Rodin 3

Lovely unisex musk, reminds me very much of Saharienne, which I love. The green jasmine and geranium make it very fresh and the powdery Orris nicely balances the sparkle of the musk. I get no patchouli, just bright white musc and beach flowers, branches, and roots. This is beautiful!

First, I do not think the list of notes presented here is complete. I sense some galbanum in the top notes, and perhaps a bit of bergamot as well. With that out of the way, what do we have? A bright, pleasantly bitter green scent, with no more than a flash of jasmine, ylang, with a salty musk, and Australian sandalwood. I don’t get any patchouli here and I can’t say that I miss it. It’s interesting, very easy to wear and miles away from the overly sweet, vanilla bombs everyone seems so fond of. Composed in collaboration with D.S. & Durga, which likely explains why it feels so carefully put together. Glad to have a bottle in my small collection.

Sharp ylang ylang, non-indolic jasmine and a very salty, slightly sweet musky base. I don't know if I get sandalwood, it's more like a very salty driftwood. This is marketed as a personal throwback to Linda Rodin's favorite breezy, fresh scents of the 1970s, and although I have minimal context for what fragrances smelled like in the 70s, the marketing works and I imagine a rich, classy woman wearing this in 1970s Europe near the beach.

Slightly reminds of the aldehydes in vintage perfumes of the 70s/80s, but this is somewhat brisk and powdery with a chalkiness like baby aspirin and maybe a hint of minerals. I find this evasive and hard to describe, it is without gender or a category to put it in. It provides its own unique aura that is up to the wearer to define. Overall a soft woody musk with a speck of bite, but there is something old fashioned and vintage in the way it feels on. But in very general terms this comes across as breezy and light. I was on the fence for a few days after blind buying it, but now I am slowly appreciating it for what it is. This is carefully constructed and I think the vagueness and nondescript nature is on purpose. It is extremely versatile and nonbinary in every way, and how it is interpreted is entirely up to you. Wear it and see what happens. EDIT: After wearing it a week now I realized it reminds me a lot of M/MINK by Byredo.

3 bears a lot in common with both Rodin's original Olio Lusso fragrance and its followup Bis, but muted and more effortless. It dials down - but not off - the trumpeting white florals of the former, and the animalic funk of the latter. The florals here are acrid and salty, and the musk and woods a bit rough, creating a human scent that is chic but slightly feral. There's a faint mothball quality that heightens its vintage qualities. It's sort of fading Grande Dame on a weekend getaway - vaguely reminiscent of the last beachside scene of "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?", but cool. An eau de toilette, the dense corporeality becomes transparent pretty quickly - just a whiff of something more carnal and dangerous.