Il Était Un Bois

Not at all the deep, earthen wood I had braced for! No damp bark, no cavernous shadows, but instead, mellow beams of sun. A soft, golden-brown warmth of grain fields sighing under a sky so wide it swallows sound. Wood is present of course, but not the heavy kind. Wood shaved fine, curled like ribbons, steeped in warmth until edges blur. Powder diffused, softened, carried on the air. And then, oat milk. Unbidden, it rises—a delicate creaminess threading through the wood, pooling into the spaces where less than-desirable sharpness would have occupied in any typical wood fragrance. Not thick but silky, grain-type-of-savoury. It catches the wheat, the pale sweetness of husks and chaff, and turns them into something tender. Warmth upon warmth, stacked in layers so sheer they feel like light itself. Like looking at the world through a pane of golden glass, edges blurred, time slowed. A scent less not put on but slipped into, like a morning bathed in pale light, neither wholly earth nor dream. Absolutely captivating and unlike anything I've smelled before.

I actually cant get enough of this. I havent been able to stop sniffing my wrist like a buffoon. I really did expect a pine-cedar-lush spring forest but i am charmed by this subtle rice-y oatmilk-y scent. Its like every other perfumer tries to capture the essence of the mid-air. The leaves of the trees, and the rich smell of bark as you look up at the canopy. This fragrance instead looks down at the ground. grass swaying in the wind, or the dried up remains of the squirrel's breakfast. Sumlikedat.

Such a calming, grounded, delicate fragrance. It reminds me of the kind of perfumes made by Olivia Giacobetti (Philosykos, Premier Figuer etc) calm, woody, subtle, no big chemicals. Smells like someone who spent the night in a high-end country cabin, maybe in Scandinavia, sun-warmed wood on a sleepy morning, birds singing, scent of dry grass on a delicate breeze. Love it!

This is a wonderful scent - absolutely love it... The oaty buckwheat note really enhances the rooty vetiver + creates such a powdery soft inviting feeling. Addictive, yes! This isn't leafy, damp or green in anyway - for me it conjours up resting under a tree on a warm dry day. Stunning...

I agree with the review below, it’s nice but it’s not a “wow” scent to me. Just a pleasant, soft, nutty/cereal-y Vetiver. It’s very linear once you get past the opening, what you get after the first 5 minutes is basically what you have for the rest of the life of the scent. It’s pleasant enough, but there are far better scents (and Vetivers) out there for the price. I also don’t think the fragrances matches the marketing myself. This doesn’t make me think of “a forest”, this makes me think of a barley field or grain pile. More farm than forest with such strong cereal vibes. So yeh, it’s pleasant but nothing worth writing home about imo. Edit: just realised I said the word ‘pleasant’ 3 times... still I’m leaving them in since that is the word that comes straight to mind when I smell this.