Reviews of Cedar Woodpecker / 10 by Parle Moi de Parfum

Quite nice, I'm usually not into those super woody niche things, I find them grating after a while, especially since they're most often shock full of IsoE, which I like pretty sparingly. How much Iso is in here I can't tell quite a lot most likely. All's that is listed is cedar and iris and I can't detect anything else really. All in all the cedar and woods are very nicely smoothed out by the iris. It's simple, it works. Well done.

Two notes only are listed: cedar and iris. However, it's not quite that simple: the marketing suggests "a blend of different cedarwood essences". There's no further explanation but it does help explain why the cedar CW is somewhat hard to place. Iris, on the other hand, has not been a favourite note of mine but can be used to good effect.

The point stands that when you list (and compose with) two notes, you need them to do something interesting,or hope that they speak for themselves in terms of quality. I would cautiously submit that CW does both. The scent seems to have been concocted with good quality raw materials, providing excellent sillage and longevity on my skin. Despite the unavoidable conclusion that what you see is what you get, I do find a worthwhile development during the lifetime of the scent, which could be described as the move from freshness to opulence. The early stages speak of freshly cut wood and florals, with little in the way of accepted top notes. It then purrs along for a while before both accords go through the gears and provide a more luxurious, date-night kind of feel. The success of CW in one sense is to make the two accords work together so well.

The composition is warm, detailed, and very well balanced. At the end of its life CW does seem to want to turn into Tom Ford Noir, which is a little disconcerting but, given that it's taken all the right turns in getting there, I can forgive it when it arrives at such a mainstream conclusion. And it's more like Cuir Cannage for more of the time, so it gains approval.

Opens with a somewhat fizzy citrus, and cedar. The cedar here is borderline spicy rather than the pencil shavings of a CdG Wonderwood.

After the fizzy opening, it's a bit generic with the iris giving hints of soapiness.

Then after 3-4 hours, the dry down gets creamy, smooth and beautiful. The iris gives just a hint of powder, and the overall feel is like a classic barbershop, shaving soap.

Every time I've sampled this I love the opening, but then the generic bit hits, and I start to have doubts, finally when the final dry down arrives, there are no more doubts.

It might not be a ground breaker, but it's so well done that it doesn't matter.