Tartan

This is my first review, I think I should probably start with how I found Tartan. I was watching a Youtube video of the extrait collection and when I saw the notes I decided to get a decant, it was one of many I ordered from different houses, so I did not test it immediately, I think I tried 4 others before Tartan but when I got there, it blew me away, wow! Everything else I tried that day smelled flat and boring after Tartan. Not sure how or why but it took me straight to my childhood, I was smelling the wet dirt, rain, the woods, the humid grass, the dark green tall trees and the cloudy sky. I also thought of my dad, how he used get home around 6-7 pm and how the atmosphere smelled as soon as he got home, his suit, the air of the night, the relief that he was finally home (he used to travel a lot). It smells, woody mainly, cold but with some sort of very subtle tobacco that somehow warms it a little, and there is some sort of tart that makes it so balanced and addictive. I applied it once in my arm and could not stop smiling, I applied it again in my arm before bed and woke up smelling my arm in the morning. I am so obsessed with this perfume. Do not apply too much though, it is strong and it lasts all day, for real. I obviously bought a big bottle already and got the discovery kits, this one is the best to me. My bottle is different from the one in the picture though so I am not sure if it got reformulated, so make sure you try the newer version. This is now my favorite perfume. 10/10

Oh, how lovely. Memories of grandfather's lean-to and garage, carpenter's workshop, freshly cut boards and rainy Sunday view of a poorly landscaped garden. To my nose, this is a woody bouquet of great delicacy. The cedar is beautiful: very round, dusty, yet at the same time (almost) alive, a kind of personified tree. The cistus/hedione accord is superb, very pale, just the right amount of stretch-film plasticity, and I find the tuning of the notes particularly prodigious. The oak moss/shaving foam aspect, a little bit old-fashioned, is also present with finesse, calm, discreet and rejuvenating. I had to search for the jasmine tea for a few minutes, as well as the tobacco aspect (in this case pipe tobacco), but I finally found them somewhere, in a subtle, tannic, smoky and astringent front, hand in hand, the icing on the cake of a composition that is already as fine as it is delightful. Blindly, I might have thought it was a Comme des Garçons hit. Clearly a fragrance I'm keeping on the list of beautiful perfume gifts that would go to my +1. I didn't know Sarah McCartney, but I'm going to take a closer look at her creations. Love it.

Scottish Fougere. WTF (you say), but I've been testing this for a while, and the sheer volume of unfamiliar notes in this creation by Sarah McCartney means my brain is desperately, constantly, trying to relate to things it DOES know. It's ultimately a very 'textural' fragrance. I can 'smell' the roughness of woven coarse wool textile, as if it were smothering my face and I was forced to breathe through it. With this comes aromas of old wood, a herbaciousness that is familiar yet not, and the dying embers of a fire. When I think if Tartan more abstractly, and I then relate the whole experience to what I DO know... My brain thinks "Fougere, but replace every note with a Scottish-centric equivalent" Thus..... SCOTTISH FOUGERE! Love this more the more I wear it. Relatable example - if you have ever tried any Bogue Profumo fragrances, MEM in particular, then you are close to what I am smelling here in regards to quality of craftsmanship and originality. Top notch.

Fresh, cologne-like opening followed by a breeze from the loch. Then comes the star of the show - moss growing over boulders. Heather is in bloom. A lone piper plays o’er the moor. Rob Roy appears in the distance muttering “Macgregor despite them” while looking for stray cattle (I kid, I kid). This is the Great Scottish outdoors in a bottle. Unisex but leans masculine. Incredible staying power. One small mist from a very generous sample vial lasted all day. I imagine a handsome lad in a kilt wearing this. Both of my parents are of Scottish descent. I guess that means I am, too. My dad played bagpipes in a pipe band. I remember being dragged to Highland Games when I was a kid. I had no appreciation then. I love it now. When all the pipe bands gather at the end I get goosebumps. It's autumn in the northern hemisphere and now is the perfect time to wear this fragrance. I shall wear Sarah Baker’s Tartan to remember my father. I shall wear it with pride.

My review might be idiosyncratic - but this smells to me like a grown-up Abercrombie and Fitch! I went searching and I suppose the A&F cologne that was so popular when I was a teen was Fierce... Not sure if this is the one I am remembering, but Tartan to me smells like what I remember walking into Hollister or A&F smelt like when I was a teenager in the early 2000s. It's a grown-up, more woody version, like Hollister at Christmas, lol! But I love it. I'm surprised vetiver is not listed in the notes. To me, this is a creamy wood, it makes me think of the word 'chestnuts' but not in the sense that it smells like them. Brings to mind sitting next to the fire around Christmastime, wrapped up in a tartan blanket, feeling warm and congenial. I may just full bottle buy! Definitely unisex - I think this would be incredibly sexy on a man. Also reminds me of the show Outlander.