Indigo

To me, this smells like you are standing on a street corner on a rainy spring. You're not sure what time it is - possibly mid-afternoon - but it's hard to tell with the dark clouds overhead. You've just stepped out of a café and are taking cover from the rain under its awning. You're holding the cup of brown sugar Earl Grey you just bought, the steam rising up and wafting under your nose. Cars drive by, the sound of their tires on the pavement hushed because the asphalt is wet. The public garden across the street is lush, the foliage a deep green, the fresh mulch a rich brown. You push aside the wad of mint gum you've been chewing for a while to take a sip. This fragrance is dark and woodsy, but still fresh, herbal, and even a little sweet. I actually find it gets sweeter as it wears on. Just beautiful, and unlike anything else in my collection. When I inhale deeply, my sinuses fill with a cool sensation, as if there is menthol in this. The square shape of the bottle with its simple black cap makes it feel a bit like a cologne, but the floral artwork in the background gives it a graceful touch. Perfectly unisex in both scent and presentation, and suitable for any season and occasion. A skin scent through and through, even just shortly after initial spray, though it has an impressive longevity close to the body. I can still catch whiffs of it when I lean down or turn my head well into the 6+ hour mark. This might seem a little overpriced because the projection and sillage are not great. Howvever, NEST is currently changing their packaging so you might be able to find a discounted bottle at your local TJ Maxx (or Winners, for my fellow Canadians) - I was able to find the 50mL for $60 CAD.

The first second: cardamom hits me instantly, maybe because I'm very familiar with it from cooking Indian food at home. I sense fig as well, but that takes another minute to open up fully. 2 mins: the tea is introducing itself. Hello there! Reminds me of all those sickly sweet green tea frags that were ubiquitous a decade ago, remember those? But this tea is much more sophisticated blended with the fig and the cardamom and an undercurrent of wood that I know in fact to be 1,2,3,5,6,7-hexahydro-1,2,3,3-pentamethyl-4h-inden-4-one (or cashmeran), but which my brain is telling me is pine or possibly cedar, the wood scents I've known my whole life. I feel like I've ventured into a dark but soothing forest. 5 mins: Realize I've been smelling bergamot this entire time without being conscious of it. Have to close my eyes and really focus in order to detect the bitter citrus, but when I do find it, it's sumptuous. 10-15 mins: Scratch what I said before. I'm not only AWARE of the bergamot, it's practically sitting on my lap! And it's the root note of this citrus-fig-wood chord that I've fallen absolutely in love with (a comforting, grown up love). 4 hrs: all I'm getting is cashmere wood and bergamot now. It's a teeny bit soapy smelling, but that's because it's reminding me of soaps that contain cashmeran. Not sure how it smells to anyone else, but it makes me feel sultry. I enjoy this on me but would love it 10x more on a man... yum. Thank you Indigo.

I never understood the idea of a perfume that makes people cry. Until I smelled Indigo by Nest. I grew up in the PNW with a lot of rain and moody weather almost all year round, surrounded by some of the most magical natural beauty in the country. This perfume brings me back to long rainy hikes as a young child with my mom. Standing underneath a waterfall in the Summer heat as a teenager with my friends. Fresh out the shower, getting ready for school during a cloudy morning, with a mug of piping hot black tea. Without discussing the notes, this perfume is simply my childhood in a bottle. It is fresh, clean, and so so moody. It is calming without being somniferous. Even just smelling the bottle brings me so much peace, like I can conquer whatever the day has to throw at me. I am absolutely in love with this perfume. THAT BEING SAID, I was shocked to see cardamom on the notes list. I am not getting any sort of spiciness from this perfume. It is a fresh, clean scent with a bit of sweetness on the dry down. I can't imagine anyone disliking this perfume (that's how much I love it) but the scent is definitely not appropriate for every occasion. Not my go-to going out perfume by any means. This fragrance is a slow morning, cozy night in, or a hangout with one or two friends. Also pairs really well with weed smoke in case you were wondering. Songs it reminds me of: "Rivet Gun" by Mother Soki, "Reflecting Light" by Sam Phillips.

A hidden gem among tea-inspired fragrances 🍵 This feels like a true masterclass in tea-inspired perfumery, and not the kind that reminds you of a generic tea bag from the grocery store. The scent evokes a small Chinese tea shop. It is herbal, green, slightly tart, with a faint tobacco nuance. Imagine opening a rustling kraft paper bag filled with loose tea leaves tightly rolled into slender needles. Each one seems ready to unfurl and fill an entire cup. Teas like this often carry long, poetic names in Chinese, something along the lines of “The Brows of a Wise Elder from the Great Mountain.” I would not be surprised if a mountain herbalist smelled exactly like this ^____^ The experience is quietly meditative and grounding, much like the focused stillness of a traditional tea ceremony. Beneath that calm lies a darker, contemplative depth that brings to mind an overcast afternoon by a countryside lake, where the air carries soft watery and green vegetal nuances. The fig note dissolves into this aromatic landscape rather than standing apart from it. Instead of sweet fruit dripping with syrupy juice, what emerges is closer to the scent of thick tart fig leaves crushed between your palms. What impresses me most is the unexpected complexity. Many NEST New York fragrances lean toward being simple and linear, but this one unfolds gradually and reveals new nuances over time. Beautifully balanced and entirely unisex.

When you look at a fragrance collection like Nest's, you get a balance of wearable and crowd-pleasing scents while still getting uniqueness. I love a lot of the smells in the Nest family, but Indigo is one that I think about a lot. I've never smelled anything like this fragrance, and I'm amazed with how well this scent is crafted. Indigo reminds me of a cozy day in on a rainy spring day. The first moment of it on my skin is sharp, but not unbearable. Once it dries down and it mixes with your skin, it blooms into a really dimensional and comforting fruity, green scent. It moderately projects for around three hours, then settles into a softer skin scent. This makes it very versatile and able to fit many preferences. I currently like this as my post-shower scent, but I try to fit this into my daily fragrance rotation any way I can. It's so addicting, I cannot stop smelling my wrist when I wear it lolll. I beg everyone to try this at some point, I may just be dramatic, but this is such a special and accessible scent I think everyone should explore in their fragrance journey. Especially if you like spring-type smells.