DEV #4: Reprise

Rugged, bracing, and astonishing. In a way it's the cleanest and airiest of the Dev series I've tried, without the real darkness or the cinnamon-sweetness of some others. This is just the very essence of fresh cut hard wood and resins - and beautifully so - but on my skin it's also a wild and sometimes even alarming ride. There's so much fresh air that this casts a sort of transparent veil - but get in closer, or spray on some more, and suddenly the plot thickens, the forest grows darker and more tangled, and it's morphed into a warm, cosy log cabin lit by candlelight. This comes on both strong and SOUR at first, really seriously astringent. For me it conjures up a sort of stinging liquid antiseptic called TCP in Britain - and that's a smell often linked with mildly traumatic memories - childhood cuts and grazes, kitchen accidents, and so on. Once you smell that note you can't un-smell it. But bizarrely - it might just be further proof of Ellen Covey's genius- Dev 4 brings on the TLC after the TCP, and despite the medicinal aura things get gentler and more comforting pretty soon. Dev 4 will in fact kiss your ills and make them better. On me it mellows fast and the TCP tang soon morphs into clean, fresh pine wood (not pine cleaner) and a whole load of beautiful olibanum and then it's just gorgeous, rough-hewn, natural TIMBER! and RESINS! forever. If you can imagine something with all of Baccarat Rouge's impeccable wood notes but none of the sugar, and with a far more demanding, eccentric, niche-y character, that might get close. This one's a class act is what I mean. Close to resin nirvana for me but many may find it too austere to really enjoy - somehow a little gloomy? And those unwilling to ride out anything odd will probably struggle to deal with the sourness or medicinal vibes at first. Performance isn't really all I would want for something so initially overwhelming, either ... sillage is discreet (though it hangs on to skin for ages, and is compelling enough to keep me wrist-sniffing for hours). It doesn't fill a room, but considering how bracing and odd it is, that might be a good thing. This reads as if I don't like the Reprise - but that couldn't be more false! For my taste, it's stunning, special, richly characterful stuff and more than wearable as well as intriguing. It's a demanding weirdo, not a crowdpleaser - but so, so worth it. Definitely not for blind buyers though.

If you have ever been in a dry sauna with the heat turned up, you will understand the woody scent of this one. The woods remind you of sitting in a heated wooden sauna after a good swim in the pool. Takes you back on vacation. The incense smoke wafts gently around you while the gentle heat warms you up. As stated, not a sweet fragrance. This makes me think towards the masculine side of things. What a great scent. I wish it had better longevity & silage. The short distance of the silage makes me think natural oils were used, perhaps the scent molecules are heavier and only able to travel short distances. The fragrance does last several hours but not as long as I thought it would.

This has been the perfume with the most siliage I have tried so far, it really radiates! This smells amazing, very unique. I get a very sweet and smokey but also sour opening. Sourness fades into an almost gourmand sweet ylang ylang. This reminds me of being in vietnam and getting a sugarcane juice on a dirty street filled with wood smoke and spices. Also ditect pink pepper and cotton candy underneath the smokey sweetness. On drydown sweetness is stil pressent but mellows into a smokey spicy woody blast. ⛤⛤⛤⛤

When applying from those little sample bottles don't be stingy with this one. When I first tested it I got a nice sappy cedar and a salty leathery musk -- the kind that just smells a little like a sweaty animal skin but cleaner. After looking at the notes I decided to revisit. This time I applied generously and the labdum shown in all its smokey glory. The thuja is a nice contrast giving the fresh cut wood deep in the forest scent with a hint of a campfire. It is full of life and depth and lovely.

Love this, got my 2nd 100ml bottle! Compared with other dev's, this one is less grainy, more tranquil, composed, more certain with great confidence to move on to whatever is coming up. The only complaint is that I'm afraid the plastic bottle nozzle(100 ml) is not perfectly sealing, I can see the liquid level getting lower in a while. Now I love to layer it with other scents to make it more faceted, Murdock London Black Tea and Auqa Solis Le Couvent are the experiments I tried and enjoyed a lot!