Olympic Rainforest

Wow I love this. Damp, deep green, musky, mossy, and genuinely fernlike. But it also smells distinctly like a perfume, an old-school mossy chypre from the 70’s or 80’s – Aromatics Elixir, Niki de Saint Phalle, Mystere, that sort of thing. Only more realistically foresty. it’s distinctly tangy too – it feels like there’s citrus in there, and after a few minutes a camphor note too. After about half an hour Olympic Rainforest is definitely a camphor scent – that medicinal smell of eucalyptus or tiger balm. It’s a controversial scent, but I’m a die-hard camphor fan so this suits me fine. Here, the eucalyptus is unsweetened and blends with realistic cedarwood and remnants of musk and moss, to give a true deep-forest feeling. The far drydown is a little bit sweet and resinous, but in a subtle way. Olympic Rainforest reminds me of the (much more elaborate and expensive) mossy-camphoraceous chypre that is Bogue Maai. It might be a decent substitute. I think it’s strictly better than Zoologist Koala, a much simpler and sweeter eucalyptus scent; I like Olympic Rainforest’s greater mossiness and complexity. Forest scents are my bag, and Olympic Rainforest is so perfect I am considering getting a full bottle one day.

Holy cedar. This is one of those fragrances that seems to want to jump right out of the bottle into your nose. This is jumpy, punchy; this scent bobs and weaves around you like a monkey then slinks past you like a cat. The greenness is sultry, a delightful combination I attribute to the depth of the woods and leaves. If you give in to this smell, your nose will eventually find the softer forest floor, fizzing to itself beneath the tree cover. After some time the beeswax and myrrh step forward to center the howling flora. These notes together create a narcotic effect, at least on me; when you smell deep, say "ah," and your eyes fall half-closed. Sugarcane appears on my skin here, something I have never experienced with perfume. I feel potent, powerful, even delicious. Very unexpected from this genre of perfume. Occasions I imagine this singing in: Date with the girl from the co-op, after-shower ritual before adventuring into the forest, cold seasonal wear for a witch with lush tattoos, deterring insects while attracting humans. Rituals conducted under the blue glow of Venus. Showed this to a friend right after spraying and they said "I would've named this Sexy Goblin. Or Cunt Beast."

I love outdoor "scents of place/space" and this one really intrigued me. I was expecting a much more typical experience of pine, some smoke, etc. But, that isn't what I smelled with this creation. There was an overall airiness to it, nothing heavy, damp, or rotting. A spacious scent to me. Herbal, spicy, floral, and even flashes of a champhorous/picklely note all come and go. An Observation: I feel like the juice itself develops a couple of months after the first initial sprays from the bottle. Nothing drastic, but with both the sample bottle as well as the 30ml at around the 2 month mark the scent becomes smoother, and more harmonious. I bought the 30ml in the late fall, and realized that It wasn't really a cold weather scent. This week, the spring arrived and I pulled this one out of back with the arrival of warm weather. This stuff was amazing. It smells like an artistically enhanced forest in the springtime. Really performs well in 60-70+ weather for me with good longevity to boot. 8 hours for me with 6 sprays, and a skin scent until you wash it off. Unisex leaning slightly masculine but any woman could easily wear this.

I want to laugh when I read comments about this smelling like an air freshener. It has very bright and fresh fir top notes, but the heart to drydown of the fragrance is extremely earthy. I find it hard to describe it better than its scent pyramid does, really. It smells like wet, hyphae-encrusted bark, decomposing, mossy forest floor, and cool autumn air. Also present is a delicate floral structure that makes it remarkably wearable. Slightly sweet resins and oakmoss lend a sophisticated but natural chypre aroma to the base. Overall, this is one of the most natural and wearable fragrances like this. It's hard not to draw a comparison to Slumberhouse's Norne, but this is the rich, live conifer forest of the Pacific Northwest to Slumberhouse's dark, frozen timbers of Norway. I couldn't possibly recommend a better perfume to a person who wants the rich, natural aroma of the conifer forest. My only qualm is with longevity, but it is possible that I'm just not applying enough from the screw-top bottle.

First whiff of this was almost medicinal, from the balsam and myrhh perhaps. The very next instant was earthy and damp from the mushrooms. Then after a min. or so, the fir and cedar came out. Then it was earthy again. Amazing. There is fir and cedar in the base. After about twenty min. I started to get the wildflowers. What a divine floral to use here. So pretty, soft and sweet (not sugary at all). Wow. the complexity of this is astounding. The heart of this is the wildflowers with oakmoss and something I'm not familiar with, the fern maybe? The oakmoss is a little dusty. The fir and cedar are still in the base. The drydown is fir, myrhh, honey and something earthy and woody, maybe the mushrooms. The honey sweetens this up giving it the perfect balance. The fir and cedar persist in the base, a constant throughout the evolution of this scent. It lasted about five hours with moderate projection. This scent is worth every penny. It's quite a show. The craftsmanship is awe inspiring. True artistry.