#jorum studio

Nose: Euan McCall

Notes: frankincense, fir, cypriol; sandalwood, pink pepper, saffron; hemlock, labdanum, patchouli

Boswellia Scotia opens with the softest, fuzziest frankincense ever. It's gray and dry as a bone, but it isn't at all scratchy. It's like the most luxuriously cozy wool blanket. And that's pretty much where it stays: fuzzy, soft frankincense, with maybe the barest hint of smoke or resin.

I liked my previous samples of Phloem and Nectary from Jorum Studio so I purchased its Progressive Botany set and a couple more samples. Listed below in order from most to least favourite.

Carduus - A bold, peaty opening with hints of anise and dried grasses, spices and leather. Veers toward smoky and then comfortably mellow in the dry down. Evocative of medicinal herbal tea and the outdoors in late summer or fall without resorting to any cliches.

Medullary-Ray - The most intense opening of the set. You are hit with damp, moist wood with the subtle suggestion of unwashed hair. The texture is palpably rich and unctuous but becomes drier in the dry down. Unique and a little more challenging than Carduus, but still very wearable.

Firewater (purchased separately from the set) - A unique aquatic take on the smoky genre that's not the kind of bonfire smoke that the marketing copy suggests. There's the barest suggestion of the dreaded calone but it's so slight it doesn't bother me. It's a little reminiscent of Aesop's Karst in the dry down, but without such a hefty price tag.

Arborist - A pleasant and wearable woody scent, like a CdG but less synthetic. Nothing spectacular but a solid wear.

Trimerous - How I wanted to like this one! I love a good iris but sometimes it can go sideways on my skin, becoming unpleasantly candied. This showed promise in the opening but became a scrubber in the dry down for me.

Arborist (eau de parfum) Progressive Botany Vol. I Jorum Studio

Woods

The Green Man - a study of humanity’s visceral and tempestuous relationship with nature.

Arborist is an ode to enchanting woodlands, the likes of which are found across our native Scotland.

Be warned, Arborist is not just lumber. It is an imagined day-in-the-life of a Virideer.

Arborist possesses an overwhelming and spirited opening mellowing into sun-bleached woods, malted cereals and worked-skin. A symphony of nature untamed.

The core structure of Arborist is redolent of many great Scots timbers; their leaves, flowers, fruits, roots and soil being the quintessential portrait of the forest.

Arborist presents a unique blend of raw flowers, botanicals, resin sap, underwood and surprising forest fruits. Resolutely sylvan and intriguingly multifaceted with more than a hint of human skin, oily tool and distilling elixirs haunting from afar.

Nose: Euan McCall

notes: rhubarb, pink grapefruit, fig, coriander; beet, pink pepper, pink lotus, champaca; calamus, raspberry leaf, vetiver, ambrette, red cedar, atlas cedar

Pony Boy opens with a sharp, bright fruity-floral chord, immediately followed by an intensely musky and sour wrongness. This is Maximum Rhubarb: so sour it'll pucker your mouth and curdle your skin. It's bright pink and fruity around the edges, but with a hot-breath or boiled-celery note at the center that definitely doesn't smell "fresh" (but is an authentic part of the Rhubarb Experience).

A few minutes in, the funk passes and we just get a "pink grapefruit" kind of deal (i.e. punchy citrus and fruity pink rose.) It's exactly like being a tween girl in the Y2K era and it's a happy zone to hang out in.

Then the rose warms and softens slightly; it's more mature now, and quite pleasant.

And finally, at about two hours in, we're back to that musky, hazy, dust-gray rhubarb off-note, now more clearly legible as having been vetiver all along.

This is a clever perfume. A hyper-realistic rhubarb that gradually falls apart into its components of citrus, fruity rose, and vetiver. It's even likable in parts! but definitely challenging. I'm pretty sure this is only going to appeal to people with large perfume collections; it's too much of a novelty for me to imagine it as anyone's "signature scent."