Wendover

As I write this, it is an unusually cool, raw, grey day in early May, and Wendover fits the mood perfectly. An immediate impression of tarry smoke is layered over a pronounced hawthorn accord, anisic, bittersweet, and frothy. What soon follows is the surfacing of peaty soil, the sensation of moist air and a chill, a mist, with some spring flowers just managing to cut through. Growing more plangent green in its progression, Wendover elicits a chill, a tingle, hitting nostalgia and wistfulness in a powerful manner for me. I feel echoes of sensations that are now just out of reach, now vague and inevitably fading, the musty past for which I refuse to loosen my grip. It smells like a cellar for storing feelings that are hard to articulate. I look out my window and fixate on rain as it fixates on a puddle. A castoreum-forward leather pulls me forward, like aged, calloused, yet loving hands. The embers cool, the ash drifts, and a flicker of sweetness remains. Wendover is experiential, that's for sure, but it's also eminently wearable, and it is reminiscent of the beautifully coarse aromatics marketed to men in the late 70s/early 80s (Leonard Pour Homme, Dunhill Blend 30, Ebene de Balmain), but Mark Sage hasn't merely given us a smokier facsimile. On the contrary, like water percolating through soil, it pulls heart strings for me, because Sage was daring enough to include thoroughly disparate elements to impart a mood, and that's a mark of ingenuity.

Wendover is a brilliant, "slight" waft of coal/mineralic smoke mixed with a green freshness that smells of a beautiful misty spring day walking along the hedgerows of the midlands of England. These hedgerows are situated outside of town, along a country stretch of road where you can see green fields and small rolling hills. The coal smoke of the nearby town has slightly mingled with the dewey grass and plant life, creating a freshness that is also grounded and slightly earthy in the best way possible. I honestly really love Wendover and appreciate Mark Sage's creativity and vision with this fragrance, as he really has achieved his desired scent profile, IMHO. Wendover is very comforting to me as it takes me back to a time when I lived in the very area that this fragrance is attempting to conjure through scent. A marvelous job by Mr. Sage, and a fragrance that is not to be missed, again, in my opinion. Take some "Sage" advice from me...(Sorry Mark, I can't miss an opportunity for some word play), and at the very least get a sample of Wendover. If you love green fragrances, fresh fragrances, and mineralic fragrances, I think you'll find something to love in Wendover too! Two thumbs way up!

i recently bought a whole range of scents to wear on a road trip through mexico but ended up wearing this one almost every day throughout, idk anything about how england smells but to me this just smells like mexico and I love it. it's a chameleon, smells super different depending on climate: in mexico city I found it to pull more smoky and heavier on the coumarin, but in a way that blended really well with the smell of corn husk char from elote stands. the way it hangs thick in the air is texturally similar to the way that grilled/roasted food smells carry in hot summer nighttime air if that makes any sense. but thennn in coastal oaxaca the humidity really changed the way it wore, pulling out the damp, green notes of undergrowth that lie under the smoke. it's peaty but not overly harsh, grounded, multifaceted. something in the top notes combines to call to mind an almost spicy cinnamon, but a savoury, woody bark instead of a sweet gourmand. this is a very special, extremely adaptable scent that doesn’t feel tied to a specific season or climate for me which i love. long lasting, bold but comforting, singular & delicious

Hmm, I won't describe the story behind this scent and what associations this scent was supposed to evoke according to Mark Sage. You can read that... Great Britain, the 70s, furnaces, factories, districts, houses, hedges, etc.... For me, WENDOVER will remind me of GOODBYE... to summer. I got to know it during the summer, and I started using it just as the summer ended, and it's even much better in cooler weather. The beginning is a hit of smoke (cypriol?), dark charcoal, peat. Later it starts to become more luminous, slightly floral and green. I can also feel leather (probably due to the ingredients used to tan it). The scent also starts to sweeten very slightly over time. The smoke rises upwards, bright rays of green and flowers appear (hawthorn?), which soften this initial hit of notes. After a while, it reminds me of the smell of burning Far Eastern incense. The scent is for men in my opinion and I see it more often on them. A great piece of work from Mr. Sage. Very good longevity, as is the projection. I will not share my bottle and will save it for autumn, winter and spring. A great, masculine "territory marker".

Everything I've sampled from Clandestine hits your nose like it's wafting toward you on a breeze, like every note has been filtered through a few hundred yards of cool air. Wendover appealingly contrasts this brisk outer layer with an impression of searing heat at the core. It's a country walk in early spring, near dark, as smoke from distant fires drifts through the hedges, clinging to your jacket. I can't always pin it down: it's gourmandy yet doesn't remind me of anything edible, assertive yet has a comforting "old materials" quality. Almost burns on first sniff, but it's an inviting burn, like a nip of whiskey.