Being-Towards-Death

I personally don't like Heidegger. I think he was a pretty unpleasant person and I don't care much for phenomenology. For me, this perfume is better represented by a figure like Charon, and I absolutely adore it. Sombre, melancholic and beautiful, I've never come across a fragrance that so uniquely captures the afterlife as well. The perfume opens with a mesmerising gin, rhubarb, orange and cinnamon accord, never shouting, but rather beckoning with the bittersweet relief of death. Next is a note which is sort of earthy and sweet but punctuated by rich florals. It feels like waking on the bank of a river at night where masses of white narcotic flowers grow bright against the darkness. It is still, calm and otherworldly. Then the fragrance reveals its sombre heart, which is the most incredible myrrh/jasmine combination. As others have said, jasmine and myrrh together create something entirely new, like an ancient anointment used for embalming. Wrapped in incense, deep resins and castoreum, the result is rich, hypnotic and ceremonial. To be able make a perfume like this is masterful.

Stunning. I find that myrrh has a tendency to develop a raisin-like, grapey smell about an hour into wearing it. This composition manages to keep the myrrh radiant and crisp throughout its wear. It treads the line between smelling sophisticated and warm/inviting. Perhaps the most successful myrrh fragrance I've come across.

Fairly faint on my skin, I expected this to have some more juiciness and maybe a bit of amber-y funk. But this is fairly soapy. I get primarily gin and jasmine, with a vague musk to support it. It’s nice but not quite my style. As an aside, I truly do not understand people rating perfumes as reminding them of another without smelling em. There isn’t a world where this perfume smells similar to Dia de los Muertos by Aromas de Salazar. That is a lactonic, sweet, horchata bomb (in a positive way). This is a faint bitter, soapy, herbal perfume. Both good in their own right, but not similar.

One of the standouts of the first collection of Phronema. On paper it appeared to be a fascinating intellectual exercise, on skin it’s quite beautiful. The gin and rhubarb are immediately apparent but understated and held down by the cinnamon. As it unfolds, myrrh is the star. The gin and rhubarb harmonize on the upper end while the basenotes serve to season the pot: styrax for saltiness, castoreum for warmth, Tonka to sweeten things and a beautiful jasmine note to bring it all together in the center. Lovely!

Testing this blind from the discovery set, this has an interesting intense and animalistic and cassis or "sweet cass piss" elements with a background of florals. However, looking at the notes I don't get any tartness or bitterness that rhubarb is known for, and while the Castoreum explains my experience, the particular mix of the other notes, such as the incense and myrrh and jasmine is a little off-putting at first but settles 15-20 minutes later. It's complex, intriguing no doubt, but the end result is more entertaining than enduring. Because of it's complexity I asked some people what they think and I got a sweet lemony pledge soap scent to a bug/mosquito scent. Both of which I don't think fit the profile but it's complexity reflects the variety of responses. After the first 30 minutes of moderate sillage this remains essentially a skin and intimate scent the rest of the day. Edit: Upon another blind wearing weeks later I picked up on the cinnamon note more immediately but overall feel the same. My thoughts with this series of complex, animalistic scents is that while they are interesting, the first 30-40 minutes is not what you mainly get throughout most of the day as some of the notes dissipate and the resulting skin scent is a rather multifaceted blend, but doesn't really hit a level of memory inducing or memorizing intoxicated of new ideas. They don't feel focused as the broad set of notes suggest. At the price point, I feel there's a level of refinement missing, but you be the judge, and test them blind yourself.