Graveyard Dirt

Mandragora (1742).

Hand-coloured etching.

The composition of Aperture starts with aldehydes, which delicately refresh the spicy game of hot and icy shades of pink pepper, white pepper and black pepper. The heart of the composition introduces a harmony of flowers, wood and tobacco, while mixing notes of elegant jasmine, tobacco and cedar with a hint of lemonish shades of lily of the valley. The base of the composition incorporates animalistic flavors accompanied by musk, ambergris, amber and elegant vetiver. Notes: Aldehydes, Pink Pepper, Black Pepper, White Pepper / Tobacco, Jasmin, Cedarwood, hint of Muguet / Musk, Vetiver, Ambergris, Animalic Notes, Amber

Today's perfume, Aperture by Ulrich Lang, promises nuances of urine and pungent public toilets… which is exactly why I hunted down a sample in the first place. (😏)

Yes, absolutely, pungent public toilets! There's a faint faecal flirtation, but urine is far more prominent. This is a well-used public bathroom where the toilets haven't been flushed after use, and the cisterns have been stingily rationing water. Layers of urine-soaked toilet paper have been macerating in the toilet bowl all morning and into the day, and whatever liquid remains has evaporated to a concentrated syrup.

That's just from smelling the sample uncapped. Let's see how the perfume plays out on application…

Alas, the toilets have been flushed! There's still a faint body odour vibe - not dank morning breath or the unclean smell of an unwashed, sweaty body, but more fluid and alkaline, like sexual body secretions - though it's not pungent like public toilets.

...actually, maybe there's a hint of a toilet that hasn't been cleaned in a while. But, like, just a mischievous, maybe-so-maybe-not suggestion.

So we got flowering rowan (that's the alkaline sexual body secretions), a smear of toffee-coloured feral honey (there's polite and proper honey, and then there's "these bees have obviously licked a goat's sweaty, dirty ass" feral honey), and clean, warm fur that's been lovingly stored in an old wooden chest.

I think I like this. I think I like this a lot.

Granted, it's not as nasty as I was hoping it'd be, but the animalic dry down is intriguing, almost enchanting. It doesn't smell like a barn; it smells like grandmother's fancy clothes from her younger years, stowed away with much affection and fondness, as if by carefully preserving every article, she preserves the treasured memories attached to them.

The Annunciation // The Visitation // The Nativity

I cant stop drawing Freyr.

Hes not just my fave god and the one I feel closest to. But also just someone I have started to work with more and more.

Sadly tho his symbols as a fertility god means hes not always social media friendly....

Hawthorn