Fanghorn

When I first discovered Nick's creations, there really weren't any reviews up. I have since sampled quite a few core offerings, a handful of prototypes that Nick was generous enough to share with me, and I've purchased a few bottles, and wish to buy many more. I've had some semi-lengthy communication with Nick, and I personally feel as though I'm qualified to provide an accurate, unbiased opinion of Pineward, simply because I've been so enamoured with the house since the day I discovered it. With that said, I know there are many others who have a deep-rooted obsession with conifers, and the imagery that their aromas evoke (Christmas, mystical forests, mountains, remote wilderness, fantasy, Narnia, Tolkien, etc...). I understand. Pineward is the only perfume house, perhaps along with Slumberhouse (to some degree), who seems to have a full grasp on this concept, and is more than capable of delivering those impossible dream perfumes to weirdos like us. Fanghorn is what I consider to be the "core expression" from Pineward. If you could only sample one offering, and you're in the market for photorealistic natural conifer, this is among the best, if not the very best out there. NOTHING synthetic here. This is dark, deep, sticky, resinous sappy perfume extract. Pure fir sap. This is the scent of your hands after cutting down a Christmas tree. It's also quite similar to black hemlock. It isn't pine. It isn't spruce. It isn't cypress. This is fir and hemlock. Sappy, sticky, and sweet, in a resinous fir sap way. It's bracingly green, a bit bitter, and mossy, and that's because it's very clear that there's REAL oakmoss in here. Yes. Real oakmoss. Between the oakmoss, and the soil tincture, there's a thread of damp, musty, untouched forest floor. Lichen, conifer needles, and wet soil along a hidden babbling brook, tucked deep within the dense silver fir trees. If you've ever ventured deep into the untouched depths of the forest, perhaps after the first big snowfall, where the fir trees are draped in their soft white blankets - the boughs gently bending downward and the cold dry air carried that sappy Christmas tree scent through the air - this is that. Could also be seen as the forest in spring, with lush new needle growth, dewy wet ground, and sappy bark, but I prefer the former image. You know the scene in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, where Lucy is playing hide and seek, and accidentally discovers Narnia through the wardrobe - pushing her way through the fir boughs until she emerges in the magical winter wonderland that is Narnia? This is that. Bears some resemblance to Norne, sans the spicy clove note, with much more emphasis on fir resin (and not just hemlock), and the sappy magical aroma of conifer forests. Dare I say, this is the superior conifer perfume between the two. Magical stuff. The pinnacle of fir. Longevity is stout, and heavy spraying will project well, albeit for a short while. Stains skin if sprayed too close. Stains clothes from a mile away. Sticky and sappy feel. Not a safe blind buy, but if you know what you want, then this will deliver, in spades. A true masterpiece in natural coniferous perfume. 10/10 Do yourself a favour and sample the rest of the Pineward lineup. It may just be the revelation you've so,desperately been waiting fir.

Ooh I like this. It is dirty, but its a clean sort of dirty. Conifer needle compost, not muck. There's layers to Fanghorn II, and I ended up doing an interesting unintentional experiment: I was going out to an event this evening and wanted to shower first, but I also wanted to try a test spray on my wrist. So, I ended up doing that test spray and washing it off in the shower, which gave me an interesting speedrun of the fragrance before I put it on for real. On first spray, the top notes of fir, spruce, and maybe a hint of cedar/juniper come through strong, like young aromatic green conifer needles. Not crushed needles, living ones still on the tree. Immediately upon getting wet, the conifers vanished, and were replaced by a bloom of moist earth geosmin smell and damp tree bark. Even once I was done washing (and I only use unscented soaps/shampoo) there was still a faint but extremely persistent base note of oakmoss and what I think is Iso E Super, but I haven't smelled that on its own before. Wearing it out, its obviously a lot less abrupt. The conifer-forward top notes yield their place more gracefully, fading out over time, but leaving a lingering sweetness that sticks to your clothes. This isn't the harsh turpentine pine-sol conifer smell, this kind of balsam smells so sweet and jammy you'd almost think it was edible. Its the smell of a coniferous forest, not a sawmill. As the conifer smell dries down, it first turns more woody, almost like a spruce chest of drawers, but it quickly becomes earthier and dirtier. The lingering conifer wood scent blends into the underlying earthiness, leading to a kind of decomposing tree-bark smell, like loose sheets of decaying bark on conifer limbs that have piled up on the forest floor and started growing moss and lichen. Its almost as thought the drydown smells like the process of conifer needles decaying. At first they smell fresh, green, and resinously sweet. Then they smell dry and woody after they've sat out for a while, dried out, and turned brown. Then damp and earthy as they get layered under next year's needles and start to decompose. And finally moist and alive as they've turned to rich fertile loam. I feel like a forest nymph wearing this; Somehow inexplicably smelling like I just crawled out of my bed of pine needle litter while dressed well, downtown, and perfectly clean. I love it, and it certainly lives up to its namesake of an ancient mystical fantasy forest. I'm ready to get lost in the moss.

Premise: the notes here on fragrantica are wrong. There is no silver fir, that was in Fanghorn 1. Fanghorn 2 has a special mushroom extraction substituting the fir. The notes are: pine, mushroom, lichen, moss, soil, damp vegetation. Fanghorn is the original name of Treebeard, one of the Ents—the living trees—of Tolkien’s world. Here we are faced with one of Pineward’s most artistic creations and, in my view, a singular treasure within the global landscape of forest fragrances. Fanghorn is a telluric concentrate of humus and living earth, saturated with the energetic currents that transform what once lived into the substance of what is yet to come. The olfactory experience closely resembles pressing one’s nose into the purest, dampest, and most vital soil of a conifer forest. Living and dried pine needles coexist with decaying foliage, while decomposer flora and fauna are fully at work—everything speaks of cycle, transformation, and continuity. In filigree, rhizomatic and root-like facets emerge—earthy and fibrous, present yet never intrusive. They are notably less intense than in its sibling Oxylus, yet essential in lending depth and three-dimensionality to the composition. The earthen heart is enlivened by a restrained, still-vital sweetness of sap, alongside developing strobili—green, nascent, and laden with promise. The terrestrial complex is moist, almost saline, threaded with gentle acidic nuances that are perfectly counterbalanced by the sweet and balsamic traits of the green counterpart. In the background, a dark and profound aura can be sensed—faintly smoky and lightly incensed—far more restrained than in its darker sibling, Murkwood. Fanghorn is not a fragrance to be worn casually. It is a total immersion into the forest floor, an olfactory meditation on time, decomposition, and reborn life. A radical perfume, for those who do not seek aesthetics in the woods, but truth.

So I finally bit the bullet on getting the full Pineward sample set, and Fanghorn II is the first one I tried as soon as it arrived. First thing I noted: this perfume is dark (as in optically dark), and it stains! A single spritz on my inner wrist turned the skin in that spot the colour of an old greenish bruise, so definitely exercise caution around light coloured clothing and fabrics. Anyway, onto the scent. Burying my face in my arm smelled like faceplanting into the autumnal conifer needle-covered ground of the forested parks I frequented growing up where I live in the temperate north island of New Zealand, with unexpected and impressive accuracy coming from a USA fragrance house. There's a childhood scent memory of scrambling over partially decaying tree bark and cracked wooden playground beams mottled with patchy blooms of silver mosses and yellow lichens all damp from recent rain. It's musty, green, bitter, and sappy all at once. A very realistic atmospheric and not at all perfume-y; this is something I'd put on occasionally to be transported to a specific recollection of the outdoors, replete with all its earthy gritty funk, and it accomplishes that flawlessly. Performance appears decent insofar as I've tested this indoors in cool weather, with one conservative wrist spray creating a foresty scent bubble in an arms-length radius. Now 3.5 hours in, the bubble has shrunk much closer, but the fragrance itself has retained all of its character and will likely remain detectable on skin for several more hours. All in all a very satisfying introduction to Pineward. I don't know that I'd fork out for a full bottle, being rather expensive for what will probably be very occasional wear, but I'll cherish my little sample for whenever I'm in need of experiencing some extra olfactory grounding.

This perfume is so perfect, and exactly what I've been looking for. At the start of my fragrance journey, I wanted to find a realistic PNW forest scent: conifer trees, wet soil, dense understory vegetation. I tried Earthworm from Demeter, which was a very hyper realistic soil scent, but it was nauseating to me. I've tried many different woody scents, but none quite hit the mark. Most were too synthetic and went in the pine-scented cleaning product direction. I had kind of given up hope, thinking maybe this type of fragrance was not for me. And then I tried Fanghorn II... wow. I wouldn't call it hyper realistic, but it is very natural, and incredibly wearable. It is earthy, cozy, atmospheric, and slightly sweet from the pine. It also has a freshness to it, which starts out kind of spicy on initial spray but quickly fades into a subtle freshness, which I think makes it so wearable. It really invokes the feeling of walking through a temperate rainforest. I can definitely see it leaning more masculine, but I find it to be quite unisex due to how natural it smells. It also has the perfect amount of longevity and sillage for me; lasts the whole workday but not all day (that overwhelms me, even if I love a fragrance), and moderate sillage to where I don't think I would offend anyone by wearing this. I think this might be my signature scent, and I could definitely wear this every day. I'm interested to try it in the summer, I could see it being a bit too heavy in warm weather. If you're looking to smell like an entire forest, you should definitely sample Fanghorn II.

Yeah, I could drown in this. I realized as I was reviewing Murkwood that while I liked that a little more the second time around, the only reason I chose it today was because I was trying to conserve my sample of Fanghorn II. Side by side with an actual damp, upturned forest floor Fanghorn comes very, very close to the real thing but slightly optimized for wearability as a fragrance. If you were walking through a mixed temperate forest after the rain and tripped over a big root hidden by a couple inches of wet fallen leaves, falling face first into a soft bed of partially composted needles, what you would inhale is extremely similar to the earthy notes here. If you spray Fanghorn, you get all of that plus the gentle but firm embrace of a dark green slightly spicy moss accord that wears a bit closer to the skin than the realistic earthy notes. I rated the projection as moderate but it's still a chilly kind of damp here, just enough that you can enjoy a light rain without a coat but not quite warm enough to leave the windows open at night. I have a feeling though that if you wore this indoors on a hot humid day it'd whip out some gnarled old old vines and choke the shit out of everyone in a ten foot radius. Probably more of an outdoor or personal enjoyment wear in hot weather, but it's lovely if you're into realistic earthy scents.

A damp and dark forest, full of mud and stagnant mires and moss everywhere hugging the tree trunks! I understand that for most people it is not wearable and may not even consider it as a perfume, in the conventionally pleasant sense that fragrances have in our minds. But to me personally these type of scents create a formidably inexplicable attraction, I feel them like a lost part of me and every time I smell them they isolate me and everything around me suddenly seems foreign. Maybe it’s that primordial call of nature and our unbreakable bond with Mother Earth, a bond we’ve done everything to sever... or maybe is just me who trying to give it a deeper meaning, when it could simply be that I just love the smell of soil, as i like the smell of so many other notes in general! "Fanghorn" in Sindarin* means "the tree with the beard"! *the fictional Elvish language created by the philologist and author J. R. R. Tolkien for his "legendarium", a lifelong evolving body of private works concerning the invented world of Arda, which served as the deep background for works such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Fanghorn is a revelation for coniferous fragrance lovers. It's my new reference point by which I judge all of my other conifer fragrances and I own quite a few. I've been on the hunt for the best coniferous fragrance available since the end of 2014. I wore Polo beginning in 1983 and the original Polo had an amazing pine note that brought me such happiness that when it was ultimately reformulated, the joy of that pine note was taken away. Life being what it is, I didn't focus on that loss for many years, but eventually I realized how much I wanted the find the perfect coniferous fragrance and so I've been searching for the last six years and discovering many wonderful fragrances along the way. I can now say that finding Fanghorn has become the culmination of that search. Nick Nilsson has captured the most wonderful conifer experience I've had. Fanghorn is marvelous beyond words. If you love conifer needle resin like I do, then you can't miss this beautiful fragrance. Bravo to Nick and his most excellent Fanghorn as well as all of his wonderful Pineward Perfumes!

Thanks to one of my fragrance mates I own a sample/small decant of Fanghorn II. This is a true essence of conifer woods - the forest itself is wet and humid, maybe a forest right after the storm. Loads of tree juices and tree resins. I'm quite sure that fans of old Ralph Lauren's Polo are going to like this, and I'm pretty sure (like 90% sure) that fans of Slumberhouse Norne will like this as well. Loads of conifer, pine needles and green needles in general. It has a mossy quality to it what makes it more realistic and being VERY close to the nature. Maybe even more so than Murkwood is. Longevity is around 9-10 hours, sillage is slightly above average. It's similar in a way to Norne (however Norne is much denser and thicker); also - Murkwood (which seems to be darker and quite inaccesible in direct comparison) Fanghorn II on the other hand is lighter (in a good way), brighter and easier to wear than Murkwood. Both sillage and longevity are great. Conclusion: If you already own Murkwood you don't need to buy Fanghorn and vice versa.

Fanghorn II: This is a really damp forest, there's an old abandoned building, you go to it's cellar, there's humidity, something growing on the walls. Very similar, but also very different to Alkemia's Saint Louis Cemetary, in which I also sense some mold and dampness. But as name suggests, Alkemia's is more urban, some stones, air and sweet greenery, as Fanghorn is the plants, the soil, the mold, the trees and swamps. At the same time it is very fresh and cool but also a bit sweet. It is beautiful. I am amazed. The drydown softens the dampness and moldiness, and it becomes actually quite fresh and usabe.

Fanghorn 2 notes: silver fir, soil tincture, oakmoss and green notes good projection forest greenery like wet leaves in the forest, earthy and green but realistic bitterness present. wet dirt no frills clean-cut forest green scent silver fir main player giving that fresh bled tree sap smell not sweet OAK MOSS actual oakmoss adds the bitter greenness of the forest The forest after a spring shower 9/10 Great and worth buying not a masterpiece however (projection, silage and longevity hold no bearing on point score) 3 words: Damp, Dirt, Leaves Edit that on re sniff it clicked more so then before 10/10

I am not by any means educated in perfumes, so this is all coming from the perspective of the average person. I saw a review of Fanghorn II many months ago, and had always been drawn to the idea of smelling like a coniferous forest. I purchased a set of samples from Pineward, and Fanghorn II was one of the ones included. Immediately, when I tried it out, I loved it. It reminds me of when I was little, helping my grandpa split wood after a small storm had passed the day before, and everything was still a little damp. Very nostalgic scent! I've also gotten compliments on it!

Perhaps the greatest forest perfume in the world. Certainly the most evocative. For earthy, naturalistic forest renditions, the only composition that can challenge this is perhaps January Scents Burvuvu. This is damp, wet soil, moss, lichen, fir. Conifers here are medicinal and somewhat mentholic, like in Profumum Roma Arso, but even moreso here, leaning into the medicinal quality. Very potent, lasts forever. Unfortunately, from the lengthy pineward sample set, nothing else from this brand reaches the same heights as this one.

My favorite from Pineward so far. Similar to Boreal but less sharp and alpine. Very true to the forest- it makes me feel like I stepped into woods. It's rained recently and the earth is damp but not waterlogged. Things are dying, but new things are also growing. This is a very pleasing scent to me. I've heard some people say that this company's scents are too synthetic-smelling, and I do get a bit of that from this scent, but only when I'm really looking. My favorite everyday wear.

Was extremely excited to try this as I've been searching for realistic, natural smelling pine forest based scents. Fanghorn II, reminds me of childhood spent in redwood forests, both damp forest earth and mossy logs, some bitter and tangy green, but also the warmer smells of drying pine needles and bark in the sun. If you ever wanted a very realistic and fresh pine forest scent, give it a try.

Smells SO good! It inspired my username when I made my account. It smells like a pile of nutrient-rich leaf mold that's been left undisturbed over the rainy season, dried out fully, and then crushed into dust in your fingers. There's an additional spicy note I can't place, but it's a top note that fades quickly. I have no idea when or where I would wear this, but is smells fantastic!

A very mossy forest floor. Amazing, it's damp, it's lichen, it's pine, it's everything! The reviewer below seems to hate it for the exact reasons I love it. I DO want to smell like dirt, thank you very much! It takes a certain darkness and a lot of personality to pull off dark earthy scents like this one. Perfect for goths, ghouls, and witches, not good for the faint of heart.

Photorealistic forest/woods floor. You can smell the dead organic matter cracking under your feet. It's a dense wood and the soil is rarely exposed. Instead, the fallen leaves, branches, and smaller wood fibers protect the earth beneath and help create an environment for living soil. Freshly mulched forest floor. Wonderful.

(Fanghorn II) this encapsulates walking through a dense pine forest after rain very well. if you love the smell lingering after freshly watering plants, there's a good chance you will enjoy this.

I am a soil accord fanatic. This fragrance is perfect and I wear it almost every day. You’re sitting on the forest floor thick with pine needles, surrounded by wet moss.