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.

A nice, realistic, fir tree scent on an incense backdrop. After about an hour my husband asked what I was wearing and commented that he liked it—at about 10 feet away. So projection is decent considering this comes off as a natural perfume. My dabber sample is from the Pineward Discovery Set, I assume a spray would work better. I file Murkwood in the inoffensive, unisex and office safe category. Enjoyable.

Threatening woods, lives up to the name of Murkwood. I get myrrh and patchouli but not a lot of incense. Of course, fir dominates the scent. Patchouli is actually very well done here, but it is very prominent. The juice will stain your skin and your clothes, which personally doesn't bother me because I only wear black anyway :D I did hope for more incense though...

Murkwood Pineward Perfumes 8/10 Very mysterious incense scent that gives off big wizard vibes like Gandalf lighting up some strange magic powder or something. It smells deep, smoky, and kinda magical. The only downside is that it’s really dark in color and can stain your clothes or even your skin, so be careful. Other than that, it’s a great and unique perfume.

Murkwood is one of the sweeter and heavier pine scents in the Pineward line. Like the other Pineward scents I own, it will stain clothes if you aren't careful. Murkwood is one of my favorite scents of this house. It doesn't remind me of Christmas, but it is a rich, piney-sweet scent. If you like the smell of old churches, you will like this scent.

Smoky, slightly sweet, cabin in the forest smell. If you grew up camping you will find this familiar. Earthy, rich, deep, and very comforting. wet wood smell + autumn sweet notes. A touch of “craft store during October to December” lol. I have accepted that maybe I just don’t like “balsamic” and ambery scents but no this one is truly incredible.

Interesting, almost medicinal. It's a little strong for me (although I do prefer more skin scents). It's sweet, has strong pine scents that turn into warm wet soil. There's a sweet amber aspect that I can't quite put my finger on. Not the most wearable scent for me, but it's definitely interesting!

Surprisingly good in the summer. I tried a bunch of samples from the Winter Collection last winter and didn't care for this one, but I just tried it again and I really like it now. Several of the other things from the Winter Collection smell better to me this summer than they did last winter.

This is dark, spooky and ominous like walking through a coniferous forest while a smoke hangs about, but you can’t tell where the smoke is coming from. Overall I like this fragrance - it is a bit darker than I usually go for, but it would be something I would wear on a chilly fall night.

someone said it smells like a campfire in the forest and I could agree more. to be more exact its like a campfire on a cold afternoon with some marshmallows in the middle of a forest it starts off as a spicy/smokey/greeny scent then goes to a smokey Christmas tree 6.3/10

Bittersweet dark fir. Beast mode. Maybe other reviewers are ironic or I got another batch, but this is not office safe. Fills the room and lasts really long. Would not wear this in public, but maybe in some secret society... or D&D-group. Good piece of art.

I sampled this 2ml. This is a rich, dense dark sappy pine with an earthy patchouli base. It evolves into a gorgeous amber. I really like this scent but the color of this fragrance stains my skin and clothes, which is a deal breaker for me.

As someone mentioned below, this is what I feel Norne was trying to accomplish. Quite dark and moody. Much more thought-provoking than one might associate with a fragrance in this style.

Basically a fine incensy-balsamic fir smell but unfortunatly with a very weak projection.

i like this one, really high end realistic too!

Nicy, spicy, sweet, ash. Try again. 3/5-4/5

This has a dark patchouli absolute in it so I was not a fan. This patchouli is dark and brooding, dirty and earthy. It’s also extremely herbal. There is a bit of aromatic freshness from the lapsang souchong tea but wow the herbal accords here are extremely heavy. It’s also very resinous because of the bitter myrrh, so that added on to my dislike. There’s a lot of dirty grittiness here, and heavy herbal accords, with heavy amber too. It was just not my kind of scent unfortunately.

Fir, myrrh and incense with a tea spice base. Pretty straightforward and well-blended. Woody, balsamic, warm, slightly-sweet, resinous, tea like and smokey. Unique and unisex. Somewhat moderate sillage and longitivity. This has a churchy like outcome due to the myrrh and incense combo. It's cool. Edit: IT'S a combo of Fanghorn ll & Brokilan, Brokilan is more myrrh and fir while fanghorn ll is mossy all the way. Personally I prefer this over Brokilan, but Fanghorn ll over this.

smells like the licorice you can taste when you eat chinese preserved plums but not in the best way, the incense is also really strong in this 5/10

I do like appreciate the realistic forest smell, but the addition of incense makes me nervous. I don't want to smell like a forest fire.

I must not be used to the ingredients or composition in this because I swear it smells like straight A1 steak sauce and it stays that way the entire time its on me. Not for me unfortunately.

These notes come together as patchouli on me. My skin hates patchouli. Just imagine fir, myrrh, and patchouli in one medicinal-like fragrance.

A wet forest morning. Your clothes still soaked in the smell of smoke from the now extinguished campfire. The soaked remains of burned wood emitting an odd smell. It smells of a time and place, and for that I greatly respect it. This is not traditionally "perfume-y" in it's composition, which is a breath of fresh air for me. Sadly this particular one doesn't give me the specific fresh air I was after. Something in this smells a bit "brown" to me in a way I didn't enjoy. I guess that's the murky aspect. If you want this "time and place in a forest" style perfume without that smoky brown aspect, try Fanghorn II. If you want to go more soily and green, try Oxylus. If this is all too dark for you, try Brokilan or Snoqualmie If you want to experience this fir but like things to be a bit sweeter, try Caravansary. If you enjoy the vibe of Caravansary but want it to be fruitier, try Christmas Wine.

The description is a bit misleading because I don't get any kind of incense. I go to a liturgical church and there is nothing like resinous amber, frankincense, or myrrh in this.This has the woody, dirt smell of fanghorn with an added murkiness. I think of mud puddles and bong water, nothing smoky or campfire. This reminds me of a Satanist boyfriend, putting on his Danzig t-shirt with a silver pentagram necklace. He is getting his necromomicon out and meeting some buddies at the local cemetery. This has that kind of darkness to it, not in an enchanting way for me but in an off-putting repulsive way. Since I have long outgrown the Satanist boyfriend it isn't for me but major projection and sillage if that is your vibe.

Gorgeous resinous opening of lapsang souchong and fir needles, with the sweeter facet of the tea and a bright myrrh note eventually lending balance to bitter woods. Apparently very similar to Norne, but I would suggest that users familiarize themselves with a variety of woodsy frags like Krizia Uomo, Encens Flamboyant, Creed's Cuir de Russie, and Memoir Man. None of these are exact replicas of Murkwood, but they'll give you the rundown on how a simple masculine structure of woods and resins can smell so good. One of the best in the "woody" genre of niche masculines, but between this and Krizia Uomo, I'd go with the Krizia.

When I was a child we always had a huge pine tree in our drawing room at Christmas time and one of my most "happy place" memories is lying directly under the tree and staring up through the maze of intersecting branches. The fragrance of sappy cut pinewood and green needles would fill my head and I would feel butterflies of excitement for the celebration about to take place. Murkwood takes me back to that happy place of being seven years old and staring up the trunk of the tree under twinkling lights.

Murkwood immediately reminded me of CdG’s Hinoki and Aesop’s Hywl. It shares the same characteristics and traits that you would find in conifers that solely rely on incense and resins. It’s not a new scent profile by any means, but an excellent correlation between the two mentioned scents nonetheless. While I’m not particularly fond of this genre, I find Murkwood does provide an excellent blend with quality ingredients, and this is noticeable from the get go.

Sweet smoke, and pine trees. Soft and resinous on the skin, sharper and greener on cotton cuffs. There’s a hint of something dangerous lurking underneath, that takes the incense out of the headshop and into darker, more niche territory–the moist forest floor threatened by distant fires, the spilled tea leaving ominous stains. Very unisex and a bit sexy. Lasts a good two hours a foot off the wrist, then rests on the skin for two more. I really like it.

Goes on strangely thin; pine, cedar, yarrow sap and an almost lemon-bright note. I ended up scrubbing because it’s just not what I wanted, no incense at all, just a thin sappy and vague scent, but geez, it’s gorgeous after that and it lasts till the next day. Mostly a Dark Forest mens’ cologne type and not worth it to wait for me, but really nice after dry down. I might have to flirt with my sample for awhile longer.

This is not a fragrance review, but rather a complaint to Fragrantica because there are a lot of Pineward fragrances that do not appear in the database, such as White Fir, Hayloft, Hayride, Katabatic, Nocturnis, Ponderosa, Pastoral, Alfiryn, Gritsmill or Funerie. Would it be possible for you to add them? I don't understand the reason for this neglect.

This very well might be my favorite from the house. This reminds me of going up to my family cabin. I would play near the pine trees and get sap on my clothes. My dad would build a fire and I could smell it I’m the distant. Mirkwood takes me back to that part of my life. 10/10