Fern Valley

This review might turn into a ramble so apologies in advance, this scent (and Dark Tales' use of AI) have been driving me crazy for over a week. My personal way to review perfumes: if it evokes an immediate wow reaction and gives me a scene or a story, I spend time on trying to discern and understand it. This one yanked me off the sofa into a summer forest where the surface is uneven with boulders and roots blanketed by velvety moss. The air is fresh but carries the undercurrent of the earth's dampness from a recent rainfall. The forest is ancient and serene and yet there is magic hiding behind every trunk, sweet dewdrops gathering on giant ferns, ready to be gathered by fairies and turned into a lovely summer wine. I really enjoyed standing in that forest. Notes: to me, the opening has some very subtle basil and bergamot but is well balanced with the tiniest hint of spice to pull you in. I can't sense any ozone though. It quickly develops into that damp greenery with oakmoss, ferns and surprisingly a very sweet base that makes me sniff my own arm over and over and over again. Notes suggest sandalwood but as a huge fan of sandalwood I simply cannot agree and almost want to argue that I can smell something closer to caramel. However, I'm inexperienced with perfumes so who knows. Might be sandalwood after all. Overall, Fern Valley is not a real forest, it's a fairytale forest of magic and fey creatures so I find descriptions of petrichor and moss to kind of miss the mark as they suggest something much more grounded and down-to-earth. This ain't it. There's an aromatic freshness and, to me at least, a clear undercurrent of undefined sweetness. Now, for the problem: Dark Tales use AI in their process and Arina Franzén's explanation of it was so self-inflated and off-putting. I can't justify supporting her brand. It's a shame.

I bought this perfume some months ago and have worn it probably 20-30 times altogether but I love it! The scent is very fresh at first, but has a more spicy, lingering scent. To me, this perfume reminds me of the smell of warm, moist earth and foliage of a beech forest. It is a unique scent, but has a complex profile, which is what I would expect from a high quality perfume. If you aren't looking for a strong gender-specific perfume profile, love the scent of the outdoors and want to stand out, then this might be a good choice.

Oh this is lovely! Smells like green vegetation in a dense forest although still keeping it fresh. Picking up on the ozonic note in the opening together with the ferns. This has no sweetness but comes adress as cozy all the same. The basil and bergamot keeps it from going to much into the wet earth group. Haven't smelled anything like this before, it so interesting! Saw that the fern note is missing on fragrantica, that's too bad as I would say that it is the most prominent note. Longlasting for this type of fragrance. 7,5/10

The scent of an ancient forest spirit It's green, fresh and sweet, almost like moss and honey mixed with wet soil near a riverbed. This is what a dryad or a greenman smells like. Earthy, ancient and delicate.

Absolutely in love with it! So well balanced, both calming and with a hint of mystery. One of my favorites 😍

To some it's the water of a flowerpot left too long and gone mossy, to me it's the smell of the swamps that the bog witch trudges through at night. Something extremely wet and extremely muddy... It has a herbal character at the same time. I sometimes use this description: waters so eerie that every kind of ominous creature lurks around in them, dark, chilling, sticky with damp... There's also something rubbery ruling over the whole scent, as if the swamp's own reeking aura weren't enough, somewhere far off imps are burning car tires and doing demonic dances around them. Tag(s): swampy, muddy, mossy, herbal, rubbery, eerie, dark