, this perfume is gorgeous. I find it to be deliciously mysterious with my much loved notes of pepper, lime, ginger and oud. While it won't appeal to the masses, it proves appealing to me...masculine and feminine, dark and light, sharp and smonth, Lignum Vitae is a must smell to believe. Yum!

@catlovingwoman doesn't have a nose. This stuff is wonderful, It truly is a photo realistic lemon/lime biscuit scent. Almost boils down to a sherbety scent as well. There are some lovely woods at the base of the scent but the top and mid is where it really shines.

Huge Madeleine note in the opening, truly one of the best openings i've smelt. has a warm biscuity depth and then the ginger, lemon and pepper come through. Just amazing, very close to the skin but it suits this style well.

This is pretty good scent. The opening is reminiscent of a lemon cookie, the mids remind of Initio Side Effect for some reason. Price point is decent and so is longevity and sillage. overall 8/10

An initial blast of delicious vanilla sponge cake that morphs into rich spice cake with lemon buttercream. After a couple of hours it's salty, woody and musky with some lingering sweetness.

This is a very delicious gourmand fragrance I love it and i usually dislike gourmand fragrances Salty cracker with lemon Has aquatic fresh and sweet edible components

Delicious, mouthwatering biscuit.

An unexpectedly nice gourmand. Lignum Vitae took me by surprise with how photorealistically accurate it smells like some lemon flavored cookies we have in Mexico from a line called "Emperador". The biscuit with its light saltiness complemented by a creamy citrusy tartness that's also a bit sweet, it's all here and it's surprisingly a really pleasant wear that doesn't become tiring after some time like other gourmands. I didn't expect BeauFort to have a fragrance like this considering their preference of smokey, leathery, extremely woody and/or metallic scents, but at the same time I suppose it's not as outlandish as some of their other offerings. My sister told me this smelled like Coke chapstick to her, my mom just said this was a really nice light and clean citrusy scent. My guess is they weren't necessarily aiming for the scent to come across this way and instead evoke an image more akin to a ship's food storage, as one of the reviews below mine mentions, but the olfactive experience is totally different for everybody, and Lignum Vitae turned out to be a lemon cookie gourmand for me. I probably wouldn't own this but I really like it and it made for a great and unexpected wear today. Performance was really decent overall. Moderate projection with a moderate sillage. I think this helps the scent with what I mentioned about it not becoming exhausting after some time, a bit stronger and this might have been annoying. Longevity is great, it's been 9 hours and I can still pick it up very clearly on my skin.

Lignum Vitae is bizarre and exceptional in equal measure, but not the usual kind of signature strangeness I've come to expect from this brand. Lignum Vitae is 'Beaufort does gourmand' and the last thing I was expecting to smell was a lemon Madeira cake, but that's exactly what I got from it. Such an accurate accord but with a salty, ozonic blast at the start and some leafy herbal business too, but then a clever, syrupy, lemon drizzle of citrus and that cakey, caramelised vanilla accord growing. I was very impressed when I read the notes and saw 'Madeira cake accord' among the list...I mean how specific? and my missus and I had already remarked that this smelled like that. What I like is that this perfume isn't a one trick pony because once you've digested your cake, you get more of that salty aquatic thing reminiscent of the finish from Tonnare a fragrance which hints at it all the way through but until the smoke clears you don't appreciate the full effect of. I get some of that savoury, herbal stuff as well almost as if the cake were make with olive oil? Lignum Vitae is challenging in a good way and nice to see the brand diversify from the smokey/leathery territory to something equally as eccentric.