Burrow

Burrow, my beloved. I've been waiting for this perfume to go up on Fragrantica since I first smelled it last February, because honestly it's been killing me not to be able to scroll through pages and pages of poetical reviews about it. Because if there's a perfume out there that deserves the poetical Fragrantica review treatment, it's this one: comfy, textural, easy to wear, soothing, PERFECTLY blended, warm enough to hold down the fort all winter, fresh enough for basically all weather but the hottest of the hot. This perfume gives me gender euphoria; this perfume is the reason I scan every cozy-woody perfume I've seen since for a date note, because it feels like such a necessity now (side note: I've found a few good ones, but none as good as this one.) This perfume raised my standards for perfume. Days after smelling it for the first time, I left the following review on Paraphrase's (then called Libertine's) website: A gorgeously complex and unique take on vetiver- smoky, a bit musky, just dirty and rooty enough to flesh out the atmospheric outdoorsiness in while staying wonderfully soft and wearable. The spices are fresh and potent-- think turmeric root, not turmeric powder-- and the date and tonka combination lends a saplike glow to the woods and vetiver- I hesitate to say "sticky" because the drydown is really quite clean, but they certainly achieve that signature Libertine textural element. It really evokes the animal happiness of lying in the sunlight, by the fire or under a warm, scratchy wool blanket, during the cold season- but I could see Burrow staying in the rotation well into spring. It stays close to the skin, which I love in a cozy perfume, and lasts hours on clothes. Such a stellar composition, and a rare instant favorite for me! And I was right! I wear it basically all year- in my house, out for coffee, to work, literally anytime I can't figure out what perfume to wear. It's a masterclass in how a perfume can be an everyday staple without being the least bit boring, in balancing cool factor with absolute authenticity, and in true androgynous perfumery. I kind of sigh dreamily every time I smell it on myself or on yesterday's sweater, every time I remember the last time I wore it, every time I smell another smoky vetiver perfume that could never measure up, honestly pretty much every time I think about it. It might actually be impossible to overhype this one.

This fragrance aged very well. When I initially got it a year ago, I liked it but it felt a little spicier than the earthiness I was looking for. A year later, it’s beautiful, creamy, earthy, and cozy. I really like this fragrance now! I recommend it.

The initial spray is a smoky spice bomb. Think of toasting caraway seeds and turmeric on an open campfire, surrounded by a cedar forest. An ever-so-gentle sticky sweetness enters - a mix of resinous cedar sap, rich, amber-coloured oxidized pitch. There's something vaguely plasticky in this transition, which is perhaps how my nose tries to make sense of the combination of smoky, dark-earth vetiver and tonka. Settles to an addictive "drinking spiced bourbon by the wood fireplace" scent that's soft, comforting, and vaguely familiar. You'd wear this in the cabin during your acres-ski, while collecting conkers in the woods, or on a Fall evening curled up with a book. It's dirty, but in a clean-rugged-man-wears-a-scratchy-wool-sweater way. Soft, but in a woman-who-dances-with-wolves-and-makes-her-own-herbal-medicines way. A much more complex, nuanced and interesting alternative to the mass-produced and pitiful Maison Margiela Replica By The Fireplace, for those looking for warm and smoky scents for the end of summer. Mysterious yet grounding, and absolutely wearable.

Honestly, this is giving “Fat Electrician goes to Starbucks.” I don’t know if it’s just my skin, but something about the way the vetiver and sweet notes are handled here is almost 1:1 identical to Fat Electrician by ELDO. I smell that same chewy, burnt, caramelized woody goodness, plus some warm spices. Upon application, the opening of Burrow has a certain chemical and/or medicinal quality accompanied by smoked wood. As it dries and settles, it treads away from the land of smoke and into gourmand territory. It’s very cozy. Projection is intimate; this feels like a fragrance to wear for your own personal pleasure alone. Since I already have and love Fat Electrician, I won’t be adding Burrow to my collection. That being said, it’s a really nice scent! Certainly glad to have sampled this one.

Vegetal herbs of turmeric and caraway, almost medicinal smelling. Earthy vetiver and tonka. Maybe a touch of date, but it's not really there there. Where are the dates and cedar? Not good, unless you like smelling like a herbal medicine shop.