Onsen Minerale

The blindingly bright aldehydes open this fragrance into bitter green mandarin and yuzu. Once that opening softens a bit, a lovely steam and minerality appears, truly reminiscent of a hot thermal bath. The yuzu bubbles around your head, and water pops gently off the surface, full of salts that ease your muscles. Eventually the trees drift down over you and you are in the sauna being purged. The opening is difficult for me. It’s shocking and so overwhelming, you’ll think it will never clear. But only minutes pass and it becomes so sensitive and subtle. A personal experience that cannot be shared. It smells like the sound of a hot tub as you stand near the edge.

Impressions from Fumed in Chicago...Cult of Kaori really did stand out as feeling like some of the more layered, deeply considered and professional perfumes amongst the brands I tried. Now I only tried about 5 or 6 today before reaching my limit on testing strips and nose fatigue so that might not be saying much...but the scents spoke for themselves. This one feels like the incense perfume I may finally pull the trigger on. Beautiful mildly fruity-citric nuances blending with a golden, bright freshness of a sharp mineralic woody note. There's no incense listed technically...but that pointy aldehydic character of Cardinal by Heeley is hard to miss, alongside a steam and metal accord that feels just right....unlike the somewhat bombastic representation in something like Resonant by Oddity, it feels balanced and supportive rather than outright avant-garde. Very good for a woody citrus, and you could even make some associations to mainstream stuff, but this is niche and more interesting. That prickly aldehyde note is usually the last thing to stick around when I've sensed it- quite noticeably too. So that could be the only point of friction here. Anyways, go check them out. The other two upcoming releases were equally as impressive and I did not expect to like the Melon perfume as much as I did.