Lake Fragrance Tonic

This scent really captures the sweet, grassy smell of a mountain valley in Yellowstone. I had low expectations (not knowing the work that the perfumer had put in) for this fragrance and was pleasantly BLOWN AWAY by how accurate it was put into a concentrated scent. From top to bottom notes it brought back a flood of memories of the years I spent fly fishing and hiking in Yellowstone. This is a truly unique fragrance and a masterpiece in my opinion. Of all of the 5 Yellowstone frags Caswell Massey has put out, this may be the best. Worth every penny if your heart has a place in YNP.

I like it, but I wanted to love it, having tried the perfumer's previous work and being awed by it (Mackenzie Reilly also did California Snow by A Lab on Fire, an amazing fragrance). The reason is that it's pretty weak: it opens with a strong blast of alcohol, citruses and lavender but then dies down quickly to a musk with a faint lavender. It does have an overall watery effect and evokes a lake (I haven't been to the particular like in question), but it falls short in being too ethereal. EDIT: I received an advertising email from Caswell-Massey that informs me that the 'tonic' is a lower concentration than an EDT. The EDTs are around 12-14% whereas the tonic is 10-12%. That accounts for the lightness.

I love Casswell-Massey's Living Floral concept, and the method they use for distilling a subset of their fragrance notes. Also adore that the Yellowstone scent lineup supports National Park Services. I believe I tried all of the Yellowstone scents, and this was one of three that I really enjoyed on initial trial (will add detail after another go). The author of this fragrance deserves an award - this is the first time in my life that any scent that even mentions 'aquatic' or 'water' has even survived more than a 5 minute trial on my skin. I hope Casswell-Massey keeps Lake in their lineup, it is an unicorn for me!