Undergrowth 2020 Edition

I'm a big fan of fragrances that try and emulate something real world. So many houses are just "perfume" - smokey, sweet, fruity, green, etc. There's a lot of individuality out there but for the most part they are designed to make you smell "good" not necessarily smell like something in particular. There's a few exceptions, Maison Margiela replica being one that comes to mind. That series has a very real world, actual smells thing going on. 'By the fireplace' for example has the vibe of sitting by a smokey fire BUT it's a vibe that's mixed into the Fragrance not the whole composition. Similarly 'Jazz Club' smells faintly like a smokey cocktail and leather chairs mixed in with some of the usual sweetness and smoke. Both Fine fragrances and absolutely nothing wrong with the way they're made or what they smell like. Rook Perfumes 'Undergrowth' achieves what so many other houses either fail to, or dare not do and smell EXACTLY like what it sets out to portray. It's Sunday and you're going to make a roast lamb dinner, there’s been a huge downpour. After it subsides you go into your garden to pick some mint leaves. You bend down to collect them and notice something in the grass. A strange insect of some sort maybe? You kneel down to look closer at it and a cool breeze blows past and you catch the smell of the damp earth and grass in between the mint leaves. That is EXACTLY what Undergrowth smells like and it's wonderful! I was immediately put off by mint in the notes when I first saw this but having taken the risk and gone with it I'm so glad I did. I find anything with mint can often be too “toothpaste” like. Not the case here, just a wonderful, natural, fresh mint plant. The mint doesn't hang around too long before either it becomes a deep earth/soil/outdoor/nature type of smell. If, like me, you love the smell of the earth after a rain storm or the smell of a forest in the damp autumn then this is for you.

I've been looking for quality mint notes for a while now, which is what made me sample this in the first place. I found the mint I'm looking for, sure, but Undergrowth is much more than that. The opening is damp and intoxicating; I feel like I'm digging through my garden, repotting the mint that's grown out of control. I'm only catching faint whiffs of the iris, though the mandarin orange brings in more freshness to balance the earth. Wearing Undergrowth feels, quite literally, like a walk in the park. I slowly venture off the path and explore the quieter wilderness. As the patchouli and vetiver peek through, I'm in a different place entirely from where I started: the undergrowth has finally arrived. Over the summer, I went hiking on the Antrim coast after a week of storms. Undergrowth smells just like that: a rainy and wild Irish summer. This is an incredibly photorealistic scent and my favorite from Rook; I can easily see it becoming one of my favorite greens. I've been layering it with Lush's Junk or Diptyque's Philosykos to add some extra fruit and herb notes, and I would 100% recommend it.

Undergrowth is probably the best summer fragrance in my collection. It opens with a crisp, natural mint note blended with green, grassy tones—like crushing fresh mint leaves between your fingers and smelling that cool, earthy freshness. There’s none of the sharp, synthetic “toothpaste” or chewing gum mint here. Instead, it feels like lying on a damp, sunlit lawn, with the scent of crushed grass and a hint of moist soil surrounding you. On my skin, the scent is fairly linear: refreshing mint stays throughout, gradually softening into a clean, musky drydown that sits close to the skin. It's cool and calming—perfect for hot weather. Longevity is solid for a mint-based fragrance: about half a day on skin, and nearly a daytime when sprayed on clothes. The projection is moderate and non-intrusive, making it great for office wear. One thing to note: you might notice some natural sediment in the bottle. That’s completely normal for Rook fragrances and part of the brand’s artisanal charm.

Wonderful stuff. I dont consider this a fresh scent but more cool and leafy one. I love the mint note and it works really well here with the grass and vetiver. I'm so pleased the mint really lasts ages in this. I've got to admit I really thought there was galbanum present but doesn't appear to be the case. A little sweetness care of the orange no doubt. That soft natural sweetness wains with time. All this abundant greenery is firmly rooted in the soil tinture and patch. The soil and patch are not surprisingly more obvious further down the time line as the mint starts to wain a little. If you love 'green' or 'herbally' scents then you must try this. Many of these types of scent don't hang around long with green notes being top notes. For me this is a modern, classic unisex scent. 2020 Undergrowth has good longevity and not bad sillage in this cool room.

This one’s a winner for me. I’ve been looking for something in the wheelhouse since I started collecting and have struggled to find any this quite like this. Generally these damp woods type fragrances end up just being a cedar with some eugenol and synthetic oak moss. The problem is that the woody aspect doesn’t ever quite smell like living trees and by nature of the aroma chemical smells like burning or freshly cut wood. I even found Norne from Slumberhouse guilty of this. This is not the case here. This is a photorealistic wet forrest with a touch of added mint for wearablility. It so beautifully captures wet soil and leaves and I can’t for the life of me think of a fragrance that does the fresh rain smell better than this. I chose this over a bottle of Flora and Fauna from Rogue if that gives you an idea of how good I think this is.

A minty, grassy tincture of soil, Undergrowth opens with a distinct dustiness from mint and vetiver, elevating it beyond a body perfume to something more atmospheric. It evokes the enigmatic, misty depths of a mossy autumn forest—a scent that feels almost like stepping into the heart of nature in mid-fall (as someone who spends much time in the woods, I find this strikingly accurate). A subtle mandarin orange note introduces a faint sweetness, gently uplifting the composition and steering it away from veering into overly dark or melancholic territory. Undergrowth is moody and introspective—an introvert among fragrances, best appreciated by those open to its unique atmosphere and not suited for just any occasion. The quality of ingredients and craftsmanship is unmistakable, adding to its allure. Likely, love? 💚🖤

Putting it on makes me feel like I'm wearing a black leather biker jacket. There's something thick and oily about it like the smell of hot rubber tires. It feels uncompromising. It doesn't remind me of mint, at least not spearmint that smells so nice in drinks. It's more similar to peppermint. But to me the soil and patchouli notes are the strongest and then the green notes. I think the green notes may be from the same source as in Beaver 2016 Edition, though there's no other similarity between the two. Patchouli and vetiver, two ingredients I love so much, are here in their earthy guises. No chocolatey notes from the patchouli, no grassy or dusty notes from the vetiver. Just damp soil and oily thickness respectively. It's pretty unique but if I had to reach for a comparison I'd say Terre d'Hermes.

I fell in love with this perfume. It starts with an extremely bright and crisp mint, with a lovely wet dirt base. It elicits time spent in my garden planting my native mints. As it continues to wear surpassingly the soil starts to wear away, but the mint stays. The vetiver and patchouli start to fill out the base of this as it wears longer. It becomes a touch more “conventional” and wearable with the mint, vetiver, and patchouli, but still plenty unique. I love both the opening and the dry down on this! I understand that others have strong associations with mint as gum, toothpaste, etc. but for me this doesn’t make me think of those, it to my nose smells like the actual mint plant.

This is a well executed dirty mint scent with a soil tincture that smells smoky on my skin. I feel that Rook really captures nature in an authentic way. And Undergrowth is my favorite of the three scents in my discovery set, a beautiful green forest scent with a citrus twist. Like Forest, this stays close, but unlike Forest I’m getting better performance. The mint dominant opening fades into a vetiver and patchouli dry down, taking several hours to get there. The latter stage makes me think of a mountain spa. I will test this again in warmer weather where I think it belongs. High possibility this will become one of my next purchases.

This is a blend of soil tincture with green and herbaceous notes, used to create a rich scent landscape that seems almost alive. It's the most realistic soil/grassy fragrance I've smelled next to CB I Hate Perfume's Wild Hunt. I do pick up on some fruity notes which others below have not mentioned. While mandarin orange is listed in the notes, on my skin I'm smelling dark dried fruits, maybe black currant and plum. This might be a result of skin chemistry, as my girlfriend's skin didn't display those fruity notes at all. Regardless, it's a lovely fragrance, and smells great on both of us!

This house is amazing. Niche (unusual) and inspired. Undergrowth starts super green and mossy/earthy, which I find very attractive. But rather than staying chromatically green like GIT, it evolves toward a more vetiver and animalic musk dry down which last a long time and this evolution works for me. Because of their uniqueness, I find myself unsure from the bottle whether I will like Rook’s creations, but each time I spray them on skin, I think that this perfumer has executed a theme exactly how I would love it to be done. Similar in quality to Nishane or Manuel Cross’s creations.

Dear gods of the ancient times, this is spectacular! The opening is a bit scary, with something resembling an oil spill which fades away to reveal a photorealistic damp soil scent. Then mint settles in, soothing and uplifting, some vetiver enters the stage. This is the scent of your boots when you walk along forgotten paths in the forest on an autumnal afternoon - soil, crushed grass, herbs, moss, even smoke from a faraway camping site. Every time I get a whiff it's an instant olfactory orgasm. Can't express just how much I love love love this little potion!

A masterpiece. Such unexpected love: a blast of fresh, minty, soil, earthy greens followed by a smooth, warm, woody, sensual, and intriguing drydown. The more I wear it the more it grows on me, a perfect daytime fragrance, it wakes me up and keeps me focused, and yet it's somehow glam and unique. Would not recommend a blind buy due to its specific nature, check out first how it works with your body chemistry, but if it does for sure full bottle worthy.

I haven’t tried Azzaro Wild Mint, so for me this is quite a unique minty fresh scent that works well in warmer weather - I don’t get the soil or damp leaves - just green freshness with a mint overlay, although not sweet at all. For me, this projects well and has good longevity - still going strong after 4 hours.

Fresh and photorealistic mint plant, pulled out of the damp ground just as the rain stops. Never thought I would have, or enjoy, a fragrance where a key note is 'soil tincture' but this works, and works beautifully. It has a bit of the Rook DNA too, a kind of mineral hardness to it.

前段是薄荷,後段是香根草,主打薄荷的香水多數是描寫薄荷葉,新鮮的薄荷葉會帶著一些柑橘類的甜氣(heeley的鮮薄荷這個部分模擬的很好),不過伏流把這個部分降的很低,薄荷的味道很像整株帶土被拔起來、有比較明確的草腥味和土壤的氣味,香根草在這邊的呈現也是比較乾燥的,聞起來有點像淡淡的檀木香(不會有奶氣和宗教感的) 2個味道的結合我也覺得很平衡,聞著有一種清晨站在荒野,吹來一陣帶著涼意的風的感覺,萬分舒心愉悅,我覺得是很適合台灣氣候的all day every day fragrances

Instantly reminded me of the old Cosmetics To Go Isobar soap, minty fresh with an underlying hint of soil. Fantastic stuff.

The Undergrowth perfume was launched in the year 2018, but the perfumer Nadeem Crowe decided to reformulate his fragrances because of the changes imposed by IFRA. So, this review will address the current version, relaunched in early 2020. Undergrowth has 22% essential oils in its composition, which carries notes of garden mint, grass, and soil tincture in the output. In the body of the fragrance, notes of mandarin orange, iris root, and green notes were combined. At the base of the olfactory pyramid, we have vetiver, patchouli, and white musk. A note: the fragrances of this company do not take artificial colorants, therefore, it is possible to notice sediment over time, due to the high levels of natural materials. The term Undergrowth can have different meanings according to the applied sense. Here, the perfumer's inspiration came from trying to recreate the smell when fresh garden mint is pulled from the damp earth. On the skin, the fragrance of Undergrowth is at risk, as it may appeal only to those who are familiar with spices, cooking, or gardening practices. This is because, right off the bat, the impression we have is exactly that proposed by the creator: you have just pulled mint plants from the earth and the smell of damp substrate, still attached to the small roots, is very present. This smell remains for a long time and it is worth saying that, at least on my skin, the fragrance did not show much evolution. Undergrowth is not that type of perfume that you can feel many of the nuances and facets present in the ingredients of the composition. Here, in a way, everything revolves around the notes of mint, soil tincture, and vetiver. The rest serves only as a blank canvas, on which we paint a blurred background, which helps to highlight what is in the foreground. Undergrowth was a big surprise regarding the use of soil tincture, which is a difficult ingredient to work with, and that, personally, had traumatized me before. This happened when I got to know the fragrances of the Demeter Fragrance Library and tried Dirt. That smell of dirt and dust made me disgusted. This type of ingredient works very well in the formation of accords, for example: with rose's oil, you get a facet that refers to a rose garden; with hot resins, you achieve a vegetable aspect; with synthetic compounds, you get a mineral accord that resembles volcanic rocks. And here, as mentioned before, the smell of someone preparing smaller seedlings or harvesting them for direct use in the kitchen. Undergrowth takes hours to show its woody side when the green and earthy nuances have calmed down. It is precisely at that moment, that a soft sweetness emerges and the fragrance becomes silkier, thanks to the touch of musk. If you like the artisanal process of pulling out your own mint, washing the delicate leaves and letting them infuse to make a tea, then you will love this fragrance. And if you're the type who appreciates earthy notes of vetiver, patchouli, and iris, then the experience will be even more pleasurable. Interestingly, during the tests performed, the fragrance of Undergrowth lasted longer on the blotter than on my skin. Unlike Forest, this one exudes more, but it seems to last less on my skin. Still, something tells me that performance will be different at higher temperatures. Fortunately, I had nothing like it in my collection and Undergrowth arrived to add value and occupy its space.

Undergrowth is by far my favourite of the three I tried. I’ll get the critique out of the way to start off, I feel the same about this as Forrest it’s not a perfume in the sense that I want a perfume to be...well...perfumey! It’s a scent Aurora, a smell, indeed evocative of undergrowth without being too witchy or madly Indy. But that might just be where it misses a trick? If I was ever to represent ‘undergrowth’ the almost literal definition to me would be a mushroom accord or note. There’s loads of materials that possess these qualities such as geosmin or Ethyl fenchol. However, the stuff I like is the cliche free delivery of common and recognisable materials but rendered in such a lovely way. The patchouli is prominent but it doesn’t have that soil trope, it’s been manipulated and softened, rounded. The opening is minty but not to the point of some toothpaste, or peppermint which would seem out of place. This is very delicately placed atop the woody, greenery of the body of undergrowth. Slightly menthol, a hint of eucalyptus, a sparingly use white camphor on that body of patchouli. So apparently there’s a lot of naturals in this and it shows, the vetiver is not overt or smokey but is probably thickening and supporting that patchouli. I say thick but it’s remarkably light this one. I’ve extracted as much perfume stuff as I can out of what is another collection of woody and green materials. Perhaps I’m being unfair and expecting too much? Not every fragrance should have a diverse spread of notes and accords, and to Rooks credit, nothing jars and everything goes together in its right place. I’m being over Critical of a fragrance I fundamentally like and enjoyed. I still wouldn’t buy it though.

Woah!!! This is sooo earthy it’s scary. Wet wet earth I imagine a vampire in their coffin in a dark wet rotting tomb.it’s so powerful a smell I thought I couldn’t get past that. It does dry down to a minty toothpaste mixed with creamy musky woods kind of feel.I can appreciate the complexity of this scent, it’s the most realistic interpretation of a forest floor but unfortunately for me I can’t get past the opening. I got this and forest as samples sent with my full purchase of amber. Amber is amazing and I’ll be testing forest later. For me this perfume house are not the mainstream, they are totally unique. I urge anyone to give them a try. EDIT ...... I can’t seem to get this out of my head. The more I’m wearing this the more I’m loving it, the dry down really is hauntingly beautiful. Ethereal... it’s got to be a full bottle.