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

OMG!!! I love copper skies. Wow! What a scent. Crazy...explosive opening which I can only compare to something like Amouage Interlude man just for pure onslaught of notes. It's like someone threw a bomb of Thai spices into a red hot wok! Instantly sweet cinnamon, cloves and anise then liquorice all of which amounts to something as subtle as a shot of sambuca. Then smoke and rubbery tires patchouli dirt and aggressive leather. This fragrance is absolutely off the charts insane...I love it. The drydown is more of a clove focused smell but with that sickening edge taken away. I think to call this a clove based fragrance is wrong because although dominant it's all about the surrounding notes for me which, rear their heads and retreat constantly throughout my experience of this perfume. It's not one for the faint of heart that's for sure but when it dries down takes another turn into gourmand territory almost smelling like a spiced raisin, fruit cake with a touch of booze. Later the drydown is a deep Amber accord and something which reminds me of pipe tobacco, the remnants of honey or maple tobacco. It's lovely when something like this comes along and truly reminds you what it is you love about fragrance. Quite sweetly spiced throughout and some may say naive perfumery, I say brave and complex. I'm going have to get myself some of this...much like interlude man I've no idea when I'd wear it? but hey this is one for perfume lovers and I need it in my arsenal.

Can't stop burrowing my nose into my arm. For the opening, I’m in an industrial area, oil rigs and machine exhaust fogging everywhere. This really captures the gloomy mood I have of staring at the sky during urban sunsets, when the sunlight scatters through the clouds to create hues of copper and gold with the smog below; a mesmerizing spectacle to leave you.... blank. Sweet, ambery, spicy and herbaceous. This stuff transforms, drying down you get beautiful amber and clove, sweetened by a deep nature quality... the beeswax. The beeswax gives an animalic touch but don't think it gives a "nasty" quality like civet, but instead a natural touch of something you'd smell in the wild... think medicinal herbs and sap. The amber/clove blend is so rich and smooth and screams refinement! There's something inherently classy about this fragrance in the air as it projects, similar to how something like iris in designer scents scream class and sophistication, this sort of veers into that level of refined for most of its life. I can see a rich man wearing this, or an artsy person like a movie director. Very wearable. Masculine leaning unisex. Moderate silage and next-DAY longevity. 9/10. I love Kerosene for how much you are spoiled with an evolving, stimulating, and evocative yet wearable piece of art. The price and performance are so awesome.

I'm often sceptical when reviewers talk about a scent as having notes that are there in the title but not listed anywhere in the ingredients. However, in this case there seemed to me to be an obvious and quite persistant burnt metallic note in the opening. I don't think I'm just imagining it! It's not unplesant, but definitely there along with the cloves and herbs. This is a very intriguing opening but as all openings do, it gives way all too soon. However what gradually replaces it in a very non-linear way, is a heavy tobacco-cedar-resin combination that gets so powerful after an hour or so that it smells like a very dark and heavy incense. I couldn't stop smelling myself! Gradually, this lightens and sweetens over time, but this is not one of those nice vanilla-tobacco scents, this is a rich and unapologetic tobacco, that keeps coming back like a pulse and ultimately stays for a good 9 or 10 hours, until the drydown has finally reduced to a mostly honey-amber base. This is really great. Finally, something that just makes me happy in several different ways! This may be my favourite of all John Pegg's creations.

This is my take on Copper Skies. The opening is kind of weird cuz the clove note is strong and sharp but still has a sweet nice opening in a strange good way. That lasted one hour, then the basil, honey and the amber starts to go out strong and beautiful for the dry down leaving the clove in the background. Its like a really nice church scent, its beautiful and mystical. Somehow I feel some cinnamon and incense somewhere but its not listed in the notes and for the tobacco note Im not getting it for the moment. Overall, I really enjoying this one. Longevity is really good, 6 hours for now and not giving sings that it will fade away. Sillage is pretty great, I can feel Copper Skies strong and nice on me. Kerosene made a beautiful mystical fragrance here, amazing first impression and the presentation for Copper Skies is solid. 4 out of 5.

A fantastic shimmering copper sky indeed. It is one intense dramatic opening. Lots of warm Amber with equal measures of honey, tobacco and clove. It is carefully reined in as it settles with the dry tobacco and the master stroke of basil. The basil does something magical with the honey sweetness. It is indeed sweet, resinous with a great herbal twist. The tobacco and basil stop it tipping over into gourmande land. The further down the long timeline you go the less gourmand it becomes. Basil, honey and tobacco wood now dominate. There is something very north American about it. A golden, sweet resinous sap from a fantasy tree similar say to the sweet maple. Is this the sweeter, on steroids US version of the fabled Naxos?! A wonderful warming, cosy scent for cold weather wear. I'd say it was unisex. Great sillage and longevity.

The warm amber-spiciness of this perfume reminds me of the burn you feel going down your throat when you swallow neat whisky. It envelopes you in that way. The peaty notes keep it tough while the rest of it hugs you tightly. I didn't get any basil, but this is definitely a bouquet of a variety of spices - clove, anise, maybe even a little caraway. After about six hours, I began to smell a definite sweetness in it - the honey with a hint of vanilla bean. This sweetness with a little bit of amber is what is left of it about 12 hours after putting on one spray. It's soft, but it's still there. And one spray is indeed enough - any more would be too intoxicating! Along with Unknown Pleasures, this is a Kerosene perfume you could get away with wearing at the office so long as you apply with a light hand. I adore it!

WOW - amazing scent. Ordered Broken Theories direct and revived this as a sample. Reminds me of digging through damp earth and finding old copper wires with weeds and herbs growing nearby. The amber, tobacco and clove come across as a constant in equal parts. At a distance I would swear there is gorgeous anise - making me feel like I spilt a little Ouzo or Sambucca as well on my shirt - in fact it wafts and very much reminds me of Marc Jacobs original BanG - though this is the notes playing tricks, helping give the metallic vibe I'm guessing is intended in the marketing. Whilst a very much a Tobacco scent the blend is remarkably successful and to me easily could be also classified as a Green Fougere or a Spicy Wood such is the journey. Looks like its a full bottle purchase tonight...

I love how people are so matter of fact on here. I think copperskies is a great creation. When you first spray it, it can be a little harsh, but give it a little time and everything starts coming together. I get a sweet amber smokey almost incense sweetness. Depending on the day and temperature you can get different things out of this. Sometimes it is a very smokey kind of scent for me, other times its hitting the gourmand side. Its a very complex scent that has gotten me some compliments and I find it to be a dark fragrance with depth. It is also daring, yet maintains an appealing smell.. I don't know if this would be for everyone, but it is a brilliant creation to me. I like it a lot. Just give it a chance and let the fragrance settle in before rushing to judgement.

Copper Skies, a purely magickal scent, truly. I had first placed this on my skin when the sun popped out during a cold day. I went to the store with it on and along the way so many beautiful smells arose from Copper Skies... Clove and peppercorn appeared. Swirling around me, delightful spicy and yet it gave way to sweet and bitter notes, definitely tobacco! All together well balanced. I did not smell basil in this as the page recommends. This reminds me of a 24 hour diner, partially smoked cigars/cigarettes in the ash tray, waffles with syrup, buttered toast, coffee and the smell of older gents and ladies perfumed and awake early enough to catch the sunrise and have flapjacks. Delightful scent, I will order a bottle soon!

Spicy basil opening, with the honey and amber already peeking through from the base. The opening feels a bit medicinal and is rather interesting. The basil doesn't overstay its welcome and lightens up considerably into the heart of the fragrance. Next is a pleasant amber/tobacco accord with a little bit of stickiness from the honey, but still lightened a bit by the remnants of the opening basil and a touch of cedar. The base is a pleasant accord of honey, amber, a hint of anise (probably from the basil) and unlisted vanilla which stays with you for much of the day. Big thumbs up. Rich, while keeping a nice balance of freshness from the herbs and cedar.

Great review to the poster above. He basically summed it up. I also think this fragrance is very nice. Its like ambre sultan but more appealing. Ambre sultan sometimes reminds me of some kind of aged or rotted coffin at times lol. It is very resinous.. whereas keroseens maintains the integrity of the amber note but blending it into a very smooth and creamy concoction. This isn't a typical vanilla amber as stated above, but I get some spices, almost a cinnamon type feel mixing with the amber and honey. It is well done, well crafted and I think everyone should definitely try this scent even if you aren't a huge amber fan.

I think this is what John Pegg envisioned as a perfect industrial, Detroit, fragrance. It goes on like a machine. Oil soaked, metallic, industrial machinery, but dries into a beautiful clove, amber, tobacco, beeswax fragrance. Not an overly sweet honey, but a waxy, candle like honey that adds a faint touch of sweetness. Very manly and mysterious. I feel like this really puts out an intriguing vibe, like people will want to know what it is. It will capture attention. People either love it or hate it, so it's probably not a safe blind buy, but try a sample, it may just become one of your favorites.

Rich,dense and alive! I myself never enjoyed clove until I have smelled it combined with sweeter notes. This and Tabac Aurea by SSS are instant loves of mine due to amber which is my favorite note. To say it's polarizing is an understatement. It's a bold,brass take no prisoners scent. Clove and amber are the easiest notes to detect but the underlying of tobacco and beeswax are nice additions to help balance it out. As mentioned, performance is 12+ hours and 3 sprays is more than enough to be noticed from a few feet away.

Wow, interesting. I’ve got a 2ml tester and I have never smelled anything like this before. It opens green, with a big hit of herbs. Basil is in the notes, but it seemed more general to me. There’s a hint of mint and clove, the blending of which adds a sense of liquorice. It evolves after that first hit to remind me of a green Fahrenheit. Then the warmth comes in with tobacco and amber. It’s unique. I like it a lot. An excellent bad boy signature scent to accessorise a leather jacket and a worn all-saints tee.

Oh wow. I got this as part of a Kerosene sampler pack and this is... wow. If I were a dude this might be my new fragrance. This is a honey smooth tobacco and spice- very similar to Naxos but not as sweet. I like that the honey actually is more of a beeswax than straight up honey. Very smooth, very old school- a great alternative to like TF tobacco vanille or xerjoff naxos. Incredible. Great longevity & projection, with no alcohol. Woof. Can't stop smelling this- so nice!