Autumn Shadows
TRNP (Teone Reinthal Natural Perfume)

The twilight of the year is sweet:
Where shadow and the darkness meet
Our love, a twilight of the heart
Eludes a little time's deceit.
Are we not better and at home
In dreamful Autumn, we who deem
No harvest joy is worth a dream?

Autumn Shadows, with its prominent natural ginger, clove, and nutmeg, is a fine entry into the spice fragrance category. ("Ginger lily" isn't a lily, but a flowering plant related to ginger and possessed of a gingery scent, useful for creating ginger fragrances much as carnation is for clove fragrances.) Most of the indoles burn off the jasmine sambac early enough that Autumn Shadows doesn't maintain an animalic profile unless you're right up on it. The selected spices generally pair well with myrrh and sandalwood, as they do here; and the more the base emerges and the jasmine subsides, the better it gets.

My overall impression is of a sum-of-its-parts formula that works because the parts are high quality and well-mated. For hardcore spice lovers, that could easily be worth the price of admission. At niche prices, I'll hold off for fragrances with the combination of synergy and surprise that more assuredly elevates them to the next level, of which TR has a fair number in her substantial catalog.