Cliffside Bonfire

This is Kingston Ferry’s lighter, more well-rounded sister. I love them both. It’s absolutely an evergreen forest right on the ocean. The first thing I smell is thick, syrupy pine and fir balsams. Over time a wonderful, gentle sea accord develops. Hear me out. It reminds me so much of Cool Water, but it’s not nearly so synthetic and is so beautifully blended that at times I wonder if it’s just in my head that I smell the ocean. Kingston Ferry is a beast. One spray clobbers you and lasts the entire day. It conjures images of rough ocean water, the open ocean, whereas Cliffside Bonfire feels quiet and serene. Like you’re watching a calm ocean from a cliff, the occasional sea-spray misting your cheek. As for a bonfire, it’s so faint that it makes me think of a distant fire that has already been extinguished with a bucket of ocean water, yet some embers are still orange. This fragrance isn’t particularly smoky at all. Love this stuff. It makes me nostalgic for home, for San Francisco’s ocean side and my countless day trips to Bodega Bay or Stinson Beach.

I immediately loved this one when I got it a few months ago as I really love smokey fire scents. But now I find it works even better in the hotter months. Especially on a warm night. It does lean slightly more masculine in my opinion. To me it starts with a blast of salty ocean air or sea spray. Then wafts of a burning fire come through. Like burning juniper branches, which is somehow smokey and refreshing at the same time. There is also something like Australian blue cypress coming through which adds an incense vibe. The dry down lasts forever and reminds me of how I smell after swimming in the ocean for hours. That after a day at the beach then standing by a fire smell. Angela continues to amaze me with the way she can take an experience, replicate it then put it in a bottle for everyone!

I wish my brain wasn't so dominated by the 'burning evergreen and bergamot' because I literally can't smell anything else in this. Think taking your 1930's strongest manly grandpa perfume and mixing it with pure fire. If you manage to set aside the 'burning grandpa' vibe aside, and replace it with scenes from nature, I guess you can say it smells very realistic, like someone lit a bonfire using pine branches. I used to hate it because it's so offensive and totally not something I would like to smell on a person, or a room (but then again I hate rooms that smell like smoke) but then it kind of grew on me, so I put a drop on my hand when I want to be transported to that beachy fiery place. I don't see it as a wearing scent, 100% a meditative one.

Purchased a 2.5 of this from a member of the Facebook group, and I'm finding it to be a very underrated SS, likely because it has that divisive watery note. As someone who grew up near a beach, I love it. It's not commercialized ocean, it's actual ocean, seaweed bits and all. The smoke note adds an edge that's almost slightly ominous to me. If Sea of Grey is a cold day on an abandoned boardwalk, and Tenebrous Mist is the peril of an impending storm on the high sea, then Cliffside Bonfire is burning the evidence of a crime committed on a rocky coast. And my morbid a*& loves it :-) If you're into earthy, realistic smells that take you somewhere new, give this one a go.

Burst of pine. Ambergris is a bit strong. Not my favorite scent. Touch of smoke though its very light. It does smell like you are next to a very brackish sea with woods in the background, but that ambergris is so strong it overpowers the wood. I thought this would be a favorite scent but finding its ok. It’s kind of camphorous and the marine part is interesting deep and dark blue but also very biological. It’s a little like squid but much more tolerable imo and wearable. At any rate it is an interesting fragrance and well crafted. I do wish the smoke came through more.