Blackbird

As you make it to the edge of the cliff you hiked 3 hours to get to, you take a large deep breath in while you overlook the canyon. Immediately you are hit with the cool mid morning air and the sharp bristles of pine mixed with tart wild blackberry you picked while hiking up. As you sit down to take in the view a little longer you munch away at the blackberries in your hand. The sun above heating up the cedar, pine, and their resinous saps to reveal the smell they contain. It’s so peaceful, and you wish you could stop time here just to come back when you need it most. Life is good. Evocative, sharp, and beautiful. This starts with a very sharp, opening with nose tingling hay, in-your-face green pine needles, and very tart blackberry. This will be the main thing that turns people off this fragrance, but I personally enjoy it. As it dries down though... this is becomes much more rounded and super mass appealing. The cedar wood, amber, and resins mix in with this mashed fresh, slightly tart blackberry. As it dries down it gains the olympic orchids DNA musk base more and more but is somewhat linear besides that. I love this fragrance, but I already own an 10 mL of “Cape Heartache” by Imaginary Authors; it is the same fruity/woody profile but a bit sweeter with strawberry instead of blackberry. When I run out of that thought I will have to make the difficult decision of which one to get. Tried this x2 in the winter and it did great, performance and projection are insane: lasted after my shower that night and projected in a 6 foot bubble for most of the time. I think this would also really shine in the heat if you don’t overspray. 9.5/10 Signature scent worthy.

The berries in the opening are the perfect sweetness. The berry note never really goes away, but it does tone down as time goes on. They berries are actually deep & dark. I think the hay adds to the sweetness. The other notes become more prevalent after the first few minutes. It's like the berry starts to change with the other notes. There is a lot of depth in this potion. It actually reminds me of, wait for it, Orchids !!! What comes to my imagination when I wear this are some kind of deep, dark, & purple orchids. The other thing this composition reminds me of is a fine wine. Perhaps a berry wine. The cedar, amber, & fir create luxurious feel. I feel like there is a beautiful dark purple cloud around me when I wear this. A stunning composition. This combination of notes could easily be from a "Guerlain" or another successful perfume house. I have decided to sample this line properly. So I am going to give each one in my discovery kit a full complete wearing. I've been wearing this one all evening and will go to sleep with it later. UPDATE (6 hours later)- I find there is not far reaching silage, rather a radiation around you. The fragrance is lasting long, even though it has thinned out, its still going. Still smells rich. The impression that I get from reading about the founder of this house online, is that she is successful in her other fields of employment. Olympic Orchids is not something that she "has to do", or a business she "has to run". It is something that she seems to LOVE. To me that would indicate that Olympic Orchids is an outlet for her passion & artistry. And it shows!

Super fragrant pine forest! Unlike some other perfumes mentioned in the reviews that have a pine note dominant, this one does not remind me particularly of Christmas. Instead it is more reminiscent of being in nature and enjoying the outdoors. Even better, it has great sillage and longevity on my skin. The berry accord enhances the bucolic feel. Closed my eyes, and it made me feel like I was camping in the great outdoors! Lasted all day! Update - I like this so much I have worn it several days in a row now. It is beautifully sweet smelling and strangely addictive. It was wonderful waking up this morning and still smelling it on my skin. It smells so natural and refreshing. I am looking forward to being able to spray with a FB. All the better to spritz! 11/16 - had to order the FB! I am obsessed with this scent. The perfume is absolutely one of the best winter fragrances I have ever smelled. The pine is so fresh and clear. The berry is so lush. Blackbird makes you want to explore the secrets of nature. Beautiful. 12/18 - Already used up almost a full bottle! It is ridiculously good! Will have to get a FB every other month at this rate! Haven't had this reaction to any other perfume - it is fresh, makes you want to smell it all day, and you don't get tired of it like other scents. I have hundreds of perfumes to wear, but it is this one I reach for. The berry and pine mix deliciously and give you a "happy" boost in mood.

Saturated + fulfilling. A synthesized Oregon hillside in summer, berry juice running through your fingers and a little warm sweet blood extruding from the scratches on your forearms. Seeds in your teeth, the smell of the tacky leaves and overgrown grasses in the background. Sometimes a far-off waft of hot pavement through hot waxy-needled evergreens. She actually has bottled this. Close to heaven, which is Cascadia late afternoons in late summer. Apart from the overwhelming, ecstatic emotional weather system this brings forward for me, the scent also has a strong cognitive effect. Better than coffee, it sharpens my verbal/analytical aspect, while also (opposite of caffeine) creating a peaceful, do-nothing background to my thoughts. Perfect for a mid-day lunch with a friend or writing letters to loved ones in the end of summer. I would never wear it regularly because I want to keep this magic in its bottle for the most part - the same way I only listen to my most treasured songs on special days. Like Cascadia, the collective idea/experience/dream, there is something here about shared regional consciousness here that I'm not able to language yet. Maybe one thing that can get me there is more time with this scent, and others from this artist.

Blackbird is among the most aptly if not literally named fragrances there is -- something I like and respect about the same perfumer who came up with the intoxicating Woodcut. What you see is what you get. And this one is an absolute joy. What I get is about 70% tart, almost medicinal blackberry, plucked fresh from the bush, leaves and all. The rest is a masterfully blended cedar/elemi base that is very redolent of the main accord in Atelier's Cedre Atlas. In fact, the two are unmistakably similar. If you take out the blackberry and replace it with apricot and citrus, you will get something almost identical to Cedre Atlas. Different fruits, similar tart effect. I get little or no evergreen vibe from this, but I can easily imagine that berry tartness effectively layering over the evergreen sharpness in a harmonious accord that provides depth and comes out to something greater than the sum of its parts. Lovely scent with good projection and a long half-life for something that feels so light. Not sure if it's something I'd wear very much, but it's a smell I'm unlikely to ever tire of. Could be worth the investment if you like a good tart, realistic blackberry based scent. Hard to imagine one done better than this.

Winey, piney, and dark, I can understand why Dr. Covey won a, well deserved, art and olfaction award for this. Being upfront, whether you enjoy Blackbird's bold in-your-face fruitiness or not will absolutely make or break this fragrace for you. As, that sweet-tart blackberry dominates the opening and contributes a piquant grapey character to the entire composition. However, Blackbird has to be the most complex and realistic blackberry/ black currant that I've ever smelled. The littlest bit of hay absolue adding rich plummy sweetness to the berry accord. More sublte in comparison, the fir and elemi give a photorealistic woody camphorous quality to the blackberry, while also adding herbal and fresh nuances of their own that balance the fruitiness. Blackbird's seamless mix of wood, resins, and berries really showcases Dr. Covey's talent for perfumery and knowledge of scent chemistry. This doesn't project for more than a few hours on me but it does last all day as a skin scent, so the performance is more than strong enough for most. Olfactory art like this, that performs this well, at $120 for 100 ml? Unbeatable. Hard recommend for sour berry lovers. Though, do be careful of stains when wearing light fabrics.

'Blackbird' was one of six samples I ordered, and from the jump, was the one I had the highest hopes for. My faith was not misplaced. It took mere minutes to make the decision that I would be ordering a full-sized bottle of this fragrance. The opening is a sickeningly sweet, potent and realistic blackberry. It almost reminds me of frozen grape juice concentrate. The opening has some "spicy freshness" from the balsam fir underneath, just a faint "after-smell" that peeks in for only a moment behind the juicy blackberry. After a couple of minutes, the blackberry fades only slightly to let the green notes in this perfume shine. It feels very cool at the same time, for lack of a better word, like sharp, fresh forest air in the earliest hours of a summer morning. This leans more on the side of feminine on its opening, but as it wears, it's a pleasant mix of masculine and feminine notes that I think anybody can appreciate. My biggest compliment for this fragrance is just how far one or two sprays goes. I can smell this on myself very clearly at the end of a full day, and it lingers in my clothes even after a wash. This is my new go-to, and is everything I've ever wanted in a fragrance.

I don't want to hype this particular fragrance too much, but I've gone through the entire range from the deluxe and dev sample sets of OO now, and this might be the one I think embodies most what this house is about to me. Authentic feeling, daring without going too far into the obscene, giving you a feel for the region it was made in and inspired by, and expert execution in the blend. This has a super authentic blackberry open (Gucci Guilty Oud was good, this is even better) a peppery cedar underpinning and wrapped around it all is a fir note that I've experienced in a few of her blends now and is always captivating. It reminds me of my time on the West Coast of North America, in different ways with each blend. This isn't my favorite scent from Olympic Orchids, but along with Bat/NF I'd recommend this as one you must always put in your list to at least try if you want to discover this house for yourself. After now sampling 36 of her fragrances on top of already being quite familiar with Bat I'm firmly a huge fan of Dr.Covey and fully intend to buy at least 10 of those I tried in full bottle form, and look forward to whatever will come in the future.

One thing I've learned is that berry notes are nearly impossible to capture perfectly. The best you can do is a synthetic impression of berries that fades very quickly. So subtlety is impossible. For this reason, Blackbird starts off with a boozy blast of synthetic blackberry. This might be off-putting to some, but, mixed with the resinous cedar notes, it creates a dark and sultry combination. Very dark and I daresay, even "sexy." The berry notes soften quickly and one becomes aware of the dry grass and vanilla notes. The result is a carmelized hay aroma that actually comes very close to the summer smell I remember! It's not perfect, but I appreciate the effort so much that it speaks directly to my heart. I may have to buy a bottle if only to support Dr. Ellen Covey and her amazing sensational attempts at capturing shared memories of the Pacific Northwest through smell. I may not love all her perfumes but I have the utmost respect and admiration for Dr. Covey and her work! I will also note, this fragrance starts strong but quickly becomes a "skin fragrance." This is very wearable for any occasion.

This is perfect. It's one of those fragrances that actually give me a sense of relief to discover that it absolutely smells like how it's written up. Out here in the PNW we have blackberry season toward the end of August into mid-September, they come out when summer is in a bittersweet spot, those beautiful weeks of lingering warmth and the dryness of brown grass (which this smells of, I don't know about "hay", but this has some dry grassiness). The berry bushes give off a floral sweetness, as well as fruitiness. Somehow...that sweetness of the air is captured within this fragrance, and it's truly nostalgic and evocative for me. The balsam fir is gorgeous, and almost spicy. It smells like the real needles, baking on the sun-warmed ground. It almost smells peppery, but it's resinous and you can tell that there's a touch of amber in here as it develops. It's funky and delicious, and smells a little "witchy" or "cottagecore" (for lack of better description). This fragrance is truly moving to me, and I think it captures a seasonal mood very well, and leaves me aching for summer ☀️🌲

This is so pretty. It's like being in the forest..and you smell all the green leaves and pine trees. You can smell the fir in it and the green in this is a very natural green. Blackbird has a nice aromatic blackberry sweetness, but it's not overly sweet. It's a bit refreshing too as I can clearly smell the cedar woods. Very unisex and reminds me of Enchanted Forest in some ways, but they are not exact dupes..just in the same family of forrest fragrances but I could see how many feel like it's similar for sure. That one is more about black currant which is very sweet and the green notes are behind the currant where as in Blackbird you smell both the blackberry and fir equally the same. Both very natural spring time fragrances that are more unique than what I am use to which is a huge plus. The blackberry is a bit more tart in this fragrance too. Still very pretty..I love it and it's just exciting to smell new things than what we are use to. If you love the scent of nature and being in a forrest this is a good one to try.

This is a gorgeous, what I would call "spooky" scent. The blackberry and fir tree are the most prominent notes. I can see some viewing it as harsh. It is, but its no less magical. The notes are realistic and in some moments almost "sparkly" (for lack of a better word). However, lightly spraying allows me to wear it in moderate southern California heat, so its very possible to wear when it's not cold. But in terms of the spooky vibe, it makes me think of being deep in a dark, misty, forest, where you've found a cluster of bushes heavy with sweet ripe berries. The scene in my mind reminds me a bit of the film antichrist when things start going...not so good. But it feels ominous and beautiful at the same time. Maybe as if you're being hunted, or something is about to happen, but for that moment of calm before the storm, it's just you in the trees enjoying the fleeting sweetness of your last berry.

Well... as someone who is quite critical of fragrances... this is incredible! I love unique frags that have no competitors... wow this is cool. It literally smells exactly like blackberry and wood. I would wear this everyday if I didn’t fear running out of it. That being said I currently only have a sample of it. But as soon as I have the cash I will immediately be buying a bottle of this amazing juice. The only critique I have of this at all would be to slightly amp up the blackberry a bit, I love it how it is but the berry smells so amazing (and actually lasts unlike so many fruit notes in most frags)... and if it was a little stronger to amp up on the longevity and sillage... I would be as happy as could be. It is already incredible though and was a pretty fast love. I can’t wait to spray it on myself. A work of fragrance art (just light night flyer, this is just more wearable) 10/10!

I recently discovered Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes, and as a Pacific Northwest native I find several of the scents perfectly embody the fragrant, damp, woodsy spirit of the rainforest and logging communities I grew up in. Blackbird brings me right back to late summer and early fall days in my childhood, a combination of the sweet/musty scent of decaying blackberries along dirt roadways, with wanderings through the Olympic forest scented with sun-warmed Douglas-fir needles mingling with cool moist glacier-fed pebbly creeks running through ferny/mossy tracks. It is neither a sweet nor tart blackberry, but rather deep and slightly musky with resinous notes, and an interesting smell that oddly reminds me of hot tar or rubber but not in a bad way. I started with a sample vial and have just ordered a larger bottle. This is fast becoming a probability for one of my signature fragrances.

A wet, late summer day, this is the blackberry bush in its natural setting. At the base of a wooded forest in the Pacific Northwest, an earthy, moist berry that’s just past its prime. This is not a sweet bakery smell, nor is it blackberry jam. Instead, there’s a slight fermented feel to the composition, but with zero refined sugar. There’s no other perfume or scent that I know of, that gets this close to the prickly blackberry vine. Combined with fir trees, cedar wood and elemi this is a linear scent that lasted for several hours. I’m testing from a discovery set vial, not a spray. The juice is similar to real blackberry juice, dark red in color and ready to stain your fingers...or clothes. You have been warned. Another Olympic Orchid perfume I want, and lucky for me as there’s a 20% off sale through the month of December.

Blackbird is very nice. Very tart Blackberries, green woody notes, and a musky amber base but the blackberry note is the star and shines brightest all through the scent life. This is not a run of the mill fragrance ( Actually none of the Olympic Orchids Fragrances are that) so definitely try before buying but on me this blend of notes is really lovely, got a real dark fruity vibe that I like. Projection is good arms length but longevity is fantastic, lasts all day. Feedback has been mixed but that's to be expected with such niche creations as they are not exactly mainstream smells, for eg, one friend thought I smelled nice like a fruit tart, My Dad thought it smelled like childrens cough syrup! I personally love it and now that I have used up my sample, will definitely be investing in a full bottle. Very nice. 8.5/10

IHave the sample size, its intriguing for sure. Its 10 hours of blackberry jam. Not overly sweet, it is very linear, no morphing here. A few other very faint notes I get are: rose stems, dirt and powder. If you like realstic fruit this ones for you. I think it would be good layered with something to add depth. I probably not going to get a full size - interesting but not really complex enough. ⛤⛤⛤ After trying a few scents that I thought would capture a natural blackberry bush, this is the best, all others have left me dissapointed with sythetic sweet or cheep smelling formulas. This is simple but the best of this scent family I have tried - Jo Malone blackberry bay is similar vibe but more bush and less berry. Blackbird has grown on me and have gotten a second sample, so who knows, maybe a fb in my future. ⛤⛤⛤⛤

There is a perfume material called Blackberry Thiophenone (2-Methyltetrahydrothiophen-3-one) which is extremely sulfuric and impossible to take in isolation as it is so mind-numbingly repulsive. However, it is the magic behind a blackberry accord. Ellen Covey MUST use it here because the opening minutes of this smells so much like a punnet of blackberries it's crazy. Over time, fir balsam absolute surpasses the blackberry accord yet the illusion does linger. Later in the development, it smells more of a wet, boggy forest glade with distant bramble vines and port wine-like undertones. This is definitely an acquired taste given the current obsession with excessive sweetness over stark naturalism in the marketplace, but I for one can really appreciate it and if I wasn't on a purchasing moratorium....hmmm.

Purrrr! This is a MUST try for berry lovers! With the advice of my fellow fragranticans, I HAD to try this puppy out, when I found out how affordable it was. It really is like going berry picking in the forest. I mostly smell dark JUICY blackberries, with very alive and green forest trees!!! If your testing it out for the first time, Id give it time to settle since at the beginning I got a little blast of the kitty pee note, but it disipates in about 15-20 mins or so. This is probably more of a fall/winter scent, but something about it makes me think it may be suitable for a summer night as well. On another note, I REALLY enjoyed getting a short handwritten note on my reciept! Very simple but it makes a difference. :) Now I cant wait to try my samples of the devil collection (not in database)

I got a sample of this one several years ago, and I was blown away at the juicy, realistic berries and the imagery of walking through a northern forest searching for blackberries and raspberries back in Wisconsin! Just got my set of samples, and yep, this still does it for me! It has got to be my absolute favorite fruit/berry scented fragrance ever. It's not fake or sugary or gourmand. And even though it conjures images of early fall for me, it's still entirely appropriate for hot weather. Yay! Definitely I will be looking at making another Olympic Orchids order after all these samples, but the difficult thing, as always, is to determine which I "need" the most desperately! This one is definitely at the head of the pack, however.