Copper Skies

Another classy, gorgeous offering from John Pegg. Once again a total other beast to the other three of his scents that I own. This is old worldly, contemplative, comforting and spacious. I love the almost "counter intuitive" nature of the Kerosene fragrances and this is no exception. Basil and tobacco? Amber and clove? On paper, one could be forgiven for thinking this would be a mess, but I can assure you, it's far from that! To me, the amber and tobacco are the central protagonists in this scent. The tobacco note I recognise from another Kerosene offering, Fields Of Rubis. It is amazing. The amber is pretty much the first one I've really understood and fallen in love with. I'm generally not an amber fan, especially as a primary note. But this one is remarkable, not too sweet or candied, not too rich, a tad resinous and as such, it provides a wonderful base for Copper Skies. The accompanying notes, cedar, basil and cloves are perfectly balanced and executed, adding an earthy, almost 'outdoorsy' (but not in a sporty way at all), vibe to a scent that could have easily veered more towards a kind of fireside, leather bound book, worn old armchair and whiskey type of fragrance. I'm grateful it avoids that direction, as I think it's a genre that's been done well enough elsewhere. There are definitely hints of honey, whiskey and coffee grounds here also, but to me they're very subtle and waft in and out of view over the life of the fragrance, which incidentally, is extensive, much like all the Kerosene scents I've experienced. I get very decent, yet still polite silage and I find it still going strong on me after 8hrs. That's great value in my book. As a side note, I certainly don't agree with the reviewer who called this "chick repellant", in fact I've had quite the opposite experience. I guess it depends on the kind of women you're around? I don't want to dwell on or diss his review, but there's no way he's got the genuine scent. It's either a fake or it's somehow gone bad. This is as far away from a "toilet cleaner" smell as you can possibly get in my opinion. Fragrance is a very subjective thing indeed, but I just can't understand what he could be smelling in this case. At all. So anyway, if you're looking for the perfect amber and you're also a lover of that fine tobacco note but you don't like those things going all sweet and syrupy on you, you may now stop looking, because Copper Skies ticks all those boxes admirably! I never thought I'd be able to say this, but Copper Skies may quite possibly bump TF Tobacco Oud off my favourites shelf pretty soon! Especially in the dry down, this scent is just that good! It took me a few wears to get my head around this, but from there it's just pure love. I really dig it when it takes a few goes to fully comprehend a fragrance. Persistence certainly pays off in this case! An outstanding, natural, elegant and sophisticated scent. A big winner in my book!

The House of Kerosene is a fairly young house, the perfumer himself is a fairly young man, you would even ask "what makes this guy think he has what it takes". Once you put your nose on his three offerings, you may ask "why didn't this guy start years ago" Fragrance Bros, gave a nice and honest review of R'Oud Kerosene's freshman offer, I will do this one, one of his sophmore offerings the other being Creature. This is a somewhat medicinal amber based fragrance in the vein of Ambre Sultan, but a bit sweeter in the opening, there also seems to have a coffe vibe, but this could be a mixture of notes just playing a trick on the nose. When you first spray this the clove, beeswax and amber are heir apparent here. The cloves are providing a nice medicinal vibe but the beeswax is taming it down, preventing it from having an opening say like Musc Ravageur (so no need to be afraid here), the amber is thick and a tad smokey, but the beeswax and clove prevent it from dominating the fragrance thus amber haters may still want to visit this fragrance. There are woodsy undertones and to be honest the tobacco is so subtle and quiet that it play a little part here. It comes off as almost a nice baked gingerbread gourmand, both herbal (basil and cloves) and sweet only approaching a foody like aroma but never touching the line. I would say it is relatively sweet so if you don't like sweet fragrances (signficantly less sweeter than say New Haarlem, or maybe sweet in a different way)that are amber based you may not like this. If you are a fan of Sultan or Ambre 114 or Ambre Precieux you may like this one quite a bit. I would actually put it middle of the road between say Sultan and maybe Chergui on the sweet scale. The longevity is SUPERB!!! I asked how long he said 6-8 hours I have worn it 5 times and it is at least 10-12 hours on my skin, it doesn't even get close to the skin, my wife smelled it 12 hours later (as she told me to wash it off LOL). The projecting with about 4 sprays out of an atomizer would be a 8 out of 10 maybe more. She is not quiet unless you do one to the front of the neck. Anything over two and you will be noticed 4 and you are making a statement. The sillage is also superb. This is a performer for those who like to say something with their fragrances though this could be curbed with less sprays. As a fan of amber, who likes it sweetned (and instead of using vanilla like everyone else it is spicy and honeyed) this was an easy 5/5. My first impression was very positive on skin she sung to me. I don't know what Kerosene has in store for us but R'Oud is really good. Creature is terrific and this gem is CLASSIC. I will have this as long as it is manufactured!

I LURRRVV Copper Skies. Love the imagery that the name as well as the scent conjures...my fantasy of an eternal Autumn, possibly spent dwelling in a tree house. With a pot-bellied stove, brewing spiced cider. I instantly think of and feel the following, when wearing it, in no particular order: John Cale’s album “Words For The Dying”. I wore it out. It’s John accompanied by a Russian Symphonic Orchestra, setting Dylan Thomas’ highly evocative poetry to this rather baroque-meets-Bohemian-in-The-Village-For-Open-Mic-Poetry-Night music. And no, it isn’t at all cliched or eye-rolling, it’s really quite beautiful. I mean, Cale singing “Do not go gentle into that good night, backed by orchestral pizzicato. Home. But not any home I’ve ever known. Safe. Weepy. The spice aisles of The Rainbow Collective in San Francisco Red brick buildings in New York in November (if you’ve never been in the Fall...PLEASE do it, just find a way to do it). My most-beloved muse, Tom Waits, particularly Kentucky Avenue, or any hymn from my church of Blue Valentine. My favourite ust-cloloured Lee corduroys from the late 70s. Warm August evenings at the Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto, their voices like bronze and saffron threads, together weaving a softly shimmering, burnt-orange silk tapestry of song... I could go on. And on, and on, but I think you get the picture(s). Copper Skies is one of the warmest, richest, non-sticky ambers I’ve experienced, and while it hints at SL’s Ambre Sultan, I found the latter to be unwearable, as it dried-down to the equivalent of a nice, steamh, Shawarma storefront on my skin, likely due to the baffling addition of oregano. I was afraid that the basil (one of my favourite aromas ever) here would turn like AS does, but there’s just enough here to proffer a cool, and fleeting, bite in the opening. You just know ya gotta try this.

Basil and clove are anisic to extraterrestrial levels. I don’t know that I’ve smelled a perfume so licorice-y in its opening. Wood smoke also makes a big appearance, and the two together zap the air around you of all moisture. But this scorching light passes as the sun goes below the horizon and gives you copper skies in the form of an airy, bronzed amber, full of cured pipe tobacco, honey, more wood smoke, peppery cedar and patchouli. In one moment I smell the honeyed amber notes the most, in another moment the peppery cedar and the wood smoke. Throughout its long and large life the perfume is light weight and airy yet rich and elegant. What a great name for this perfume. When I smell it I get a clear picture of a massive expanse of rich, deep, reds and browns stretching into eternity. Part of that is simply due to the enormity of the perfume itself. Spray conservatively at first when you first wear it; the performance is massive. It wouldn’t surprise me if people could smell you past the copper horizon. While we’re on the topic of this perfume’s outsized personality: as with a couple other Kerosene perfumes I imagine Copper Skies will be quite difficult for a lot of people. The spiciness is huge. The wood smoke is huge. The commercial template for amber perfumes makes it one of the safest and least confrontational genres available, but not at Kerosene, not with John Pegg, and not with Copper Skies.There isn’t a perfumer at this time that is doing spicy and smokey ambers better than John Pegg. It’s breathtakingly gorgeous but it’s not safe. Awe inspiring, compelling, and heart racing. It’s probably the best spicy smokey amber I own.

The scent of a supervillain. The smell of the crackling of electricity across a copper wire as you walk through a dry southern cedar forest. The villain cackles, the sound echoing all around, as they then begins his grandiose monologue of world domination. The tension is high in the air as you can smell their dry & warm pipe tobacco from all over, growing ever closer. As they finally finish, and step out from behind one of the hundreds of trees you are hit in the face with their sweet and cozy cinnamon amber perfume. As they step forward, a certain and undeniable confidence in their step, you can't help but feel somewhat entranced. A villain... sure, but a sexy one at that. An undeniably unique and bold metallic and sharp opening of basil and clove supported by cedar and tobacco. As it dries down, the spices and woods take a supporting role for the sweet amber, ashy tobacco, and thick honeyed beeswax. Wow. Unabashed and unashamed. This is sexy, but the kind of sexy that you don't need to be told you're sexy. This has a very big personality, so don't let it wear you. The people who think this smells like Broken Theories needs to get their noses checked. While it shares a similar tobacco note, the rest of the fragrance is completely separate. I find Broken Theories more wearable for me personally, as the vibe for this is so specific, but man is this still really really good. As with most Kerosene fragrances, nuclear projection and longevity. Will stay on clothes for weeks. 9.2/10