Cowboy Grass

To set the scene, I first smelled this in Jackson Hole, Wyoming at one of those bougie “mercantiles” that sell clean beauty products, $40 CBD gummies, and tasteful linen trousers in the hundreds of dollars. I was immediately swept away by Cowboy Grass and a few months later received it as a birthday present from my sweet Mama. For further context, I’m someone who typically wears floral or sugary scent bombs. Kilian Love Don’t Be Shy is my signature. But Cowboy Grass scratches a particular itch in my brain. I wear this and feel like the Marlboro Man and both Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden’s characters in Johnny Guitar. Not to mention Barbara Stanwyck in The Furies and Forty Guns. “Cowboys are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other” comes to mind. If you’re fascinated by the American Southwest and have unironically have considered getting into Western novels (me) Cowboy Grass is for you. Aside from all these aesthetic associations, this scent is also just really fucking sexy. I’ve never been one to find any fragrance erotic even in an abstract sense, but this one is a major exception. It’s stanky, untamed. No suaveness but just raw eroticism. My dream lover either wears no fragrance or this. If your dream lover hasn’t materialized in your reality yet, might as well wear the fragrance they would. In this case, well I’ll just be the cowboy myself!

This is a strong one. I did this bold thing to buy this blindly, without testing it first. Luckily, I like it. Mostly because of strong vetiver. This scent seems to be one that is neither for men nor women, so not even unisex! It's out of these categories, something grassy, although the implication is, of course, that it is unisex then (interesting paradox). It is a very strong and bold scent to wear. I imagine this could be worn by men in suits perhaps, but lightly then. I like that the strong part of it is mostly coming from vetiver. At least I recognise it as such; the information actually says this is primarily clary sage. When I first tried it I felt like it was changing a lot over time, I got three different phases, but now it smells more linear. In my first try I even felt that it is leathery (which I don't like in general) but now, few times of uses later, even if it's there, I don't really recognise it as such. The cowboy connection had to come from the leathery part. Who wants even stronger tangy smash on the nose should try Theodoros Kalotinis's 1989 which is outrageous and double over the limit of normality of that kind of smell, at least how it starts with the top notes (possibly some people call it cat piss but I'm not entirely sure).

It's near high noon. The ranger and the bandit stand across from one another as they ready to draw. The town is silent as they watch the two men, eager to see who will make the first move. A slight breeze carries the smell of the scrubs, sage bushes, and the dust of the old dirt road. It all happens in a flash, the chime of the bell tower, the ring of a singular bullet, the thud of a body falling, and the crunching of a tumbleweed as it floats across the prairie. As for who won... that's a story for another day. This is a sage lovers wet dream. It's classic, clean, green, outdoorsy, and slightly medicinal sage supported by herbal thyme and earthy and dusty vetiver. If you do not like sage typically, I'd stay away. It's bright and clean, without smelling like another basic citrus/shower gel freshie. This is intoxicating for me. While "El Cosmico" tells a story of the American southwest, this is the story of a lone wanderer in the northwest. I have almost worn through my entire sample and will probably pick this up for the summer. Perfect for casual or formal wear, and while it has a nice projection, it is never overpowering. 10/10 Masterpiece. PS listen to "House of the Rising Sun" when you first smell this :), thank me later.

Pacific coastal scrubland is an endangered habitat in the west - drought tolerant plants like manzanita, California sage, coyote scrub, etc, make up the coast from SF all the way down to Baja. This smells like that! Instantly you’re driving down through Elfin Forest, the light dappled under pepper trees and California oaks reaching their limbs across the road (the vibe is Stephen King but western). The sage is medicinal and kinda camphorous and smoky, but if you grew up with this scent in your nose it’s pure heaven. I get baked eucalyptus, too, shaggy bark with a fibrous bloody core. The thyme sweetens it, I didn’t know thyme could be sweet, it’s almost like the pollen. Years ago we had a huge pile of fresh eucalyptus mulch sitting in the driveway after a 40-footer fell down (they’re prone to rot and have shallow roots, catastrophic crashes are common). A day or two later I noticed a trail of smoke coming out of the pile, so I dug through the mountain of shredded bark until I found the source: the core of the big pile was pure ash! They are so acidic and oily that it had spontaneously combusted in the early morning sun! Wild! This smells like that burn! I love it!!!

This is a nice laid back fragrance - citric, herbaceous and earthy. A good fit for someone turned off by more traditional fresh fragrances. Cowboy Grass is all rustic charm, as though it were cobbled together with ingredients found in the prairie landscapes it evokes. This was one of their first releases and there is the slight feeling it’s missing something...however, paired with “I Don’t Know What”, their fragrance enhancer, it really sings. “I Don’t Know What” punches up the citrus and fills in the blanks with soft woods that help to tone down the sharpness of the herbs (particularly the thyme). The two blend together perfectly, like two halves of a whole. This is an expensive proposition you are right to bawk at, but both can be found for very fair prices on discounters right now. If you happen to have both give it a try! Alone it’s a like, but together it’s love. Still, I’m rating it alone.