UniNoUta

One of the most fascinating scents from a fascinating company. I'm having a hard time explaining this one. While the components, on paper, are all quite natural, and don't seem to be anything to speak of - we've all smelled leathers with cedar and vetiver before - there's something about this particular combination that comes off very unique and industrial.

Instantly on smelling it, it brought up imagery of a mid-late 90s art party - the kind you heard about from a friend of a friend, only for those in the know, and you had to brave your way down an abandoned NYC alley in the days before Google Maps to get to it, wondering the whole time if you were in the right place or if you'd get jumped, only to ride a freight elevator up to an antiseptic SoHo loft where a dominatrix had a gimp locked in a vacuum bed for an S&M performance art piece. A DJ spun Techno Animal and Scorn, and you're pretty sure that was Genesis P-Orridge you saw on the other side of the room chain smoking and drinking vodka tonics.

Despite the ingredients, somehow the specific combination comes off very industrial - yes, leather for sure, but also latex, PVC, rubber, and dare I say... silicone lube? Incredibly sexy in a totally atypical, industrial way. Yet there's an herbal undercurrent holding it all together. Somehow it's lean like concrete yet complex. It's not for everyone, but for those who "get" it it'll be sexy as all get out. The best from this niche label IMHO.

The second expression from LFaP's little experiment: giving the same inspiration to two different perfumers and seeing what each comes up with. In this case, the inspiration being Andre Aciman's "Find Me" - the sequel to "Call Me By Your Name"

For version #2, we get David Chieze, the partner of Mark Buxton who did version #1. This is a sexier, slightly darker concoction, and unlike Buxton's "Find Me" (which I found more overtly feminine) this one reads much more unisex.

It's definitely floral, but not explosively. The lily here drifts in through a window, mingling with the aroma of bedsheets and musk. Nothing body-odorish about this musk, though - maybe that's their patented "skin accord" that's shown up in a few of their recent blends. The tobacco is distinctly of the green variety, nothing smoky or ashy to it. There's a sleeping-in-with-your-partner with the windows open vibe here. It's like a sexy, lazy, morning haze that drifts with you throughout the day. Good stuff.

What a fun idea, to hand the same inspiriation to two different perfumers and see what each comes up with. In this case, the inspiration being Andre Aciman's "Find Me" - the sequel to "Call Me By Your Name"

For version #1, we get the legend Mark Buxton, who's in full lush mode. This isn't Buxton in his usual industrial/experimental wheelhouse. It's a beaut: huge presence of blossoms up front, with the zest and oils of the fruit following not far behind. At first it appears a little single-note, but as it dries down some of the green notes lurk in the background, then the tart fruit itself, and finally just a wee hint of musk (and I guess whatever "skin accord" is) give it some corporeality. I don't really get the spices (ginger, cardamom, pepper) which are such a signature of his, but perhaps they're adding complexity in an undetectable way.

It's marketed as unisex, and I suppose everything can be in a sense, though for me it reads much more feminine, with the strong floral presence throughout. At least for me - although there aren't many overlapping notes (there's the mysterious "skin accord") it makes me think of a lighter, brighter companion to his "Duke of Burgundy" for the same line. Beautiful stuff, if not something for me to wear personally.

So down 'round under my front porch I ain't cleaned since, oh, maybe '98 or so. Ain't nothin' there but stray leaves turned to mulch, gets a bit dank since there ain't no light to dry it after the rains. Neighborhood kids play down there, building forts and stuff. I tell them to be careful, there might be snakes and whatnot, I don't want their parents comin' round and complaining to me if they gets bit by some varmint. I been thinkin' of puttin' up some fencing to keep 'em out, but as long as they clear out 'fore 6PM, which is my porch-sittin' time, I ain't mind much. But one o' them dadgum brats done spilled an entire two-liter bottle of cream soda down there. Like they ain't rascally enough already without all that sugar in 'em! I couldn't hose it out since the only hose tap is around back and I ain't got no extension long enough. It just sat down there stinkin' up the whole porch area all sticky-sweet like for a week, just plum ruinin' my porch-sittin' time, until finally the rains came and washed it all out. Was I happy to never smell that again.

Or so I thought, until my order of Terreno Dolce arrived the other day.

It's less "dude in a beat-up leather jacket fixing a car on the side of a highway" and more "girl in a shiny new pleather jacket sipping a vanilla milkshake in the mall parking lot" - both ideas can be sexy in their own way, sure, but since I'm a 50-year-old dude the latter isn't really an olfactory image I should be projecting.

Maybe I'd like it on a date more than on myself.