Onthamara
Prin (2022)

Onthamara is not a novelty fragrance by any stretch of the imagination -- the animalics are far from cartoonish. In fact it is much more wearable than I thought it would be, not because it is more "ordinary" -- it is not! -- but because it is more refined, without a vulgar shock value. It's floral but lush rather than prim. It's dark but in sophisticated way. It's animalic but more like the spirit of an animal, it's not dirty in the slightest.

Onthamara opens spicy with some cumin and clove, mixed with some lovely fir, violet leaf and artemisia, transforming into a slightly resinous heart, this is where the musk enters. As it develops, Onthamara takes on more oud and incense as well as a mysterious leather note. I thought of castoreum as it smells faintly leathery. It's like a floral-woody-musk that is heavy on amber and animalics and has gourmand accents. At times it seems like an oriental. Not a single moment of this fragrant journey is devoid of rich olfactory depth. If you’re looking for performance you’ll get it here in spades. Big thumbs up!

The word Onthamara is created from two Thai words translated, "darkness, devil". The intention of the perfumer to go dark in the creation of this scent is revealed in the name.

Onthamara is a scent built around a well hidden through line of amber, olibanum, rosewood and labdanum. However the pleasantries of these incense and amber notes are hidden by bitter opening notes which make a dry, dark fugue of violet leaf, artemsia, black tea, camphor and dry, burnt animalics of hyrax, wood smoke and castoreum. The bitterness and hardness of these opening notes initially repels and pushes you back before it levels out. I was repulsed by this bitterness at first but after some time it evolves into a leather like patina with some depth.

The warmth of the oud, amber, and incense notes eventually overcomes the bitter "hard" character of the opening and after an hour or so Onthamara emerges from its hidden darkness into a masculine, wood and leather scent that has a resonant timbre.. The story line of Onthamara is hidden in darkness and frightening contrasts, but I like the perfume results even though it was quite a journey to get to "like" and therefore I strongly recommend careful testing before springing for a purchase. To appreciate this perfume you will need to welcome a bit of darkness into your world. A cautious warning before a carefully considered thumbs up rating.

A slightly animalic resin and incense scent, smoky and a bit rank. It's really nice, the only Prin that isn't too much for me. The animalic notes are still very strong, keeping with the usual Prin vibe, but the melted warm resins blend very nicely with smoky pine tar and a twang of castoreum. If Herne the Hunter had a Day Off scent, this would be it. Slumberhouse Norne would be his working scent.