Big Sur

In the bottle it starts with something a akin to tea tree, maybe some menthol and a touch of eucalyptus, I’m not sure what Big Sur smells like as a place but this definitely takes me to the beach, not so much the salt water, seaweed and sand part of the beach, but the fresh crisp air and the plants and rocks on the way down there. It’s really lovely fresh fragrance, would be great in the summer. I’m afraid I’m not sure what nettles and artemisia smell like (I’m new at this) so I can’t comment there. On the skin there’s a burst of green followed by more tea tree which dies down a bit to reveal sequoia and a little bit of salt. Sits pretty close to my skin, very fresh and clean feel, maybe a tinsy element of bug repellent but not in a bad way. Bay leaf is there too but it doesn’t come until later. I’ve tried mixing this with a tinsy bit of seaweed absolute and it was uncanny how much it reminded me of summers down the coast. Of all the ocean/beach style fragrances out there this one for mine is the only one that comes close to the real experience. It’s lovely.

coveted this perfume for a year after discovering it at my local indie perfume store. finally got a roller and i’m obsessed. encapsulates the unique feeling of being on a northern california beach between the ocean and the redwoods. i smell the salty sea water scent first and the sequoia and moss secondary. dry down is sweet and herbal on me. bought this for an upcoming trip to sea ranch. can’t wait to wear it. it’s perfect.

Creosote. Tar. Strong evergreen cleaner. Bitter herb. Deep cedar wood. First wears I didn’t know what to do with this. Grew to love this after several wearings and already miss my decant. Good initial sillage. Decent length to about 8 hours. I don’t get a lot of aquatic notes.

Very nice! I tend to hate aquatic notes but love it in this one because it's less of a "fake, ocean/blue note" and more like an overall impression that you're near the ocean from all the other notes. It feels like you're on a cliff overlooking the ocean, with trees, as someone else said. The aromatic notes are very calming and draw you in. The scent feels extremely spa-like. I expected this to smell a little dirtier and earthier but that doesn't come across at all. I get the impression of a little bit of cinnamon from this (I think from the combination of bay leaf and sequoia). I also get a nice black pepper. These notes actually give me an overall 'soft spicy' impression, but again, it's something that's created by the sum of its parts rather than actually there. On me, there's a very slight sweetness to it that rounds things out. I don't notice any of the eucalyptus people mention, which I'm glad of. This doesn't smell medicinal at all to me, and the woods and herbs feels balanced. This fragrance is something different, while being very inoffensive. Unisex, though maybe more traditionally masculine.

At first I hated it. On me it’s almost like a skin scent but instead of making my skin better it made it worse. It smelled like literal body odor on me. Until about 30 minutes in it deepened and softened, there are some moments where it does smell a bit medical almost witch hazel, antiseptic-y. But then it transforms into an adventure, taking you out of where you are and into misted sea cliffs surrounded by pine trees older than your grand parents. I don’t think this is my scent per say but I like spraying it and pretending I’m a character on big little lies.