Ancients

I'm writing another review for this fragrance because it's just that good. Of all the wet forest fragrances I've tried (and I've tried a fair few), this is the most realistic rainforest I've experienced. Wet, earthy, green, herbal, airy--it encapsulates not just the plants, but the environment, which is so incredibly impressive. I've had people tell me this smells exactly like the San Francisco Botanical Gardens, which is a 50 acre garden dedicated mostly to cloud forest environments and flora. I have this as the perfume oil and extrait de parfum. The fragrance oil has a lot more green intensity, while the extrait de parfum dries down to much more traditional, powdery lavender scent, comparable to my original review below. It does bear some resemblance to Olympic Orchids' Olympian Rainforest, but unfortunately that contains something unbearably sour and pissy to my nose, that I don't find in Ancients. Olympian Rainforest might be a truer undergrowth decay, but Ancients is the whole rainforest. A breath of fresh air. This fragrance, and indeed, this whole company should be much better known for the quality of fragrances they put out.

So I chance on this in a random store and I was blown away. This smells exactly like the rain to me! There's this strong bitter dirt smell that I love and this intense earthy green smell. This is exactly what the rain smelled like growing up in a tropical country, and I'm so impressed after searching high and low for so long for fragrances that remind me of tropical rainforest rain. There's a very clean lavender underneath this dirty green fragrance at first, which becomes more dominant later on, and a gingery spiciness comes out, which I don't see listed as a note. It settles into a more classic and clean fougere where the geranium stands out more. Amazing stuff.

This the most realistic "forest" scent I've encountered. It smells like the bottom of a river canyon where there is a cold creek running over damp rocks and moss, the canyon walls as you look up are looming and moss covered there are cedars growing out of the rock walls, cold air all around you. it's damp and dark but it's invigorating yet calming. This is one i need just so i can get sniff when i'm in need. So good.

Hi, Wildflower fragrances are exquisite, and of the ones I've tried, Ancients is among the best. It's an enchanted-but-realistic forest. Lavender, violet, wood, and mossy green dominate here, in all of their open-aired, sylvan glory. If "centaur" and "moonlight" were listed as notes, I'd buy it. If "A Midsummer Night's Dream" had an olfactory counterpoint, it would be this - equal parts magical and rustic.

Gorgeous fougere scent. Reminds me of night time in a damp jungle. So green and lush! Love it!

I started putting a teeny tiny dab of the oil on the inside of my mask at work. Lovely!

The most beautiful use of lavender in a fragrance I’ve yet experienced. Moody, dark blue violet ‘moist’ aroma. Very mossy, soft unsweet barely minty lavender, slight peppering of geranium and greenery of balsam fir, this perfume is subtle and plays on earthy notes. I’m kind of shocked there’s no soil tincture note - that would be the strongest immediate impression. Tonka bean sweetens this juuuust a fraction. This fragrance is special, the natural ingredients really sing here. Btw- there is no oakmoss in this. Ingredients on my sample are: Kashmiri lavender, blue cypress, rosewood leaf, geranium absolute, balsam fir, violet leaf, oak wood, atlas cedar, tonka bean, forest moss EDIT: Ended up not buying a fragrance from this house. From a recent marketing email: "Many of you know that I'm writing a book ... a hybrid memoir and investigation into scent and perfume cultures, and sensuous embodiment as a radical resistance against colonization, white supremacy and patriarchal damage." I prefer not to buy from an ideologue or racist, you may feel differently.

Wow! This is very green and earthy. The first breath I can almost see the dank and damp layers of an old growth forest floor. It was quite visceral and true to life. As it settles the green leafy notes seem to be the key players and then the lavender takes hold and rises above them. After awhile it mixes with violet to give a floral sweetness, and then the damp scent returns. The fir and cypress are present but more atmospheric, adding to the forest imagery. Upon further reflection I think the oakmoss note may be mismarked. This is the truest forest moss I've smelled, but there's none of the headiness of oakmoss. Just oak wood and forest floor moss. I should also mention that when my boyfriend smelled it he thought it smelled fresh and clean, so different noses and all that.