Mown

I have only recently discovered Henley perfumes and I must say I am actually quite surprised by them. I expected something much different, much more “indie”. By that I mean a little rough around the edges, trying to be cool and edgy, maybe even a little weird. I’m not sure why I felt this way but for some reason I had it in my head. And what I am experiencing is the complete opposite. The fragrances are all polished, graceful, and you can tell he spends a lot of time on them. They are all perfectly balanced, beautiful, and crowdpleasing while still remaining unique and thought provoking. They have a natural feel about them but you can tell they are enhanced with aroma chemicals but he clearly knows how to use them. Instead of making up the majority of the fragrance as we often smell, they are used to enhance and perfect the structure and feel. Which is, in my opinion, the way the best perfumes are made. Mown is a perfect example of all of this with an extremely pleasing balance of chamomile, tobacco and champaca surrounding grasses and mosses. There is a delicate and natural sweetness to it, and a dampness. It reminds me of the steamy scent of sweet grasses and fruit trees that you get after a rain when the sun comes out immediately after. There is oddly an element of sadness to it that I can’t quite put my finger on. But the melancholic feeling is what adds to the beauty. It is completely unisex and impossible to label a slant either way. Beautifully put together.

A strange effect for me: this isn't so much mown as ... burnt, or at least singed and smouldering long grass... which is lovely in its own way. Just as well I love smoke, as I get a much much drier landscape from this than other writers here; I get no humidity at all, just one waft after another of parched dry grassland and light deciduous forest. Deeply imbued with all sorts of deep ochre-yellow-orange autumn colour, dry hay and tobacco leaves; even the sweeter notes (apricot? raisin?) add more dry warmth, rather than any more liquid sense of juice or pulp. Camomile and champaca summoning the flowers of the meadow into the mix. An archaic imaginary frontier farm at harvest time, then, with none of the manure or industrial chemicals of real-life agriculture, as you sit on the rickety wooden porch in the golden hour just whiling away the time as dusk draws in on a long autumn evening. Like that reverie, it can't last forever - this has less staying power than some of Hendley's other outdoor trips, enduring only 2-3h on me - but it's got tremendous nostalgic and evocative power all the same. Organic, rooted, authentic, natural, heart-string-tugging work here. You have to try it; no words will do it justice.

Szénaboglya tánc az avaron - a folyékony nyári napfény illata... Egy rituális szellemi és testi egyesülés a frissen kaszált szénával borított réten, ahova a szél befújja a nedves faleveleket a szomszédos erdőből, kamillás, dohányos klorofill-bombaként feltoluló olfaktorikus, kinesztetikus, már-már gusztatorikus orgazmus. Messze a nagyváros zajától, gyermekkori emlékek tolulnak fel, a nyári szünet utolsó fékevesztett napjai a nagyszülők házában, az őszt előrevetítő utolsó kergetőző hempergőzések a kaszált mezőn, mikor a bágyadt, sárgás-vörösen izzó lemenő nap sugarai zizegtetik a szalmabálákat. A széna abszolút illatos testvérével, a dohánylevéllel ölelkezik champaca szirmokkal borított plüss mohaágyon, verejtékes napsütötte bőrük pólusain keresztül aszalt gyümölcsök selymesen mézes cseppjei türemkednek a felszínre...édesen odaadó megkönnyebbülés.

Mown opens with dry blonde hay, fresh tobacco, and chamomile with just a hint of malty sweetness. The savory florals of the chamomile and champaca resonate with the earthier notes—it almost reminds me of a sea of wheat, shimmering warm and slow in the sun at the end of harvest; yellow and brown grasses rather than green. It's a pretty linear (and somewhat subdued) composition, but it gets a little mossier as it ages on the skin (and it sticks around for quite a while). Fragrances are tied to time and place for me—I first sampled this in the summer and could immediately just feel it was off. I've waited for the weather to cool to brisk fall temperatures, and Mown finally feels right. It's lovely. As I write this in October 2018, it's been out of stock for a few months on Hendley's website, but here's hoping it comes back soon. (8/10)

A really original take on the "New Mown Hay" genre of perfume. The few of those I've smelled from when they were all the rage in the late 19th/early 20th century were all centered on coumarin and tried to play up its sweet, almond, grassiness with few adornments. Mown smells legitimately like wet, freshly baled hay in a field in autumn. It's a truly atmospheric scent. Hendley leans into both the raisin-like quality of hay absolute with a dried fruit accord and the herbal, dry-tobacco facet of the substance as well. Despite the fact that it is so vivid and lifelike in its impression of hay, it feels subtle and wearable. Wonderful scent!