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ColinM
Helpful Review
3
Smoky dry vetiver
Athunis opens with an incredibly bold, sharp, stern, austere and hyper-dry woody blend, stuffed with salty, incredibly realistic dark vetiver just a tad spiced and surrounded by a bitter roasted-herbal accord, really dark and dry, almost astringent. Easily the most dark, dry, smoky and straightforward vetiver I’ve ever experienced, somehow close to Etro Vetiver and Annick Goutal’s vintage Vetiver, but ever bolder, gloomier and “woodier” than those. And smokier too, with a creepily realistic feel of bitter burnt wood. Even too much for me honestly: it’s so dark, sour, dry and salty it’s literally really close to the (unpleasant, to me) smell that remains on your hands after you’ve handled the remains of a bonfire. Basically, a smell of woody dirt. Worthy a try for sure, though, especially for vetiver lovers, just to get an idea of what a creative mind can do with that note. The evolution is slow, but appealing and perfectly mastered: it becomes warmer, softer, slowly making a richer, brighter vetiver note emerge, as if you’re assisting to a sort of “bonfire in reverse”. Please note that the “woody smokiness” here is quite different from pretty much any other similar scent featuring this same concept (Profumum Arso, Bois d’ascèse, Sonoma Scent Fireside Intense and so on); here it’s not basically all about Iso E Super, but the feeling is of something more realistic, more “carved in real wood”, more bitter, with a range of nuances from salty and sour to stale and barnyard. It has a couple of “controversial” features, especially an exhausting linearity and to me, an excessive dryness; but it’s a totally creative, compelling, worthwhile take on the “smoky vetiver” theme. Another nice example of Buccella’s underrated talent.
7,5/10
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