No 51 Etude en Bois

I picked this pair up at anthropologie very much on sale. Being a music officianado, I was intrigued by the idea behind the leitmotiv fragrances, intertwining two of my favorite art forms - scent and sound. I chose a pairing intended to represent two of my favorite emotional pieces, Beethoven's fifth symphony and Berlioz's dark and twisted symphonie fantastique (though the one modeled after the overture to Wagner's Tristan und Isolde was tempting as well). So, essentially a blind buy, though I had an idea of how I think these two pieces ought to smell... This is quite lovely, both by itself and with its pairing partner, garden aire (no. 14). Alone, after the first blast of mostly alcohol, it turns into - I swear - bee propolis tincture. I believe it's the mixture of the whiskey and clove notes, it has an alcoholic, medicinal feel, underpinned by aged wood. Might not be for everyone, but I really like it. After a little bit of bee propolis tincture, it turns into a very realistic unfiltered beeswax scent, but this doesn't last long and it's back to bee propolis tincture. This is a very bee-forward scent for the first half hour or so. After it gets all its bee-y-ness out, it becomes a lovely, warm, unisex wood scent. It's gone except for a faint skin scent after about three hours, but it's quite nice while it's there. I don't really get Beethoven's fifth from it, that perfume would be darker and more dramatic. Perhaps something akin to Perris Monte Carlo's incensy Oud Imperial layered with Miller Harris's dark, peppery Rose en Noir... 6/10