Holy-wood

Holy-wood is a synthetic, but thoroughly pleasant, scent that, like all of the Nomenclature fragrances, is chemical without any harshness, screechy notes or unappealing industrial qualities. As the bottle with its brushed metal, good quality, atomizer and clear design allusion to laboratory glasswear suggests, this fragrance is a manifestation of skilled chemical lab work, not a blending of natural smells. Surprisingly, perhaps, it works well. The rose note in the mid and the opening are "rosey" without any of the heaviness, femininity or cloyingness that natural rose notes can sometimes have. The pink pepper in the opening and jasmine in the mid are really only nods to these things. There is a spicy, slightly camphorous bite joined to the rose in the opening and a vaguely white floral tone accompanies the rose and spice through the mid, and for 45 minutes or thereabouts, the fragrance is at once floral and not floral with an olfactory shape shifter ability that only skilled chemistry can produce. It is all just a bit intriguing and completely unisex. As the base notes weave their way into the lingering rose and spice, something very elegant and enjoyable happens. You are left with a noticeably projecting and somewhat enduring woody and soft suede scent with just a hint of spice and rose. Very nice indeed. Taken as a whole, then, Holy-wood is an interesting and very pleasant, office safe, fragrance that is ideally suited for fine, bright, crisp autumn days where the scent's clear, clean and transparent woody and rose-tinged leathery spiciness simply work wonderfully with the bright, autumnal air. Synthetic perfumery (and partly natural but essentially aromachemical scents more generally) is often viewed unfavorably here on Fragrantica, but Holy-wood is a testimonial to the fact that sometimes, when executed with great skill, these types of scents can be very nice indeed. Recommended.

I can't tolerate Armani's Rose Arabie. This fragrance is like a much better version of that to me. It doesn't have that cedar-like scent dominating the fragrance. It is well balanced. Probably the best in that Rose-wood category that I have tried in a while.

Dusty saffron jumps out first, followed by rose. Patchouli? No, but I do get an earthy undertone.

If I could describe this in two words, they'd be "it's fine". If you've smelled a patchouli-rose combo (which given how saturated the market is, I'm certain you have), you've smelled this - except you've probably smelled a better version. While this is done well in the sense that it does what it says it's going to do, it's incredibly simple and lacks nuance. There's no surprise here. Don't go into this one expecting something revolutionary.

A lot of rose to start, making this smell surprisingly drugstore, really similar to a whole lot of rosechoulis on the market. But it does open up with more pepper and sandalwood, and become something more unique. Still, I am "more is more" when it comes to woods, so this would not come close to scratching that itch for me. This is unisex as in "genderless," not unisex as in "androgynous."