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.

The combination of hops , buddha wood and two different varieties of cedar in Tartan is breathtaking , it gives off an intoxicating aroma of fine spirits, fruity booze and smoke, incredibly unique and nothing short of captivating. Featured in the note pyramid is bread, and as weird as it might sound, you can sense a very strange wheat bread smell, and sweet honey like nuances throughout the wearing, almost gourmandish. This is a very multifaceted perfume that hits you from all angles, the rich aroma of tobacco further enhances the richness in the heart, and not listed on the notes but present throughout is also cardamon. The overall picture is very dark and intriguing in my opinion. Sarah McCartney is the perfumer responsible for signing this brilliant composition for the beautiful niche house of Sarah Baker.

It's another humdinger. The wood notes were the first to hit me. Then I picked out a little hops, bread and whisky. I love this combination. I was worried it might be too alcoholic but it isn't. It's warm and sort of invigorating. It doesn't smell too foody but you are more aware those notes after a little while. I can't say SB scents evolve much so almost linear. First and foremost it's about wood. It's not very sweet but more warm and glowing. Someone sitting in a traditional highland castle living room in a plush leather chair with a glass of whisky in their hand with the lit fire glittering through the warm amber liquid. I have 4160 Tuesday's Buddha wood box and this is different enough to have both. There is no booze or food in BWB. Good longevity and sillage. Very unisex.

At first when I recieved the sample and tried it out on a piece of paper, I really didn’t like it. It was overly masculine to my taste. But then, when I tried it on, I completely changed my mind. On me, this fragrance smells like a pharmacy and a “chemical forest”. Also liquorice, menthol, herbal tea, metal and leather. Such a weird and unusual combination but it is quite frankly one of the best perfumes I’ve ever had. If you like interesting, woody, light fragrances, I would suggest you give Tartan a go.

Excellent artwork here, this smells like an English castle. I get the atmosphere of wood and stone, leather, bread and hops. It's got Buddha wood which I'm not familiar with, but the best way I can describe it is vintage expensive wood. Like an antique shop filled with the finest hand carved furniture. This does smell like the closet of royalty in Buckingham Palace 👑 Scent 9/10 Performance 7/10 P. S. The deep drydown many hours later, starts to remind me Tom Ford Oud Wood.

Madain Saleh... if we thought of it as the portal to Rapunzel tower! This is the gateway to dreamland of heaven. It's the gateway to bless & bliss. The sweet nutty woods is just beyond love & serenity, with that jasmine tea, and seedful bread makes a complete perfection blend. Since Sarah McCartney did it, then i believe it's kind of near her "Buddhawood box" hit. This one is just a perfection in a bottle for those who loves sweet nutty wood. Impressive.

When I was in Vermont in the Fall I would put on Tartan and then bundle up and for walks in the leaves. It's a magical outdoorsy scent that makes me want to snuggle up. Absolutely delicious.

Can anyone on here confirm if the recently released 'Tartan Cask' by Sarah Baker is the same ?

I think Tartan is aptly named. It does have a sartorial, clothing vibe to it. Maybe a musky, traditional Scottish mens clothier. Or even a walk-in closet full of traditional Scottish clothing. This does lean masculine. A "gentlemanly" masculine. And interesting note combinations to achieve this: hops, bread, leather, tobacco and woods. It reminds me most of Creed Royal Service, so maybe Tartan is a good replacement for the extremely expensive and almost-impossible-to-get special edition Creed. Tartan also seems a bit more tamed and wearable than Creed Royal Service. All in all I think Tartan has a place in my gentlemanly, refined and elegant occasion wardrobe. I just looked at the Tartan product description on LuckyScent.com, probably provided by the brand: "A fire is roaring in the library while you savor a glass of Speyside Single Malt, all nestled into a tartan blanket. Warmth and refined heritage envelope you after a walk with the hounds through mossy ruins in Scotland’s Highlands." Yea that's it. A fragrance well conceived and executed. Probably a better and more complete association than my sartorial focus. Warmth and refined heritage. Sarah Baker captured it perfectly with Tartan.

Tartan is a great name for this one - its rough and woolly but at the same time warm and cozy. You would want a warming scent like this wading in from the Scottish damp autumnal hunt or wander around the glen, single malt in one hand in front of the fireplace. Perhaps a tad too robust and masculine for me personally but I would appreciate this on someone else.

in a world of sweet fragrances, i would say this is the antidote, it is almost sour! i have a sample and i need to try it again, maybe on skin, because i am not sold yet but it seems to have disappeared from the brand's website. looks like tartan cask is not the same as tartan

leather, buddha wood, very dry wood with an almost camphor quality and some cedar and ISO E

An odd anise natural oil over a woody base. I'll be honest, I only picked this up because having 'Bread' and 'Hops' notes sounded really interesting. Now that I have smelled this, do I find this interesting? Eh. Not really, but this isn't bad. I don't find ANY bread here, though there is a definite bitterness here from the hops. The bitterness here is in the lead alongside some fresh almost minty note (It's very close to Anise, but not quite). The backing features a very rich and authentic wood that oscillates in strength while this is in your skin. The vibe of everything here is reminiscent of some natural oils you'd find in face oils and artisan soaps. It's has this natural earthiness. If I didn't know better, I could totally see Ellen Covey as the original perfumer here. Someone out there is going to absolutely love this (and from the reviews here it looks like some people did!). I enjoy how authentic this perfume feels, though it's missing something... This perfume has so much potential to be more than a background 'mood' perfume.

Very weird but to me this smells like cinnamon? And like a mentholy scent. Definitely not for me but it's very interesting and well done!

This scent gave me one of the most bizarre olfactory experiences that I’ve had. On me it was equal parts “veeerry eeenteresting (say that with a Dracula type accent) AND just nothing I would want to smell like on purpose. So the bread and hops take it into “way too much time in the pub” territory. And then there’s a sense that, being a little tipsy, you might have wandered off for a tryst in a barn, but it didn’t turn sexual. Instead you crash for a nap on burlap sacks. Then there’s a plastic or rubber element like newly opened kids’ toys, that must come from the chemical notes used. All in all a unique but unwearable product.

OK, I'm editing my impression from 2 hours ago... after I've now had this on about 3 hours, it has softened to a very inoffensive, sweet woody scent... It is also pretty faint though--so for me, that's a sum total of 2 hours of yikes, followed by a brief respite where this is unisex, soft, not bad...

Received as a sample. Ok, a little diffent Woody fragrance that I have experienced but not likeable enough to be bottle worthy for me. Projection was weak on my skin and likely the silage was too. Skin scent after a few hours.

So sharp and peaty, I just can’t get past that overpowering whisky opening. Reminds me of being 14 and sneaking into my parents alcohol. Not an experience I’d like to encapsulate in a fragrance personally

if you’ve ever lived with or known a diesel mechanic, this is what they come home smelling like. i mean just straight diesel. lasts forever on skin (derogatory).

I long wished a house would articulate the Scotland I know and love. When I first encountered it, I had to try it a few times, not because I was suspicious, but because I needed to re-confirm what I barely believed on first spritz - that someone had actually got it right. I was rather hoping that what Yamazaki taught us about single malts might transpire once again; that a genuine outsider might make the most meaningful comment. But that did nae happen...moving on... I stood braced, ready to talk about the Lothians and East Coast, my more familiar stomping grounds. Then I smelt Tartan. For a start, that supposedly "secret time" with my partner in a wee country house hotel on Loch Ness was in there, in an olfactory sense certainly. And brisker jaunts to the Western Isles were not absent. I had expected to smell Scotland through the constraint of the plaid. Instead it was more like the plaid struggling to contain a sprawling Scotland in this exquisite perfume. I'm not going to get into each individual note, least of all because so many of them appear in other fragrances I love. But, I will say that Sarah McCartney's creation is perfectly modulated. The aspect of warmth and comfort is always there, whether it takes me back to falling asleep in some Scots Baronial pile or in the cosiest of pub inns hidden halfway up a glen. So is the sense of exhilaration, waking each morning with a lungful of fiercely fresh air on one of the islands or unexpectedly somewhere up a mountain. This scent is the Scotland I know and adore. It's at once wild, rustic and warm, but also very sophisticated, the essence of the Scottish Enlightenment with a tweedy sartorial style. I could bang on endlessly about notes: the hearthside warmth of bread and hops; the enduring charm of a true singe malt (Slàinte, uisige-beatha!) and all the other things that contribute to the genuine "Scottishness" of this juice. In the end it's all down to overall impressions. I for one still cannot believe I'm not smelling a whiff of heather in there. Apparently not. Either way, the representation of such a specific place is second to none. On that old gender question, I believe this a deeply unisex scent. But no real man should question his virility when spritzing this one on unless he's too much of girly to don a kilt.

Dusty wood and sharply herbal – almost chemical (more on that later)? I was expecting this to be warmer, but for me, this is punishingly dry and astringent. As it dried down, I kept sniffing my arm and reading through reviews, determined to smell the vision the perfumer had intended. A previous review by mitya painted a beautiful scene of a picnic in autumn. So, with that scene in mind, I closed my eyes and inhaled – y’all I was NEARLY there. Almost sold on the vision, I could see it, I just didn’t fully understand it yet. And then with comedic timing, my husband came back in from walking our dog and asked why the apartment smelled like ant poison. I was silent as my brain connected the dots and I started to process that – holy crap that familiar chemical note I picked up on earlier was fucking ant poison – I just started laughing. It was so specific and so dead on. Well, I had to leave the house in 10 minutes to attend a holiday event (I know, I know, not a smart time to try out a brand new perfume) so I panicked and started spraying Milk by Commodity to layer, hoping to add some warmth and soften the astringent quality. I will say, after about 4 hours, I really liked the dry down. I’ve worn Milk on its own plenty of times and this smelled different to that, so I’m not sure how much of it was Tartan on its own or the panicked layering combo, but Tartan definitely played a roll in the dry down. However, I don’t like the dry down enough to go through the four hours it takes to get there. I want to be cool enough to like this. But I do I realize this is a me issue – I’m sure if my nose was more refined and a little less basic, or if I was more experienced in perfume, I would better understand. (De-scent-ber 2024: Day 8)

This will take you from your business meeting to your dinner date. A supremely unique smell and one that people will remember you by. I bet you haven't smelled a woody fragrance quite like this. The opening of this fragrance smells like expensive woody soap or the smell emanating from one of those panache furniture stores. There are plenty obscure notes coming out of the woodworks to partake in this all out fragrant wood fight and I'm a proud victim. I had this ranked in the 20s as far as my intrigue radar is concerned. After testing and a few compliments later, I no doubt have to bump this up to my top 10 fragrances to buy. No androgyny here, this is hunk juice; pretty boy refined gentleman type of stuff. This is someone's signature scent; no doubt.

If you've ever smelled Hermès Ambre Narguille and thought, wow, this stuff is so sweet it's actually going to kill me...I think you might want to give Tartan a try. In reality, I don't know that they're all that alike, other than a rich woody tobacco-y October vibe, but while Ambre Narguille really leans into that syrupy apple compote, Tartan is balanced by acrid leather and an embossed flask of peaty, smoky whiskey. I smell a different aspect of it every time I wear it, but when I close my eyes it conjures wooly earthen moss, the molten gold of autumn, and skeins of snow geese low on the horizon.

If “make it smell like tartan” was the brief, this perfumes creators have well and truly knocked it out of the park. It smells like musty highland garments - in the best possible way - stored in the upstairs bedroom of a Scottish castle. Downstairs in the library there’s a roaring fire where the landowner is defrosting following a round of wet, cold, coastal golf with a glass of single malt in hand. Put simply, this is art made wearable. Follow me on Instagram: @TheScentiest

Tartan is a beautiful picnic in autumn hills: you are laying on a woolen blanket enjoying a marvelous view, sipping your favorite beer, eating a slice of fresh rye bread, and making a cigarette from dry tobacco that you carry in your leather pouch. All these smells are blended with fresh forest air full of woody vapor.

Like a warm blanket. Cosy amber, non smoky tobacco, soft leather, mild sweetness. 7/10