Murkwood

Sampling Pineward Perfumes Murkwood, another dark, brooding, woody entry from this house of seemingly many such options. There are some similarities to the dark spicy pine resin aspect of Fanghorn II, but Murkwood has a funkier animalic quality to it. Listed notes are fir balsam, black hemlock, lapsang suchong, moss, incense, bitter myrrh. There’s a vague damp, dank, mossy quality to it that is more prominent than in some other offerings in the house or contemporary fragrances of a similar ilk. Whereas Fanghorn II brings to mind other entries like Dasein Winter Nights and Slumberhouse Norne, Murkwood has a more distinct character, something even dirtier, grittier, more boundary-pushing. I quite like it, overall, like the other entries, and I’m thinking more and more that I’ll need to do some side by side comparisons between some of these after I’ve sampled them all. Pricing is standard for the line, $135/80 for 37/17ml, not by any means cheap but this is an interesting fragrance, and while my tastes are a little more suited to Boreal or Fanghorn II, Murkwood is more unique while similarly being dense and strong. 8 out of 10

Murkwood is a dark and brooding scent...quite smoky and resinous with lots of incense. This is a dense, overgrown, shadowy, fantasy forest - it is well named, like one of Tolkien’s wildwoods. This isn’t a jaunty hike through the pines on a sunny day. As you sit by your campfire in the night, you cast nervous glances over your shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever is lurking in the gloom between the trees. Don’t let that fire go out... Sillage isn’t huge, I think. To me this is unisex. It was originally named Incense and Fir, and which is quite accurate although the name Murkwood is more evocative. I’ve seen this compared to Norne but they are not too much alike. Norne was spicier, heavy on the cloves and an assault on the olfactory system (I loved it, even though it was supposedly masculine. I never managed to get a bottle though). Murkwood is heavier on the incense and with lapsang souchong giving it some smokiness, but doesn’t punch you in the face. It will stain your clothes. And maybe your skin.

Person below me is right idk why I didn’t realize lol but I guess it’s more complex but seriously patchouli forward. I just sampled lutens Borneo and they smell nearly identical and that’s the king of patchouli so yeah. I love patchouli and these two I think are the best iterations of it . They’re chocolatey but supremely unsweetened yet warm and mouth watering despite the earthiness. I feel like an earthworm thriving in the richest soil on the planet Also... if you dislike these scents and aren’t familiar with any of the other really natural houses and this is your first time dabbling with something like this definitely hold on to the samples and return to them after some months. For me this was an instant love but there are others in this house that really puzzled me bc my nose couldn’t understand them. However people I knew found them pretty. I think when ur in this “hobby” your nose gets accustomed to certain approaches to perfumery and it might be more challenging to you than a complete novice.

Murkwood is THE dark forest scent for me. Very dark green, almost pitch black. It hides a mystery deep down inside. As far as the scent goes it smells exactly the way I imagined myself and wanted how could possibly Norne from Slumberhouse smell like. A dark, dense forest right after the storm. Some of the trees were hit by thunder and they broke. From a longer distance you sense the traces of humans and the fireside they made to warm up their chilled to the bone bodies. A fireside with a lot of pine inside it, all burning. That's how Murkwood smells on my skin. Just like Slumberhouse's Norne, Murkwood marks stains on clothes - the difference is in colour (Murkwood leaves grey-black stains and Norne leaves very dark green stains). Also - spraying it on the skin marks stains which actually dissapear after 12 hours or so. Longevity is around 13-14 hours on my skin. Sillage is big within first 3 hours, then the scent slowly sticks to the skin. I truly loved it, right away.

initially, very heavy conifer and herbal notes; smells quite medicinal at first, and reminds me of Vicks. it warms up as it dries, and evolves into a smell that makes me think of a fresh cut christmas tree. soon after, in addition to the conifer notes (which do mellow out over time while staying present), the amber starts to shine in a lovely combination that's quite new to me and very enjoyable to my surprise. when i first smelled this from the bottle, i was just a little bit put off, but it quickly grew on me once i tried it on my skin. i especially like it when the amber notes surface during the dry down. if you don't enjoy this fragrance at first, wait a few minutes and see how you like it. it really changes quite a bit over time. as others have mentioned, the color of the perfume is very dark green and will definitely show on clothes, so be mindful of that! any pigment disappeared once it settled on my skin, though.

Murkwood brings images of heavy fir, spruce, moss and incense. It is yet another triumph from Pineward Perfumes! I do get a Norne vibe from Murkwood, but without the clove note that seems to appear in Norne during it's wear. Murkwood instead takes me to the forest with it's smells of conifer resins, wood, and one of my favorite parts of wearing Murkwood is that it also invokes the smell of pine nuts. Murkwood and Fanghorn are both nuclear in strength and you definitely don't need to over spray to enjoy it for many, many hours. This makes it a great value. Another coniferous gem from Pineward!

Murkwood is what I expected Norne to smell like when i tried it for the first time, this one is really a dark forest in a bottle, unlike Norne who, to my nose, only smells like cloves. I wouldn't call the scent versatile but if you're feeling like a GoT character or are attending a gnomes and elves gathering, this is the perfect fragrance for you. In my top 5 easily. -Beware- This thick, strong and sticky Treebeard's juice will stain your clothes, spray on the skin only!

Wow, a very woody and smoky one, as expected. Spot on the notes, as many pinewards. The only dissapointment is that it does not perform in longevity very well, nor projektion as Some of the others. Which is surprising given the type of fragrance this is. Both Ponderosa, Steading, Caravansery, chandlery, Pastoral, Revelries, Funerie, Costal veil, Boreal any many others outperforms this one.

Much like Norne minus the clove- so in fact very distinct from it. It's a more realistic and rugged forest experience, and I'm loving it for that. The added clove in Norne evokes festive holidays more than a deep forest (it is also a love). I am 4 hours into my first sample wearing and I already know I will need this in my life.

To me this is almost a perfect pine, warm and relaxing, sharp en complex. Maybe a fraction too much smoke. Definitely not Christmas. And this does not have the decomposing forest floor scent that Fanghorn has. Longevity is OKish, from waking up to lunch, then it's gone. Wear this only with dark clothing because it stains.

The ruins of an ancient cathedral in the deep forest . . . incense fumed stones covered with mosses, hidden beneath fallen branches of the fir and hemlock trees. This is my 4th Pineward perfume and each one has told me a different, wonderful forest story.

Absolutely divine, photorealistic forest smell. Ominous incense smoke flows between branches. There's definitely wood and fir but no “dirt” smell, which I like. Only down side is, it’s a little bit masculine leaning at times

This must be what Krampus smells like, tromping through evergreen woods. Menacingly fresh, like being slapped in the face with a fir branch. Do be careful when spraying, very dark green and might stain lighter fabric

So so good. I picture myself practicing an ancient ritual in the dark of the forest. The only illumination is the moon and the dull glow of burning coals with smoking incense.

Smells like a damp hike in the fall. Love love love.

This isn't an everyday wear for me but it's a very particular mood and if the opportunity presents itself I might grab a 4ml instead of the sample. I find the realistic earthiness of Fanghorn II much more versatile and on me more wearable, but since it's fully early spring here with no frost in sight and been raining off and on all day I decided to give Murkwood another go. Showered up, committed with the overspray, threw on a beat up green cotton dress, and went outside to play in the mud with my five year old. It's just warm enough for the first mosquitoes so I had a stick of skeeter beater incense in my hand, and squishing barefoot through the grass and old leaves in the yard gathering "ingredients" for her puddle soup until we got rained out made this quite special. Pretty much everything I didn't care for about this on a cool, quiet, indoor evening in soft pajamas absolutely SANG with rain in my hair, wet black dirt on my feet, incense in my nose, and crunched up pine needles and violet leaves in my hand. It might not be the ideal fragrance for me on every rainy day or night, but I can't think of a single thing I'd rather spray for the sole purpose of stirring muddy puddles with a stick and on that basis I'll make this a go-to for rainy puddle stomping, no shoes or umbrella in sight.

A very earthy, smoky forest scent that reminds me a lot of rolling around in pine needles in the forest as a kid. It's very realistic to a forest- there isn't anything getting in the way of it. I only wish that it were a bit stronger- the longevity, as with my experience with most of the Pineward scents I have tried (I bought this back when they first opened, it might have changed/improved by now) is quite weak and close to the skin. I think if I were to decant it into a sprayer I might get more power out of it, but for this one in particular I would be worried about staining my clothing as it is quite dark. Very lovely, unfortunately I think Pineward and I don't vibe despite me wishing very much so.

Murkwood Listed notes: Balsam Fir, Black hemlock, incense, myrrh, lapsang souchong tea , moss On initial sniff, not obnoxiously blasting quite intimate The sweetness from within nature, resins from fresh tree sap Smokey but not burning Tea is noticeable but not the type the average person knows off the nose the teas nature adds to the smokiness underlying bitterness from oakmoss adds to the fragrance grounding it in reality, altogether adding to the picturing of a murk foggy forest there are no dreams here. 7/10 good but not a love for me but in the buy tier performance, projection, sillage have no bearing on point ranks 3word break down TLDR: Murk Mysterious Foggy

Murkwood reminds me of a blend between Yatagan by Caron's conifer/wood accords and Aramis' sweet aromatics but soft and powdery due to the myrrh and incense. There is a damp/dank animalic earthiness that I'm not sure about. In one moment it kinda smells like urine in the other moment i get an inky balsamic note that put the murk in Murkwood. I really wanna like this. I'll report back to see what its like on skin. BTW this juice is green and will stain your clothes so be careful!

Opens with sweet pine or fir over a little bit of...dirty diaper? (Don't worry, this is slight and fleeting.) Then an unsweetened incense takes the stage, similar to the one in L'Artisan Parfumeur's Passage d'Enfer. Pineyness lasts longer here than in Boreal, but projection is still minimal. I would wear it again, but wouldn't buy it. It's a nice coniferous incense, but not special enough to justify the price.