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.

I really enjoyed this scent. It's like Sea of Gray's rugged bohemian sister. I enjoy an olfactory journey and this doesn't disappoint; a blast of seaweed and salty air to warm and dry woods and slight traces of smoke to chilling pines and juniper to mossy oud. There is a depth to this scent and its a lot of fun see all the notes gradually shine through. It sits very close to the skin which I prefer. Purchased: 5 ml perfume oil

This is standing right on a beach boardwalk, salt and water, wood and seaweed. Remnants of a bonfire nearby. Reminds me of Squid by Zoologist. I want to go to the ocean...

well, at the very least i’ll say this: cliffside bonfire is not playing around when they say conifer. they’re not playing around when they say any of the notes, in fact. front of something coniferous with back notes of seaweed and ocean spray and smoke, the petrichor definitely comes in and out. that said all of these combine in a way that’s much less “sharp clear and fresh” and more “car air freshener headache”. the conifer was initially shockingly strong- i texted a couple friends about how “mentholly” i spelled. this eventually faded (or maybe revealed itself to be?) a mix of conifers, but in a way that is almost so strong it’s artifically and plastic. i think my disappointment partly on me— i expected this to be a more open summer ocean scent, with the cedar being a faint note in the background, adding to the freshness. reading the description again, yeah i can absolutely say that’s my own fault for misinterpreting what i read. cliffside bonfire is a deeply musky, “standing in the midst of a cold cedar forest on a cliffside with the ocean very distantly below you”. and maybe it’s because i grew up by warmer oceans, or because actual oceans tend to have a breeze that makes the scent more refreshing, but for some reason despite the seaweed/sea spray scent being /realistic/, it’s not actually. refreshing. in fact it feels a bit “seaweed’s starting rot on the beach”. i’m not sure, maybe i’ll like this more in smaller amounts (though i don’t think i applied that much in the first place). maybe i’ll like it more when it gets colder, and when i’m outside. i’ll certainly try again in a few months when that’s true. but right now this perfume’s just giving me a migraine.

This smells of stinky fish on me, as do all of the water series from 2017 and 2018. I can't wear them, they are atrocious on me! That said, lots of people in her Facebook group love them.

still wet, it smells like a christmas tree. the wood resin is gorgeous but so far hiding every other scent. there’s something warm and amber tucked away in there just underneath. a few minutes later, that warmth has fully come out and revealed itself to be an “oh, a bonfire!” note lol. similarly, the ambergris/brine/salt/seaweed stank has made itself known. it’s definitely truly evocative of standing on a salt-sprayed cliff at the edge of the woods. it’s gorgeous and realistic, but definitely more PNW coast than my beloved and familiar new england coast. i keep getting the urge to lick my wrist to taste the saltiness, haha. it’s pretty. soothing. the aquatic is coming in nice and strong now and it’s very refreshing. kind of a reinvigorating scent, like breathing in cool crisp air on a sunny day. not much of a throw...there’s maybe a slight woodsmoke scent when i waggle my arms around with occasional stronger drafts of resin. it’s also very cold in here rn though...it might perform better on a warmer body, hah. it lasts about 8 hours on me, maybe a bit longer. it’s a good perfume! i hope i don’t sound too down on it, because i’m not. it’s really lovely and evocative and realistic and interesting and refreshing. if i were missing being in the woods, i’d put this on. the trees and smoke aspects of it are gorgeous and nostalgic. but someone wanting straight ocean out of this (ME...) would probs feel a bit disappointed by this scent as the salt spray scent is usually only a temporary visitor before the rich green forest swallows it up again.

Cliffside Bonfire is a woody, coniferous aquatic fragrance–and before you immediately tune out, let me assure you that this is not the sort of milquetoast, watery “aquatic” that you may remember from high school in the 90’s, though anecdotally, this does remind me of certain high school experiences. This is dry woods, sea spray-kissed skin, and the barest hint of pine and spruce; I don’t get very much smoke or fire or char from this at all. It vividly recalls for me sunset streaked summer evenings after spending from noon until nightfall at the beach with my freshman year-boyfriend. Skin too hot to the touch from sun and hormones, sand in our hair and on our tongues, salt-tinged kisses and the impatient, inexperienced fumbling at damp swimsuit strings..twenty five years later this perfume causes a sweet, clenching ache, low in my stomach (and a strange, sexy nostalgia for a dude that kind of turned out to be a turd.)

I get green loam but with a seaweed edge, plus faint smoky wood. Mostly, though, I smell rotting vegetation and seaweed. I think the rain note is represented by dirt, musk and loam, and it’s present enough to cover anything sea-like, sadly. I was hoping for a lot more seawater. It's not actually bad, it's just an interesting journey that is more story than perfume.This is not a problem for me, as I prefer olfactory stories to smelling like a mall perfumer stand, but I also prefer to smell a tiny bit less like loam and dirt. They are actually lovely smells, but I prefer them under my feet on a walk outdoors than on my wrist.