Tenebrae 26

Wild zigzagging slalom ride through northern forests. Stunningly spare austere Nordic woods, cold, an icy blue on the nose as well as to the eye. Opens up with a wisp of smoke so sharp I almost thought 'bbq chips' but it passed in a moment to become a glorious pagan wild incense, cycling into a much warmer resiny incense with deep dry warm woods beneath. Lingering sap and toasty sawdust hangs on faintly for a little more. Stone love if it could sustain those wonderful phases, but in fact they hurtle past scarily quickly ... the zingy assault of the open lasts for maybe a quarter of an hour, each phase after that maybe an hour more, barely there by 4h in. A scent not strong enough to last the rugged journey it wants to take you on. About as expensive as your own private Norwegian forest reserve, too - and nearly impossible to find where I live. But I love every maddening moment of it. Will probably settle for some CDG HInoki or Aesop Hwyl instead, even though (I love them both) neither quite hits the heights of Tenebrae's high points... as both offer slightly better though still frustrating performance.

This is quite interesting. For the first few days of having the sample, I did not think of Tenebrae as anything impressive. But over time, I realized there is something special about Tenebrae. The soft, and ethereal nature of this scent belongs in the calm and meditative genre, kind of like CDG Kyoto or Aesop Hwyl or Diptyque Tam Dao. It reminds me not of a forest itself, but rather the viscous sweet mist emanating from a night forest. The scent is of something lightly wet, but also slightly thick. I think of the colors blue and green when I smell this fragrance. Unique green woods scent! It is wholly pleasant, and while I will probably go for the CDG Kyoto this time, I do have this scent on my potential FB list. UPDATE (05/12/2024): Bought a FB of this scent and after spraying it I detected some citrus as well. The scent is much more lovely. The versatility is also amazing. It's just nice! And pleasant! I love it! I wear this to sleep everyday lol

I blindbought so it was a bit of a gamble, but with a sale on curiosity won. Tenebrae arrived this morning and it is indeed pine, resins, incense and wood I can smell. I cannot find any fault with it, it reminds me most of Fille aux Aiguilles Lutens minus the dried fruit. It's not a sillage monster, but I don't care about that as long as I can smell it and it's holding its own after 8 hours of wear. To me it is this evocative dark forest they're talking about in the description and I've been in many a dark forest. It's a love, looking forward to Arcana Rosa still on the way :0) And the bottle will look nice in my curiosity cabinet too.

I was wandering through the Balenciaga Rosabotanica fields of luscious roses when I took a wrong turn and got lost. The roses disappeared and the foliage kept getting thicker, denser, and darker, as I arrived in this deep, dark, tranquil forest of Tenebrae. I obviously enjoy these modern botanical fragrances and Tenebrae reminded me of my beloved Escentric 03 as well. So for me, this is a dark woody aromatic, the main notes I get are vetiver, frankincense, licorice. Very shapeshifting, with a soft earthy dry down, sitting very close to the skin.

I have a sample for this fragrance but the sample smells very similar to the sample of Abyssae 33 that I have...😅 The colour of the liquid is the same as well (light blue). I got both from the official site. I'll try both scents somewhere at the same time when I get a chance next time. Update - 09/19/24 Ordered both samples (Tenebrae 26 & Abyssae 33) and tried them. They are indeed different scents but smell quite similar to my nose. Tenebrae is earthier though.