HYLNDS - Pale Grey Mountain, Black Lake
D.S. & Durga (2013)

A nice balance of aquatic, woody, and green, my fourth try from D.S. & Durga's Hylnds line, Pale Grey Mountain, Small Black Lake, is the freshest of the collection that I've sampled so far, and perhaps the best of the lot for wearing in warm weather.

It comes off mainly as a mix of water, light florals, and the beechwood note that anchors it. It's pleasant and smells very natural without being obtrusive or distracting. It does smell a bit of a lakeside, between the fog, woods, water, and flowers. It's quite an achievement in terms of creating a natural mild realistic fragrance that's not over the top with heavy elements, nor does it fall short by seeming synthetic.

Unsurprisingly, with many of the lighter elements involved, it's not a great performer, so the standard Hylnds pricing of $180 for 50ml EDP is difficult to stomach but you're looking for something natural and outdoorsy, this might quite fit the bill. For me, it's a like, not a love, but this is certainly something I'd recommend that everyone try.

7 out of 10

Creosote bush and violets. Not bad. Smells like growing shrubs with a hint of minerals and some floral. I wouldn't buy a full bottle however.

When I read about this, it went to the top of my try list. My sample arrived and I wore it to work and school...
It is very different than expected. It does evoke some of the imagery surrounding it: damp morning air, grey skies, and "fog-on-stone"... I'm not wild about the opening: it reminds me too much of cheap hotel mini soaps. Sort of generic on first whiff...
then... a green, woodsy drydown: this must be "it". As a gardener and former chef I deal with plenty of purslane. And I have to admit: it seems to be there. It's a mildly peppery, stemmy-green note that is very much hiking. And I don't know if it is the power of suggestion but I get a note of freshly crushed hemlock needles too.
I gave this a neutral rating. But it gets points for it's ability to conjure up what it promises abstractly: a mysterious, misty woodland with rocky outcroppings, the sound of water lapping a shore, and a week of cool, overcast days by a campfire. Sillage/longevity aren't great, but this is an artistic composition that triggers imagination. It embodies a side of perfumery that I love: imagination, freedom, and willingness to experiment.
If only its price was more tent than luxury hotel...

This one has a lot of doom and gloom in it! It sure can be dark, damp and cold around the coastline of the Baltic sea (I've lived here my whole life), but I've never experienced this kind heavy darkness. It's a great composition but I would only wear it if I wore an old wool sweater sitting in a really old couch reading a leather bound book by a huge fireplace in a cold medieval stone castle - it's an intriguing image but not something I would bring with me out into an urban setting.

The pale grey tor rising out of the black Ynys Afallon--the Avalon associated with Arthurian legend--is evoked in this earthy ode to nature and mysticism. This really does smell like the rocks, shoreline and local vegetation of northern Britain, damp and cool, misty and mystical. This could be the scent of Ossian, had he really existed. But all of that aside, is such a scent viable today? Absolutely. It is a very wearable scent, earthy and cool–a way to bring the outdoors inside, the misty North to the arid South and to tap into our Celtic selves. The Yin to Terre d'Hermes' Yang. This could easily become a signature scent, as appropriate for the office as for a night out. Smelling it now, I feel like listening to some Roxy Music (Avalon, natch) and reading Le Mort d'Arthur.

sweet, grassy, stony, smoke. Eventually dries down to sweet brambles and dissipates quickly on me. This evanescence is its fatal flaw on me *only* and I won't rate it down for this reason -- please try for yourselves.