Eau Arborante : Saltus
Les Liquides Imaginaires (2015)

This fragrance, though slightly underwhelming, offers a lightly camphoric and woody scent that remains fairly linear. To my nose, the eucalyptus notes exude a minty aroma, reminiscent of toothpaste. It creates a unique combination of woody and minty elements, almost like a woody minty toothpaste. In terms of performance, it ranges from soft to moderate. I would give it a rating of 3 out of 5. As it dries down, it settles into a soft and airy cedar note, albeit a bit too soft for my personal liking. Overall, it's an easy-to-wear fragrance that lacks any challenging or animalic qualities.

Like many of Liquides Imagainares scents Saltus is wrapped around a resinous incense note, Somalian Incense is here which has an earthy deep mystical presence. The eucalyptus adds a salty menthol contrast in the opening moments and castoreum leaves a dry leather feel to the woody depths of this scent. I like the feel and rounded aroma of this almost perfect woody, incense leather - one of the best offerings from this house. I find similarities to Heely Eau Sacree, Profumum Olibanum, and DS Durga Freetrapper, but I like Saltus more. A fine scent for earthy incense enthusiasts.

Saltus, much like Tellus, is an earth-driven scent. Very musty, dusty and forest floor. There isn't as much of a smoke to it, but more of a wet smoldering. When all of that dust settles, you have a muted incense, cedar and somewhat funky dry down. I feel there is quality here in the ingredients, just no wow factor. Longevity is moderate at best, and sits close to the skin. Thumb neutral.

This new Les Eaux Arborantes trio by Les Liquides Imaginaires seems overall more interesting and more solid than most of their previous offerings. Saltus makes no exception. It's a cedarwood driven, smoky-incensey, synth-leathery thing with some creamy sandalwood thrown in the mix. To anyone into hyper-modern woody stuff a-la Comme Des Garcons and the likes, it's bit of a been-there-done-that kind of fragrance but if like me, you can't get enough of nice woody notes, this is something worth checking out. Subtly twisted, not too chlicheted and very wearable contemporary stuff. Very nice.

This is my favorite of the new trio. Like Tellus, it's an earth-driven woody affair but it's more resin-based and much more complex. A matte, pencil-cedar and a slightly synthetic sandalwood are merged with delicate medicinal herbs and a murky musk to produce a mossy, earthy, dirty forest kind of scent. It sits somewhere between Tam Dao and Norne, but it's better than the former yet not as accomplished or dramatic as the latter. A tad synthetic veering brassy at points, but the overall image that it creates is well done. At times, it feels green and dank, and at other times, it comes off like dusty furniture – almost as if you've climbed into a cedar chest that's been in storage for a few decades. It dries down into a vaguely sweet oriental base but the cedar's there from start to finish to keep the base from going too sugary cliche. Saltus is more evocative than anything else in the line, and I suspect that it'll come off as a bit too rugged and rough for those who like a more refined, perfumey effect. Personally, I like it a lot and consider to be one of the brand's better releases, but it's hardly revelatory. Approach it as a more characterful, nuanced take on the Diptyque and you'll be in the general vicinity of what this smells like.

The first few seconds i have sensed, like it happened with Tellus but more intensive,
the smell of damp routes.
Somehow there was, just for a few seconds though, a stark alcoholic note there.
After the first few seconds i had the impression that i smell again a scent i used to wear back in the nineties and really liked a lot.
Only not as intense as the other used to be but very similar. This other scent was Jazz by YSL.
About one and a half hours later the Jazz component slowly disappears and a dry, woody, dusty smell comes to the front. I think i also sensed some lavender there even if it is not listed among the ingredients and next to it the camphor.
This second dry down phase is remarkable similar ,but not as intensive and protruding,
to another great perfume i love, L' Instant De Guerlain.
So mainly what my nose detects is a very nice blended perfume, a "marriage" between the two beloved perfumes.
Like it a lot, 9/10 and thumps up