Earthtones #3 - North Woods
Neil Morris Fragrances

Sunneset's claret embere stains the skie a lustre frigid blush
From a murky brume sleeps into Northforest
Vale kindelene snowing stars to drope like feathers at a pineneedle floor

I had the chance to sample this the other day and found it absolutely delicious. It kicks off with a volyminous cloud of freshly cut pine, more green than brown and absolutely dripping with sticky resin. Soon a body of rounder earthy woods emerge, but it's a pretty young woodyness, not old and dark. Balanced beautifully with the heather and fig.
It is a complete delight. Rich and big, well balanced all over the spectrum. Intensely foresty.

The only problem was my greed for more, i was disappointed by the drydown and longevity. Not because they were bad, they were both pretty good... I just didn't want that first hour to fade. But that is what perfumes do i guess.

Highly recommended if you like coniferous smells.

Sadly, I have to report my disappointment with this scent. I love coniferous, woody, and herbal scents. Looking at the notes list, I had every reason to hope that North Woods would be that sort of scent. I find that it is not very green, not at all coniferous, and really not woody. To me, it suggests a sunny meadow of sweet grass. That is not a bad image to convey, and the scent is not unpleasant. But in my opinion there is little of any woodland in it.

The scent starts in a promising manner, with lovely green notes hinting at galbanum or clary sage. The scent is soft but fresh. Fig leaf and cut grass are accurately rendered and give a slight herbal chord. Alas, this is a very brief phase. Next to appear is the heather – an outdoorsy floral, a bit hay-like or somewhat like broom. Soapy myrrh appears, and the scent becomes somewhat sweet. The hay-like note increases, at times becoming powdery and at other times suggesting tobacco leaf. Sometimes I detect a cool, tinny-metallic note which reminds me of some patchoulis I've encountered. At times, there is an earthy note like soil, and I am reminded of Czech and Speake's Cuba with the tobacco-earth combination.

To reiterate: this is a pleasant scent, somewhat low-key but in many ways attractive. But I don't find it substantially green and certainly (for me) there is nothing of the forest about it, either in terms of coniferous or wood notes.

EARTH TONES #3: NORTH WOODS - Basil and heather opens this scent followed by fir, fig and cut grass middle notes. This North Woods opening is a lighter woods than many wooded scents, but it retains a very sparkling green essence. The base is cedar, oak, redwood, myrrh, labdanum, oakmoss, vetiver. This scent has a great green pine oil opening from basil mixed with myrrh and is quite a bit more green than Dark Season which is more resinous. It kind of smells like a cross between Hinoki and Knize Forest, in the opening and mid notes, but there is a dry grassy scent at the base that smells like old burlap bag or oiled canvas. The base goes more and more to this oakmoss dry finish as it wears and develops. Not bad!

This is the smell of conifer forest floors, all wet and slightly rotted and yet still full of life and earth. It's a strong juice, this, yet it wears (much like Yatagan, its dryer, Southern cousin) surprisingly close to the skin.Sensual stuff that makes you want to frolic with fauns and pick up pine cones and do naughty things among the branches and the boughs.Apply only if you dare.