Eau Sanguine : Bloody Wood
Les Liquides Imaginaires (2013)

Exquisitely elusive and living up to the ‘imagined liquids' of the brand name, Bloody Wood would keep you guessing for quite a while, I suspect, if the intended red wine effects weren't stated. Smelled blind it's one of those ‘What *does* this smell like?' perfumes. My mind came up with wet leaves, licked metal, a turned fruitiness as in sangria or mulled wine, a touch of subdued cinnamon-like spice but not quite, hints of talcum powder roses… You get where I'm going; the scent associations don't really cohere and yet Bloody Wood keeps me interested; perhaps it's the underlay of an almost humus-like earthy-vegetal smell at the bottom of it that powers the whole thing.
And then one is told ‘red wine' and some of it falls into place: the mediated fruitiness, the damp woodiness, even the metallic tinge. But Bloody Wood is luckily more than that; an accomplished somewhat avant turn by Sonia Constant that, to me, was the best kind of novelty – one that didn't wear off and kept calling me back for more.
It's presence, alas, was a bit too shy for my liking.

I don't get wine. I smell raspberry and apple juice. There is a chemical hiding in the background that is off-putting.

I like the way all of these elements go together for Eau Sanguines: Bloody Wood - dodgy name - but the fragrance just smells really good. The tannin dregs of red wine go very gothic with the violet bitterness in the background. Punch up the wine with red berries then toss roses on top of a dry oak very direct and true resinous base. It is a tart dark red wine with a rose aura, casked in oak wood. There is a sanguine aura to these wine and wood aromas that calls from long past memories; and this is the extent of the fragrant charms of Bloody Wood.

The name - Bloody Wood - repels more than attracts, but still this is a pleasing fragrance to be around and brings back calming well aged memories. Could this fragrance do with a little incense or secondary agarwood in the base? Yes it is a little thin and lacking in development or complexity. Possibly, hmm . . . but presented as it is, there is harmony and pleasure enough to warrant a "thumbs UP" from me.

Depending on your lifestyle, this could win an award for the most traumatic name in all of perfumery. Anyhow, that issue aside, this is a sugary goth-fruit bomb structured upon the aldehydes that pop up in other scents in the line. There are berries galore and a tone of sweet damascones. There's also a note in there that I swear is tobacco – a dry, scratchy ashtray-style thing that pairs well with the berry overdose. The base is completely lame – sugary “sandalwood” deserving of maximum eye rolls – but it supports the top / middle of the scent as needed. Bloody Wood is almost comedically synthetic, but the opening is actually kind of fun to be honest. I could picture the kind of brazen individual who would douse themselves in this (demanding, commanding, domineering) without giving a single f. what anyone around them thinks. Loud, fruity, not very wine-y (wine is really hard to pull off in perfume), and sort of trashy in a playful way. There's nothing subtle or sophisticated about this, but I think that works in its favor.

Bloody Wood opens with a dense, sticky, slightly terpenic accord of synthetic amber acetates (something like the ones Lobb used in some Slumberhouse scents?), thickened by dark fruity notes, honey, pungent and dry woods, and a subtle alcoholic note, like rhum or Porto, which creates a boozy-gourmand side together with the fruity notes. As minutes pass it emerges an incense-olibanum accord with a balsamic-mossy-resinous feel provided by fir balsam or pine needles, and a Mysore sandalwood note, which blends with the rest adding a substantial sweet-sticky undertone – a kind of syrupy feel not far from some Lutens' scents (like Arabie, less sweet and less "candied-fruits) and fairly tending towards a sort of Coca Cola aroma (like, again, Lutens' Arabie...). Obscure and dense, but in a bit of trendy and "glossy" way, meaning "not-that-much" dark, just a bit shady. Nice, but inoffensive and a bit uninspired.

6/10

This is a typical case in which the name of a fragrance fits perfectly with the aroma itself since after a first slightly fruity-liquorous beginning I keep catching an incredibly "bloody" accord of wine/cherries/blackberries/ripe fruits arousing a tipically bloody/metallic vibe. This is a love or hate feel for sure, at least in a first stage before a more sweet final powder takes the scene. It seems to feel that typical aroma I used to enjoy often in my youth while sampling the "uva-fragola" (zinfandel grapes may be). I detect the violet for sure (perfectly linked with red fruits) but not the rose. I detect indeed in this phase a sort of Maria Candida Gentile Sideris's type of chinotto accord, a simil (at least in perception) violet/orange/blackberries/rhubarb agreement. There is also a sort of bitter viney/spicy/burnt sugar type/bay rum-violet centered vibe throughout. The dry down is more properly (and ordinarily) mossy and woody but still viney and bloody with a berrish undertone and a touch of powder. Not bad.