Morel Map

My family went camping a lot all throughout my adolescence. The first time I slept in a tent I was only six weeks old. As I grew up in deserts and beaches and forests, I found myself creating magical realms wherever we went. The forests were my favorite. One place in particular along California's central coast felt like it was overflowing with fantasy to me. It often rained when we camped there and I always found myself entranced for a couple minutes, frozen in place by the sensation, sight, and smell of water from the sky hitting the earth below me. Once the clouds broke and the late afternoon sun returned, I would head straight for the low hanging coastal oaks to explore. That's where the fairies lived. This perfume smells like my fictional world I created in those sunbeams and rain puddles. When first sprayed, I'm met with green that is so enveloping I feel as if vines are growing along my limbs. Just like after a rain though, as it dries the sweetness emerges. The lasting scent makes me think of the warm sun on my face as I stretch out on a blanket of violets and petrichor that's encircled with lions mane, morel, reishi, and chanterelle. A fairy hides close by observing and collecting raindrops to quench their thirst. When I ordered the sample set from Clue, I wasn't thinking much about this one and was more enticed by the other two. After one wear though, this became my close second favorite just behind Warm Bulb (some days I think I may like it more though). I plan to buy the full size after the rent is paid and the next check comes in.

All of Clue’s debut collection opens on me with an immediate and fleeting medicinal note, from there in Morel Map it immediately flies into the produce section. Specifically leafy greens, vibrantly bright and slightly damp herbs, as if the misters just came on and as I touch the cool greenery it’s wet and herbaceous smell drifts up to me. This is my absolute favorite of the bunch. The opening, like Clue’s offerings in general, are art. I feel like I’m taken on a journey every time. There’s a story briefly told by these perfumes then they morph into a less stylized and more wearable scent. This one turns into a sexy, almost musky masculine scent. I’m obsessed. It’s woody, comforting, a little dirty, masculine, and still a little green in the dry down, but to me mostly this comforting musky woodiness. I wish more of that insane fresh vegetal note would stay around a little longer but she had to go, and I respect that and what she left behind. As my sample has aged, I feel like the opening note has slightly diminished and I’m left with more of the drydown, but I love the dry down so it’s cool. I keep going back and forth on getting a full bottle. I’m feeling shy about full-sizing right now, being new to perfumes and all, but whenever I wear it I’m like ugh, I want MORE! It has great longevity and I just find it so sexy and complimentary with my body chemistry.

Wet grass, wet earth, mushroom cap! Ohhh I loved this so much, this is a dark thing that manages to smell both natural and wet! Far from unnecessary sweetness, and I'm picking up a bit of patchouli in the base too (though I don't think it's listed). The only way I can describe the feel of this scent in terms of atmosphere is this: you're in a dark enchanted forest, it's raining and the soil is soaked. You find a wooden cabin and go inside. The moment you shut the door, a brilliant flash of light followed immediately by a thunderclap that shakes everything... you're safe but also scared. The inside of the cabin smells a little damp and earthy because there's no flooring on the ground. The rain stops, you stick your head out into the pitch dark and breathe in that calm, wet but also resinous smell. Right at that moment, another incredible flash of lightning! Everything lights up and your eyes catch red with white spotted amanitas growing at the base of white birch trees covered in eye-like patterns. Then dark again, and thunder again... Wonderful. Tag(s): wet grass, woody, resinous, earthy, mushroom-y, green, pine-fresh

You wake up in the deepest, greenest woods you can imagine. A plush blanket of evergreen mulch, fir needles, and sticky ripe current cushion your cheek. When you finally come to, you only turn over to face a clear, cool, autumn sky. The air has never been fresher and the fragrant plant life is invigorating. Such a beautiful, natural, realistic green fragrance. The crispness of that lasting ozonic note is phenomenal. The way it mimics a deep breath of cold forest air. I don't heavily get the mushroom though there is a natural savory leaning that could be attributed to that. Most prominent are the vibrant violet leaves, soft fir, and damp pine bark. For sure my new favorite green and an excellent introduction to Clue. Edit: Quick edit on all of these reviews. They have SOUNDSCAPES for each of their fragrances on their site. Beautiful. Transcendent. Oh my god.

This scent is a journey into the woods. Opens with a bright green crystalizing violet, so green you can almost taste it. Then all of a sudden you’re pulled down from your feet to the earthy wet soil. Traces of the moist dark dirt beneath your finger nails. Dries down to a velvety bed of oakmoss from which you are now resting, looking up at the sky. You’re surrounded by tall green trees and their branches embrace you. I’ve had this sample since the moment it came out, I’ve worn in quite a few times, and I don’t know why as I sprayed it on myself right now after all this time, I was hit with these very vivid images and felt the need to leave it here for posterity. Such a beautiful masterpiece, reminds me of Universal Flowering’s death of a ladies man and Eris’ Green Spell. So lovely and outstanding.

Your ex’s new boyfriend is both earthier and more polished than you’ll ever be. He’s a botanist with a soil science degree and a decent job at the Parks & Recreation Department; he also has impeccable taste in designer jeans and obscure indie music and artisanal kitchenware. (Of course, for their first date, he took your ex to an undisclosed location to forage mushrooms—then he baked an exquisite mushroom galette for dinner.) You kind of hate how perfect he seems, but he’s so sweet and cute and genuinely charming that you also kind of love him, and something about his refreshing mix of bucolic crunchiness and urbane elegance makes you absolutely feral. Do you want him, or do you want to be him? Your answer to that question changes every time you wear Morel Map.

One of the most gorgeous close to the skin forest floor fragrances out there. This genre of fragrance is my number one, anything that captures this well is usually am immediate love for me, and what Clue Perfumery has managed to do with Morel Map is 10/10. This is so beautifully done and I want to smell like this all of the time. The mushroom note is so well done and blends perfectly with all of the other green notes and it's just perfect, I don't know what else to say. I feel like I'm on a dream like hike through a forest among the lushest nature. Clue Perfumery is one of the most exciting new lines emerging on the scene, and I can't wait to see what they do next. I'm looking at you, "The Point."

This is a beautiful, wearable forest scent for me. It’s perfect for day-to-day wear because it feels so casual...yet so alive! To my nose, it’s completely unisex, which makes it a refreshing break from my sweeter fragrances. It truly smells like a photorealistic forest floor, not a “perfume interpretation” of one, but an actual damp, earthy woodland floor. It makes me want to go for a hike sometime this week. I love lush, shaded forest walks in the summer. Breathing in that beautiful fresh air! Ahhh. 😀 I only wish it were a bit stronger and lasted longer on skin. Still, the drydown is beautiful on clothing, where it lingers for a solid five hours as a very soft, close-to-the-skin scent.

This is a very true forest floor scent. Honestly feels like a little goblin woman brewed this up and sold it as some kind of potion. I didn't love the scent on paper but on my skin its so cozy and comforting to me. Lasted a good long while too, I've been wearing this for 6 hours and its still there although much fainter since I'm sure i've grown used to the smell. For some reason Clue perfumes tend to have this weird cloying sickly sweet scent right off the bat though and this one is no exception. There is an odd sickly sweet scent in the bottle and on paper but on my skin it didn't appear so I'm grateful for that.

When I was little, there was this tree in my neighborhood that had the most perfect exposed root shaped like a basin. After it rained, I’d scooter down to the other side of the block and make potions in the rain filled root. 4 pinches of dirt, 2 slivers of tree bark crumbled, and stripped pine needles from a singular pine sprig stolen from a neighbors yard. The lingering memory soothes your head while your damp hand reaches into your worn canvas foraging bag; the creases from freshly earth-plucked morels skimming your fingertips. And that about sums it up!

This is one of the most interesting and unconventionally comforting scents I’ve ever smelled. I bought a sample expecting it to be more of a novelty than a wearable scent, but that’s not at all what this is. Morel map manages to capture one of my favorite childhood memories; quiet, early summer mornings at my sleepaway camp in Northern Illinois. I close my eyes and I’m back sitting on a dew covered wooden picnic bench in a beam of morning light cutting through the trees. The perfumer nailed the smell of a Wisconsin forest in spring or early summer.

This is really nice on me as a male. Really rich woody scent that actually does last for a long while. It sounds like it doesn't last long on others, but for me it had moderate projection and I was getting whiffs for hours when I went out to the city with friends. A really nice, realistic forest, mushroom and trees scent that reminds me of being on hikes in Colorado mountains. One of my new favorites! Looks like it's hit or miss for all, and for me it's definitely a hit! Clue is a really interesting and creative brand.

Sigh. I adore every single one of Clue's scents. They don't miss. I would say this is the most wearable of them all. Yes, it's in part a photorealistic mushroom-laden earth – but the most projective and notable character is of wood & violet. It smells like a sexy man's cologne or aftershave, a clean and well-dressed ultra-cool and knows-it kind of guy. TLDR; you brought the sexiest and coolest guy you know on a hike. He's taking a rest on the forest floor, beckoning you to join him. Have fun!

Out of all the perfumes in the lineup, this one surprised me the most. Judging from the notes and everybody's reviews, I was expecting to like this one the least, but I'm smitten; I can't stop smelling it! It's bright, fresh, and green. Probably the most generally appealing one of the bunch. It might not be as abstract and conceptual as it's stablemates, but it smells fantastic. Every niche brand, no matter how conceptual, should have at least one wearable and versatile fragrance.

Something about the mushroom note makes me feral. I found it's what I also love about Tom Fords black orchid--the truffle/mushroom just is crack for my serotonin. I could smell this all day every day. The opener is not for me. I'm not an oak moss person and it's heavy oak moss in the beginning. After it dries down the oak moss fades on me and I get just a green scent with a hint of violet and the flowers. Did not know I wanted to smell like violets and mushrooms, but here we are.

have been searching for the past decade for a perfume that recreates the description of how robin vote smells in djuna barnes' nightwood and this is IT, baby! reminds me of my other favourite wet green chypre, oriza legrand chypre mousse, but makes much better use of the dark peaty loamy mushroom notes - I'd say this is autumnal whereas chypre mousse is vernal, or this has deeper browns in it where chypre mousse is almost all green. more(l)ish, evocative, ingenious

You're taking a nice walk. As you go, you're picking leaves, pine needles, blades of grass and petals off of various plants and rolling them between your fingers. That's what this smells like. So refreshing. I got a sample of this in an order with a couple other Clue fragrances. Love it. It wasn't even my first pick but wow. Love it.

I love this fragrance. If I had a larger sample, I'd probably douse myself in it to see if I could get a stronger lasting scent, but alas, something about my chemistry makes this fade right off of me in about 30 minutes. Lovely, fresh, earthy dirt smell. Wet grass and freshly turned dirt in the spring, maybe after a light rain.

SO green and so good. GODDDD ive been wearing this sample for the past few days and i genuinely cant get enough of it, especially on rainy days. starts off smelling like freshly cut grass, but then it slowly turns into that more foresty wet smell..... gawd. ive been layering it with my patchouli oil and its a great combo

Green, earthy, mossy, damp... These are all accords that I normally loathe but I like this. I'm already running through my sample and added this to my wish list. Dandelion Butter is a little too green for me but this hits the spot. It's addictive and comforting. I'd love a full bottle.

Intriguing green, almost herbaceous and savory. The mushroom note is SPOT ON! This makes me feel like I am crushing up grass and whatever herbs I can find into a paste with a morter and pestle as a child. It’s like grass stains on your hands and a fairy house. Vividly green.

Gatekeeping this for midwesterners. Wet fall leaves squishy moss. Pure olive green. The violets really come through on me, and the mushroom feels mate-adjacent, providing a slightly woody but overall leveling factor. So nostalgic and beautiful! FB worthy fs

Morel Map is the most impressive fresh earth soil scent i’ve come across so far. the opening is like ripping open a wet bag of potting soil. I wish it lasted a little longer bc the dry down is a little basic, mushroomy masculine leaning.

The earthy forest scent to rule them all. You’re a child again, you’ve torn up some green leaves into a juicy pulp, threw them into a bucket with some mud and lichen, and stirred it all together with a stick. “Dinner” is ready ;)

Such a comforting scent. When I smell this, I’m transported to my friend’s cabin in Washington. I’m reminded of the smell of damp soil, moss, and lots of lush green vegetation. I think this is perfect for a cool, rainy night.

wow i love this. starts off very crisp in a way that reminds me of fresh vegetables, but it dries down to a very mature and easy to wear woody amber. a bit pricey but maybe i'll consider splurging once this decanter runs out.

This is a wonderful perfume. Wet and loamy. Feels like foraging for mushrooms in the forest. The dry down is a little less interesting than the opening, but I still really enjoy it and think it’s very wearable.

My favorite green scent, nothing else comes close imo. Photorealistic while still being incredibly wearable and alluring. Being from Wisconsin this really hits home. True magic happening here

Amazing opening that lasts for a good while, before fading into the drydown, which, although not as unique, is still pleasant and complimentary. Really smells like a Great Lakes state spring!

Like smelling a living, breathing forest in a bottle. Probably one of the most comforting fragrances in my collection. Dark and luscious, literally like rotting on a forest floor.

I don't usually like green scents but there's a wet dirt, forest-y, dampness to this that I adore. Feels like the cold morning after a night of rain.

This fragrance smells like what those half-horse people from the movie Narnia would smell like. It's very musky/fresh/spicy.

Earthy, loamy perfection. The best soil note I’ve experienced, slightly edging out the limited production Nez Folia.

STPFAU. Thank you for saying all of this out loud. Now I know the fragrance to steer far away from.

What IS this? Dreamy? Yes. Earthy? Yes! It smells like happy, floaty dirt. I love the paradox.

Wearing this on a rainy humid summer morning and it is just perfect.

freshly mowed grass but on an old property in the pacific northwest

gonna wear this to ferngully prom

Clue’s Morel Map is a charming, green, earthy, mossy, dewy, vegetal scent that also manages to be remarkably similar to Andrea Maack’s Coven. In fact, when I tried both scents simultaneously on separate arms, I had some difficulty differentiating between the two. Since I was testing both in a perfume shop, the shopkeeper commented that Morel Map is like the airy, sun-dappled woods of Wisconsin, whereas Coven is the nighttime, darker and more brooding, mysterious forests of Europe. I think it goes without saying that I ended up walking away with a bottle of Coven instead. Ultimately, whereas Coven is more nuanced and sophisticated, Morel Map is a bit lighter and wetter and slightly more vegetal given its most primary note of mushroom (in addition to prevalent notes of forest and moss). However - and I'm shocked no one else has picked up on this - Morel Map's mushroom note can bedew your sweaty summer skin with the tiniest tinge of a mold scent. Although I passed on Morel Map, I still enjoyed the scent and I cannot shit-talk (err, “shiitake”) it. I’m quite excited to discover what else this new perfume house, Clue, has up its clever sleeve. In five words or less: Coven Lite.

This is a very friendly, damp, mossy, forest floor fragrance. A full ecosystem in motion. Sun-dappled and alive with mushrooms, new green growth, earth worms, and leaf rot. Reminds me strongly of my sister who never wears makeup (or fragrance come to think), is obsessed with hiking, knows everything there is to know about the flora and fauna in the region we live, and works for the department of biodiversity. Needless to say I have positive feelings towards this fragrance. Although as I write this review I am beginning to agree that the dry down becomes less sincere forest floor, and more sanitised gym bro as time goes on...which I’d describe as the opposite persona to my sister, and not at all ideal if you’ve come here to smell earthy or like a friendly park ranger. If smelling like forest floor is your thing, I recommend you also check out Sloth by Zoologist which is essentially a slightly furrier, more jungle-like Morel Map. Different ecosystem but similar feel. From memory I don’t think Sloth warps into gym bro.

A non-animalic forest, like a perfect little terrarium of candyfloss moss and fresh mulch. The most straightforward of the Clue quartet for me. Based on the mushroom note, I came searching for a chewy, green umami note, but couldn’t find anything savoury. (Well, not unless I were a bug). However, it’s a truly lovely forest floor scent. Earthen and misty, but not gloomy. There’s dappled sunshine in these woods and, when I inhale deeply, the vegetal notes ring stemmy and alive. Recently returned from a hiking trip through some temperate cloud forests and Morel Map invokes that world perfectly. Hold on tight, spider monkey. Mental Snapshot: You’re a wood elf ranger. Or a gnome druid. You bathe in babbling brooks and dry yourself on curtains of hanging moss. You shapeshift into a potbellied badger and root about the ferns for the choicest truffles. You don’t smell like wet badger, though. (You’re magic, duh). tl;dr: a bug’s life 🪲🐌

It is autumn and you are out looking for morels. However, the morel harvest is highly competitive in this forest, with restaurant suppliers eager to snatch up the best wild 'shrooms. Disappointed, sticky with sap and your boots muddy, you take a rest on a mossy log and contemplate calling it a day, when someone snickers at you from a patch of sword fern. You turn and find a gnome staring back at you from behind a green frond as tall as he is, pointy red hat included. With an almost devious-sounding cackle, he gestures for you to follow him. Too intrigued to refuse, you follow behind him, struggling to keep up as he breaks into a run. Sapling branches whip your cheeks and the forest blurs around you as you try and try to keep that little red hat in your line of sight. Is he leading you towards 'shroomy delight or to your doom? You do not know.

At first spritz it’s this heavy earthen tincture, a lot of the balsam green is here and a trail of dampened soil. It’s beautiful but wow the show really is only getting started. The dry down is absolutely stunning. It becomes this luminous comfort like the feeling of being encapsulated in a moment in nature. There’s a layer of elusiveness that’s hard to capture here I get a slight smokiness like a campfire pit that’s been snuffed by a sudden rainfall. The smell of old fallen logs and fire wood with this almost cashmere like quality swirled in. It’s beautiful, it’s poetic. It really transports me to this memory of being high in the woods with friends and exploring the unknown. The smells enveloping your mind. I think I may have found another favorite.

Morel Map opens up with a nearly photorealistic forest scent - green, so green! and almost vegetal in its conjuring of chlorophyll laden leafy flesh and damp petrichor earth. This works on more than just a note level - the texture of the fragrance directly out of the bottle pricks the inside of your nose like balsam fir needles falling from treetops. As foldyrhands describes, this scent soon transforms into a much softer depiction of this same forest floor - simultaneously savory in its mushroom earthiness and sweet due to the delicate addition of violet. The wet, shimmering scent of breath turned to condensation in heavy dawn fog paired with the satisfying feeling of dirt underneath your fingernails: proof that you really dug your hands in.

I must confess that I am surprised at the longevity of this fragrance. The green forest notes do stand out in a way that I would call positive but not necessarily ground breaking. I perceive the mushroom note as important but not anywhere close to the forest notes. Most of the other notes listed I can detect except for elm leaf and birch leaf which I simply not come in contact with as a fragrance note. I am glad to have sampled this as it has garnered a number of very positive reviews. I don't see myself getting a full bottle but I will wear this over the summer and may change my mind. Longevity is over 6 hours for me, silage is moderate but somehow thick. The nose behind this one should be recognized as an innovative craftsperson.

I had hoped to encounter more mushroom realism with Morel Map, expecting to smell the peculiar magic of Amyl Vinyl Carbinol, Octanol-3, Octyl Acetate and the like, employed in an inventive way, but little sensation of these decidedly fungal fragrant materials is evident. Instead, I am greeted with a damp petrichor sensation on the forest floor, maybe terrasol, maybe geosmin, rootanol perhaps. I love this kind of smell, but I feel like this has been an oft-tread concept for niche and artisan perfumers in recent years. What innovation Morel Map gives to this concept is open for debate, but it is still nice. The enduring verdant feel and mossiness in the dry down is noteworthy.

opens strongly with sappy, green woodiness. as it dries down, the subtle meatiness of the mushroom emerges which balances out the strong greenery. the violet makes it inviting and provides another layer of warmth. on me this isn't a cold scent, it's an uplifting, grounding green fragrance. perfectly unisex to my nose. if anything I wish the mushroom proved to be stronger. the forest floor on an early spring morning. there's a slight chill and the air is still. the ground is moist with dew and new growth is emerging from the remains of last year. beams of morning sun cut through the branches and create pockets of warmth on the cool floor. the air is ripe with possibility.

While I did't leave this one on for more than 45 minutes as a tester. I liked it quite a bit, but found that the black currant note kept coming up to the top, and making it just a touch too sweet for me and overwhelming everything else. But it's a lovely woody, green forest scent, very realistic. I'm not getting the dirt note/mushroom as much on my skin, nor the deodorant dry down, But I think longevity might only be 3-4 hours, it didn't last on my skin overnight. Edit: I wore it longer, and okay Bottle it is! I can get over the currant note, but I think this is the forest perfume I'm looking for, I just don't know if there's anything else out there that can meet this.

Smells like the memory of hiking in the PNW, wearing my dad's wool coat that always held the spicy notes of his cologne on the collar, and wet moss and dirt bursting underneath my leather boots. The woodiness is more pine needle than pine wood to me. All of it smells like it's soaking wet; the wood, the dirt, the flowers and mushrooms. I'm amazed how this perfume captures the experience of foraging after a bought of rain in springtime, how the air clears and the water brings out the smell of the forest with more potency, especially the brightness of cut stems and and the earthiness of uprooted fungi.

extremely photorealistic damp soil scent. starts really astringently green, but that note fades after drydown. reminds me of being in garden club as an elementary schooler: dirt under my nails, the humidity of our little plastic greenhouse, the warm compost bin. i was hoping for a cooler, damper, mushroomy scent, because i love the smell of raw, wet mushrooms (like at the grocery store i promise i'm not huffing spores in the middle of the woods), but it is a really nice warm dirt smell. nostalgic but i don't want to wear it out; my job has me already usually smelling like dirt anyway.