Hortus Conclusus Tulipa

Okay I will go first. I received a sample of this when it was released in 2023 while I was in Antwerpen. It is a very artistic interpretation of the entire tulip horticultural experience hence the name of the perfume Hortus Conclusus Tulipa. It starts off as a very humid, dark, almost suffocating greenhouse scent. For anyone who has been to any botanical greenhouses - rich soil, plant food and deep still, humidity. About 5 minutes as it settles more it starts to smell more dry and the papyrus note pops in - this starts to "clean up" the dankness - I get small tendrils of lighter, golden notes such as neroli here also. Again, tulips do not have a floral scent of their own but the texture here is so well represented - waxy, earthy, extreme vegetal musky notes (my partner interprets these as smelling almost like rubber or gasoline). It is crazy interesting - I can't stop sniffing the sample and every spring since I received my sample I spray on a paper strip and the room fills with this glorious fecundity so April is the perfect timing for this scent. In Antwerpen I did spray on skin and decided against the purchase because it just smelled too dark and "interesting" for me to pull off. However now smelling it again I might just go for it anyway before it is gone. Definitely unisex but it's not a "pretty" scent it's a deep scent.

i was kind of taken aback by how "dirty" this smelled on first spray, to the point where i wiped it off my body and thought i'd never wear it again. but coming back to it a few weeks later, and waiting for the dry down, i realised how wonderfully it evolves. it really is like wandering through a freshly-rained on flower field, slowly getting closer and closer to tulips during your observation until you're practically gagging on them. but in a nice way. this isn't the conventional green scent you'd expect from something like this – it really emphasises the dirt and dampness and leafiness and smells more like a backyard or a greenhouse than a nice bouquet. as i'm writing this i'm getting some spikes of spiciness and nuttiness, coming and going like waves. i'm glad this is one of the first niche scents i ever tried.