Velvetine

Pineward Velvetine is an early 2021 release, and one of my absolute favourite offerings from the house. These days, there are few perfumes that I smell for the first time, and I'm just completely, utterly, and immediately blown away by them, but Velvetine was one of them. I'll review it properly in a moment, but I like to create little imaginary scentscapes for Pineward bottles, so you can entertain me, or skip to the breakdown. I was a '90s baby. It was a very different time. Certain nostalgic olfactory triggers that bring me back there can be very powerful, and most of very welcome - particularly in this increasingly chaotic adult life. Christmas was very big in my home - just my mother and I. There was always this sacred ritualism when it came to decorating the tree. My mother had several stuffed animals, plush Christmas decorations, and fabric ornaments - many of which she kept since her own early childhood, in the late '50's and '60s. Years of placing them in the fir and spruce Christmas trees had impregnated them with the scent of conifer balsam. The fabric itself also had a distinct aroma - almost woolen, slightly musty and stale - the smell of old books and age. The faintest woody sweetness had been imbued in them as well - between the decades of cinnamon-scented pinecones, and perhaps getting just a tad too close to the fireplace once or twice, gently singing the edges. This is Velvetine for me. For others, perhaps it'll be an old, tattered Christmas sweater, or an old rug, still retaining the ghost of holidays passed. Or perhaps it'll just smell like Play-Doh to them. All I know is, this one transports me to childhood Christmases, when life was simple and carefree. Review: Velvetine is a cypress-dominant perfume, but decidedly different from the usual fresh, brisk, clean fougere take on cypress. You get the green cypress scales, absolutely, like crushing them between your fingers, and it's certainly coniferous, although quite different from a fir, spruce, or pine needle scent. This resinous cypress is pinned up against a backdrop of warm, sweet, cozy labdanum, leathery black vanilla bean, and a heavy base of musky ambergris. That signature Pineward mulling spice and cinnamon blend is showcased here in spades, with the cinnamon being incredibly unique - woody and spicy, and not at all resembling apple pie spice or red hots. The clove/nutmeg portion of that is a bit more amplified and in the spotlight here. For the first couple of hours, the cypress remains fixed to the top, constantly singing a fragrant, foresty, coniferous tune, but as it wears on, the warm, dark, cozy base of vanilla, cloven spice, and resinous labdanum begins to overtake it. Between the ambergris and labdanum, the final hours of its wear can actually translate a little animalic and dirty, but it's still beneath that diffusive cloven spice and the dark, dry vanilla. To my nose, everything from the cypress down to the vanilla is nothing but natural absolutes and tinctures. It's incredibly real, incredibly genuine, and if there are any aromachemicals in this one, they aren't detectable to my nose. Velvetine clocks in at over 30% concentration. Expect the thick, dark, molasses-coloured juice to, one, stain skin and light fabrics, and two, perform like nothing else. On skin, you can expect this to project very, very heavily for the first 3-4 hours, and will remain for close to 20 hours before it completely fades, and on fabric, this will stick for months. Semi-permanent. In a poetic little twist, a sweater sprayed with Velvetine seems to mimic the very effect it reminds me of - the woolen fabric - forever imbued with the scent of Christmas through the years - the tree needles, the spice, and the musty smell of time and age. It all seems to come full circle with this one. For some reason, Velvetine seems to be one of the less revered Pineward offerings. That's a shame, because it's the only one to highlight cypress as the focal point, and remains quite unique when compared to the rest of the line. I cannot cite anything that even remotely resembles this one, and I would encourage anyone checking out Pineward to grab a sample of this one and just try it.

Imagine you’re 15 and going out with your friends to the local carnival or something. It’s cold out, but you’re dressed to impress and couldn’t find a jacket that can match what your wearing so you settle for a thinner sweater and call it good enough- despite the biting cold of the mid-November night and its wind. As you call out to your sister that your friends are here and you’ll be back by eleven- she looks up from where she’s perched on the couch and stops you. She tells you that mom will kill her if she lets you go out without something to keep you warm and lazily throws her dense fleece jacket at you. It’s the same one she wears everyday, and as you slip it on and tuck your face into its lining to protect you from the gust of cold air that marks you leaving the house- you can smell the layers of perfumes and lotions that just never fully washed out of its fabric. It smells like vanilla, spices, warmth, musk, and home. As you walk to your friend’s car, fallen pine needles crush beneath your feet and you feel oddly content at knowing your sister trusted you with her favorite jacket for the afternoon. THIS is what Velvetine smells like to me- like your super cool older sisters jacket. It’s comforting and sweet, effortless, and amber-y. Easily one of Pinewards best fragrances.

I just received this on Monday this week. Today is Friday and I have been wearing it every day. This is love at first sniff for me. There is something about the opening that reminds me of egg nog but in a good way. But that transitions in a few minutes into one of the most beautiful natural wood based scents I have ever got my nose on. The gourmand touches of clove and vanilla round this out and make it very smooth and cozy. This literally takes me back to fall and thanksgiving season in Colorado growing up. I can’t wait to explore more from Pineward, for me this is a 9.5-10!

Clove and labdanum, with a distinct and interesting balsamic underpinning and a general idea or memory of vanilla. This is intense and comforting, in a somber, lost-in-serious-thought kind of way, with the kind of sweetness that comes in some good peated whiskies -- nothing sticky or cloying. I don't care for many ambers or most vanillas (this isn't really a vanilla scent), but I love this as a mood. Better performance for me than most Pineward fragrances -- lasts about half the day -- but I could still wish for better on that front.

A sweet, balsamic fragrance with notes of spice popping through. Drydown is heavy on the sweet vanilla for me. One of Pineward’s less atmospheric fragrances, but still very pleasant. Because of the sweetness, I would say this one is a bit more feminine than masculine. This is something I would wear for a nice evening date.

The perfect vanilla for those that don't like sickly sweet fragrances. Spicy, sexy, dry and delicious. This is my ideal winter scent. A little goes a long way here, one or two spritzes will last the entire day, and on clothing it is damn near eternal. To me, this is Pineward's best cool weather fragrance.

My first test from Pineward and I'm impressed! I'm such a sucker for ambery vanillas and this one didn't disappoint. The sample I tried is well-balanced, realistic, and mysterious. An easy grab for me.

Reminiscent of cola, with almost a "wet" note - utterly gorgeous. Dries down towards ambery vanilla, but it's still distinctively Pineward and fresh. Highly recommend to lovers of amber scents.

absolutely beautiful. it’s dark and almost feels animalic. i love the combination of the clove, vanilla, and earthiness.

This is a warm, rounded scent for colder days. Labdanum, vanilla, and clove are most apparent initially, and the ambergris, sort of animalic notes come out with skin warmth. This is soft resin without much structure. Initially, this has some projection. Maybe 2 hours or so before it settles into a more intimate scent. It stays on clothes for a day or so. To me, this reminds me of spilled pepsi that's been allowed to dry down to a sticky spot on a table. Gooey, sweet, and a bit dark. I get hints of cherry and fir several hours in. This is a unique take on the basic vanilla amber. It's good, but not great to me. I might come back to the sample and try again someday, but I don't like it enough to purchase a full bottle.

A milder initial hit than some of this house's fragrances, but still an instant transportation to the heart of the pine forest with a rather lovely, spicy liquorice note to accompany the underlying woods and balsamic notes. Liquorice is not listed, so it must be the cloves I'm picking up. In any event, this dark brown liquid (which should NOT be used around light-coloured clothes), serves up a pungent kick that lingers long in the memory.

Warm, spicy, dense and earthy with a touch of powder. To me, this is Musc Ravageur meets Khôl de Bahreïn with an added earthiness from the cypress. I’m not much into animalics, but this is one I can really appreciate. Perfectly unisex and rich in quality. Pineward is underrated and deserves more recognition, imho!

Reformulation tested arm to arm with the old version. Old: Winter 2024. New: Summer 2025. Old: beautiful, vanillic, spicy and sweet. After an hour, still smelled great, then lasted through a swim another hour. New: meh. Faded in under an hour.

Very deep and resinous, definitely smell a bit of the cypress and wood, but mainly get a sweet dark resinous amber

A polite version of Zoologist King Cobra. White lady fortune teller

This is the first of the 25 (!)samples I received that I’ve tried. I hate when people say this, but the overwhelming impression I’m getting is salted Christmas Candle. This is extremely powerful and dense. The clove is very dominant in the composition to the point of being slightly overloaded. It almost burns my sinuses. It’s hard to clearly smell much else. The ambergris gives a slightly musky and salty undrcurrent. At the heart is a sweet vanilla and I get a bit of cocoa, which is unlisted. The cypress and fir are hard to pick out individually. I can see this being appealing in the dead of winter but it’s just too much for regular wear. A bit muddled really.

this opens with a smell reminiscent of Coca-Cola but no carbonation or fizz. It’s like coke when it’s gone flat, syrupy sweet and smooth. Then the cloves come in to add a warm spiciness here that turns that sweetness into a licorice like smell. It’s spicy, sweet, and very amber heavy. The labdanum is the definitely the star of the show here, with resinous amber accords and smoky spices blended to make a truly velvet like scent. This is fuzzy almost, softly smooth, and deeply rich. It’s a little too much amber for my own tastes but I do appreciate the blend here.

This one starts with sweet amber notes laced with pine, then quickly turns to the labdanum and ambergris notes..jarring to be honest. The dry down is sweet again, light pine and labdanum. Not my favorite from them, but still a solid scent. If you love labdanum, you will love this. It reminds me of "Labdanum is my love language" by Aromas de Salazar.

I was sure the first note would be candied, smoked plum. A very dense fragrance, to my nose it is first and foremost sweet and syrupy. No sign of any kind of tree, and I got a decant when looking for a woodsy scent. It turns out to be too heavy for me and almost guarantees a headache.

Got this in a large sample set, and didn't realize what type of scent it was going in. In retrospect of course this one didn't work for me, because amber and I do not agree with each other. There's an underlying dusty powdery cream beneath the big initial hit of amber, which I like more a few months later than I did when first trying it - not sure if sitting did it any favors. There's also something subtly sharp about it, which reminds me of whatever element Whispers in the Library by Maison Margiela uses to fake wood wax (one of the pine elements, maybe?). Overall it strikes me as an old-fashioned ambered cream lotion scent that becomes more and more gourmand as it dries down. I'd maybe drink a tea that had a similar flavor, but I do Not want it on my body.

I might be in trouble. Pineward's intention/mission statement tracks closely with my desire for undiluted or unrefined nature in scent, so I could not resist the full 22pc sample set. After my first sampling I'm a little afraid for my wallet that this might be a fantastic match. I have to mention that I really appreciate that these are spray samples rather than dabber vials. Second- even though $65 is not an insignificant amount of money it is a stellar deal for what you're getting. I look at sample sets as experience purchases, much like live music, travel, art shows, etc. Even if you don't want to re-wear any of these you get 22 days or nights of new experience! (And any you like and want to wear again will yield several more days each). Anyway- I semi-randomly chose Velvetine as the first one to wear, and it is absolutely a worthwhile experience. I think this may end up with the heart-eyed love icon after a few more wears. TheSuperSniffer's review of this one is a great description of what's going on here. What I can say is I will absolutely use the rest of this sample, and will not be surprised if at least a small bottle of this lands in my collection. I look forward to the weeks of Pineward discovery ahead!

I bought this a while back before they added more of Pinewards perfumes to the data base, and it is about time. I got a small size after I sampled it. My husband thinks it is to animalic, but I LOVE animalic perfumes. This all-natural house is one to watch. High-quality, long-lasting perfumes that are just natural perfection. Velvetine is a gorgeous animalic vanilla. I don't get the aromatic spicy categorizing this is getting. This is an amber vanilla perfume. Rich and real ambergris makes this fragrance special. Deep, animalic, vanilla w/ rich woodiness and subtle spiciness that doesn't overpower the composition. If you long for vanilla ambers that smell real and not like cheap garbage, give this house a try. I know it is expensive, but they offer small sizes and believe me these perfumes last. Velvetine lives up to its name. It is velvet smooth, luxurious and the type of vanilla that I have longed for. It is STUNNING! Warm, sensual and delicious. Delicious in a sensual way. This is not a gourmand; it is a fully adult perfume. It is a perfume that seduces and comforts at the same time. The seduction of pure nature.

Immediately smells nothing like the notes listed- cold, wine-like, a dominant indolic jasmine-y type of accord, an incensey patchoulli type of accord... it isnt the type of smell i like but it does truly feel “velvetine” somehow and like it transports me to smelling an old velour couch in a hippie shop. Some more naturalistic “forest-y” type accords peak slightly through a little bit as it settles down adding some nuance but not really, again this just doesnt resemble those listed notes at all in my opinion- this smells somewhat feminine and head-shop esque to my nose, again really not my thing and i think it would be best suited to lovers of indolic scents. kinda reminds me of the smell of watered down hydrogen peroxide actually...but still an interesting creation that is well crafted

A very, honeyed, labdanum/tobacco with notes of fermented cloves. Its nice but I don't get a lot of pine for a Pineward scent. It is a rich and powerful juice along the lines of Jeke or Ore. The spices start to really move forward after only a few minutes. A fall scent to my nose. I like it but its probably redundant in my collection.

Okay, I adore this one. It goes on salty hay and dries fast to true pine sap (cypress?) with that faint urinic edge, but not too much, and true rich cistus labdanum. It's a compulsive sniffer. Simple and linear, but so nice. I ended up giving my sister the sample, but I will need to buy the full bottle of this. Wonderful.

It's as if Nicholas Nilsson took a pair of tweezers to his other fragrances and extracted the dissonant trashy amber that sullies them. Here it is.

To me this holds a lot of similarities to TF's Amber Absolute. Only nowhere near as dense.

I don't like amber so this isn't for me. Surprised nobody has compared it to Grand Soir

Reworked as of January 2025 and I need to smell this new version. Sounds yummy

Papillon Artisan, kids edition.