10 Roam
Odin New York (2013)

A beautiful, though muted, incense accord opens through a milky filter. It's not outright milky, but as if the incense has passed through a milk filter.

I find it comforting and relaxing; an incense fragrance that doesn't try too hard, isn't stuffy, isn't sneezy, and isn't liturgical.

Slightly linear, but we'll blended with quality materials; par for the Odin course.

Long lasting, but polite and discreet, which may be a positive, as I see this as a great fragrance to crawl up next to a fire and read a book with.

7/10

Roam somewhat resembles Lubin Idole Eau de Parfum; imagine subbing Idole's orange and rum for milky coconut and you're close.

Here, though, the "ebony" is more exposed than it is in Idole, with a strong dose of ISO-E that calls to mind Dirty English (which is harsher than this, but still in the same family).

The quality is more mid-tier than high-grade, but I kinda dig the combination of "coconut" and "ebony" with the saffron/pepper top.

10 Roam opens with milky coconut and a mild spice undertone. Transitioning to the early heart the milky coconut remains in full force as dark woods join it as co-star, with traces of a vague jasmine-like white floral undertone detectable. During the late dry-down the coconut and dark woods smooth into the composition as the milky facets disappear, with subtle frankincense softening the final leg of the composition's life cycle. Projection is average, as is longevity at 7-9 hours on skin.

10 Roam lost me in a matter of seconds with its odd milky coconut and dark woods, not improving until frankincense from the base was able to soften and enhance the composition's finish. The coconut does smell natural but the perfumer Jean-Claude Deville was way too heavy-handed in its implementation with it coming off as sickening. The dark woods play co-star to the coconut at times and support in others, but the awkward combination never works. Quite frankly, that just about sums up the entire composition... "awkward" and "never works". The late dry-down is actually decent smelling, but that is far from enough to rescue this dud. The bottom line is the $135 per 100ml 10 Roam is reasonably priced and certainly distinctive, but in this case distinctive does not equal good earning a "below average" rating of 2 to 2.5 stars out of 5 and an avoid recommendation.