Masae Aida no Tebukuro

opens with a lot of bright citruses, a nice fruity raspberry, and very sharp and dusty pepper. the opening has this grainy smell to it from the grains and pepper. as the opening fade, an elegant leather starts to come out along with a light and smoky birch tar. as the leather changes, it comes to be alot sweeter and resinous with myrrh and olibanum taking over.

Absolulty stunning! I don't know how this is a soft beautiful floral fragrence with the crazy base notes listed. Exquistly crafted 100% unisex fragrence I need in my collection. So unique.

Testing this blind from the discovery set, what I get without looking at the name or notes is a complex mix of talcum baby powder, florals, and an animalistic musky-sweet urine body. It opened up more musky and animalistic and 12+ hours later is talcum powdery floral. Looking at the notes, it's only missing the kitchen sink. You can pickup the florals, herbs, animalistic musk's, but give me a break on most of these. About the only others I could pick out that I didn't previously consider was honey, and maybe oud. It is a very complex fragrance, with great longevity and sillage, but with so much thrown in it's all a bit ridiculous to consider this as thoughtful and well constructed perfumery. Any of us with the financial means can throw a concoction of scents together. Sorry, but while fun to experience, I believe we should expect a more curated experience for a very niche and high price point. Others do similar scents with less all around.

Just got my sample! On my skin, it opens with a strong bitter blast of citronella-like lemon followed by spices and fruit with something darker lurking underneath. The first 10 minutes are a bit chaotic. After everything has settled, like a lot of Wes' other creations, it becomes something almost indescribable. The closest I can come to describing it is intriguingly fermented and musty, but balanced with sweetness - like a slightly sour smelling old leather bag carrying jasmine, aniseedy herbs, pu'er tea and honey. It's incredibly well blended - the animalics are tamed and after the first half-hour it's very difficult to pick out a single note. It follows a chypre structure, with a lively play between dark and light, however where as a lot of chypre perfumes can smell classic, this smells ancient. It lasts forever too. Thankfully for my bank account I'm not in love with this one.