Cancer

Strange Invisible Perfumes does an exceptional leather accord and I think Cancer is their best rendition of it. I've smelled lily of the valley flowers and while I don't think this really captures their scent there is a lovely fresh green floral accord. This along with the mandarin gives it a sparkling brightness over the deep, warm, dark, earthy heart from the amber, patchouli, and that beautiful leather accord. Like all SIP fragrances, Cancer wears close to the skin and isn't particularly lasting. If it lasted for longer than 90 minutes it would be a love for me but given how fleeting the wear time is, it's just a like.

With Cancer, Strange Invisible invites us to "court the senses and illuminate the imagination." I won't disagree that it achieves in this appeal, but the intended sensory stimulation and imagery likely does not match what this evokes for me. It begins with a rather peculiar mandarin-vanilla cloying sweetness that is courted (see what I did there?) with an attempt of a complementary leather accord that renders it sour, somewhat dank, reminiscent of an overused kitchen dish cloth. We are told that lily of the valley is here, but we do know that is nearly impossible to achieve with strictly natural, botanical materials, and I assure you, there is nothing here that is even close to evoking this fabled flower. Instead, the unpleasant smell of muddled bilge persists. Subtitled "The Levelheaded Bohemian," Cancer smells to me more like a maybe not-so-levelheaded, eccentric Bohemian, who may have some housekeeping deficits. For all its 'wildcrafted, biodynamic, certified organic, and pesticide free essential oils and extracts'—the end product smells grotesque. At least its purported to be 'vegan,' not that this was of any concern to me, though it does read as yet another desperate virtue.