Empty Wishes Well

I’ve woken up from a dream that eludes me, yet its memory is fragrant on my skin. I stir in my soft sheets bring myself to an upright position, and rub the sleep from my eyes. My senses are stirring awake. It smells of petrichor. I peek out my bedroom window, just a slight lean over. The sky is dark, darker than I’ve ever seen it. It nearly resembles night. What a treat, twilight in the morning. I pick up my wristwatch from the windowsill; it’s encrusted in dried mud. My movements are hesitant and explorative, but my eyes are focused. As I flip the watch over in my hands, specks of encrusted mud fall onto my duvet cover. My eyebrows furrow in deep retrospective thought as I attempt to recall an opportunity for this to happen. Yesterday...yesterday was mundane. Wake, work, home, dinner, shower, and sleep. It’d been this way for years, hardly a divergence. I concentrated harder. My wristwatch fell slack in my left hand as I brought my right thumb between my teeth, the furrow of my brows grew tenser as I stared at nothing in particular. No, when I went to sleep my watch wasn’t this way. I was sure of it or maybe... I shook my head firmly as if to clear my conciseness of such nonsensical thoughts. I needed to get out of bed. I throw off the covers- mud.Thick, dried, caking my legs up to my thighs. My sheets, a mess. Where have I been? I was petrified. The smell of freshly turned soil hit my nose. No surprise there, for I was covered in it. I couldn’t move, well I could. But what was I to find if I did..? The detonating sound of thunder pulled me from my discovery. I shook, startled. My fingers instinctively gripped the covers. The rain began without hesitation. Possessed by something innate I rose from my bed and moved over to the window. My hands found the pane, fingers outstretched on the cool glass, my lips a whisper away fogged the glass hotly. My eyes are fixed on the scene beyond the window. A poignant feeling troubles me. No longer am I concerned by the mess of my legs or the state of my watch. My focus is honed on an unfamiliar sight, there’s a garden in full bloom, one of great extravagance. Flowers and vines, unlike anything I’ve ever known to exist. I’ve never known a garden in my front yard, let alone one so boisterous. Through the fogged pane and thrashing rain, I make out what appears to be a well in the middle of it all. From my second-story view, I see it. A gaping abyss among the false splendor. Bottomless. Waiting. No, I remember. Then–metal, stone, damp earth–it finds me. The dream that eluded me moments ago. Sharp. Unmistakable. I remember. Suddenly the smell of metallic and stone finds me and reminds me of this dream that has eluded me. Yes, I remember now. I can feel it; the rain down my face, my fingertips numb and blue, my skin adorned with goosebumps, the wet mud between my toes. Yes, I remember it all.

I love this perfume. Like, actually love it. This is one of the only niche perfumes I’ve tried where I went back immediately after sampling it and was like, okay, no, I absolutely need more of this. To me, this is a perfect rainy autumn fragrance. Not that I would only wear it in autumn, because I’d honestly wear it whenever, but it really shines on rainy days or cold fall days. It smells like petrichor, wet stone, soil, dried leaves, vetiver, myrrh, sage, and a little bit of spice. When I first saw the notes, I was a little worried about the metallic note. I thought it might smell like pennies or blood or something really sharp, but it doesn’t. At least not to me. The metallic part is more like cold wet air touching stone. Like old metal somewhere nearby after rain, but not literal coin smell. It blends into the rain and stone instead of sitting on top and screaming. The spice is there, but it’s not cloying or overwhelming. It doesn’t turn into a fall candle. It’s more like dried leaves, sage, myrrh, damp earth, and that cold rainy mineral smell all mixing together. It’s not sweet by itself, but it layers beautifully with sweet things. I love it with smoky vanilla, pumpkin, warm lactonic stuff, anything like that. It turns those sweeter scents into something more atmospheric and less one note. This isn’t a cozy gourmand fall. This is like walking outside on a rainy October day and finding an old stone well surrounded by dead leaves. The air is cold, the ground is wet, everything smells earthy and quiet, and there’s something a little ritualistic about it. Not scary exactly. More like memory, rain, stone, and something you can’t fully explain. I think what I love about it is that it gives me atmosphere without becoming unwearable. A lot of Toskovat’ scents are cool conceptually but hard to actually wear. This one still has that Toskovat’ storytelling, but it doesn’t feel like it’s trying to punish me. It’s sad, rainy, earthy, and beautiful, but still very wearable. This is probably my favorite Toskovat’ I’ve tried so far. It’s not loud, not sweet, not pretty in a traditional way, but it’s gorgeous. It is rain-soaked porous stone, autumn leaves, and unfulfilled wishes sitting at the bottom of a well.

so good. i’ve been smelling in search of something musty and abandoned, whether it be in a contemplative or slightly unsettling way. this one is definitely the former and it might be one of my favourites so far (more tormented than relique d’amour, more intriguing than olm) still figuring this harmony but i think the carrot seeds are perfectly balanced and set the tone of the whole perfume. there are several resinous notes listed which come back around in liturgical perfumes and empty wishes well does evoke a church, but it is 100% abandoned, overtaken by vegetation and the bibles left behind on the pew have grown severely mildewy. the carrot seeds i mentioned earlier linger at the base and have this strange grey green powdery and otherworldly nearly sweet quality i don’t know i’ve smelled in perfume before but reminiscent of suddenly getting a whiff of a bunch of wet moss on cold stone. not in a cute way, this smells like the bitter bite of time, oblivion and rural exodus. one day i want to visit the scottish island of st kilda. it was extremely remote and only yielded a very difficult life to those who depended in its land for sustenance. it was abandoned of common accord by its inhabitants in the 1930s and has remained frozen in time since. until i do, i’m gonna imagine this is what it smells like. edit: i unexpectedly found something that beats this one for me... it doesn’t have a page on fragrantica but if this scent profile appeals to you, you NEED to smell stone by liza pittard. fresh cold wet mildewy, an algae covered stone you pick up from a slow river bed. does away with the carrot seed/ leaf some perfumes of a similar ilk use, and even though i waxed poetics about its role here, i actually think that’s the best possible direction.

This was my first introduction to the house of Toskovat, and It did not disappoint. All of Toskovat's fragrances come with a small poem/description of the fragrance. While I initially thought they were a little tacky, they enhance the wearing experience. The best way to describe this fragrance is to put yourself into the world of the poem. Imagine walking through a wooded area in Autumn right after a storm had just passed. A gentle breeze around you carries all the scents of the forest in your direction. You can smell the leaves on the trees, the dirt on the ground, and the surrounding foliage. You walk up to an old wishing well, and the moss almost entirely covers each and every stone. You look into the well to find water, but there is nothing but a muddy puddle and some weeds growing at the bottom. This fragrance, to me at least, speaks to the quiet resilience of nature and the way it claims and heals over time. The poem makes me think about renewing and learning to live with what's left. It's like a deep breath after a storm in which you stop and reflect on what was and what might be, taking a moment to stop and slow down before the earth stirs again. It tells a story of time passing and nature persisting.

Absolutely gorgeous. I can’t stop smelling it. This is one of the most beautiful nature scents I’ve ever smelled. I’ll be honest, this is the one fragrance that made me rethink my belief that Toskovat’ was a total scam. (The other two decants I bought were extremely disappointing.) It is very simple, but it is perfect. This is an extremely calming and photorealistic forest fragrance. Nothing smells at all dirty in this to me, only clean, gentle idyllic nature. It feels like the background art from a Ghibli movie, or a still life painting of a serene rainy day. I swear I can smell moss, damp rocks, pine trees, and eucalyptus. It's neither foggy or heavy, but clear and clean, like a crisp rainy breeze across a field and mossy stones. Very feminine-leaning in my opinion, like a huldra lady sleeping peacefully in a glade, with stones for pillows. It makes me want to wander through European forests and breathe in their beauty. EDIT: smells like Baie 19 with the muddy notes taken out and replaced with falling leaves and the smell of water soaked rocks. Very very very patchouli, but I prefer this over Baie 19 in a heartbeat.