Other than some continuing laryngitis - may I say that I really love the huskiness of my voice right now as long as I stay in the low registers, don’t try to raise my voice and squeak, which really spoils the sex kitten voice vibe I’d like to have - I’m slowly returning to some semblance of health that includes a hacking cough from time to time and still diminished lung capacity - but improving! Well… that was sure fun.
My nose is working properly again, and it’s time to look at a couple of new things. Indult C16 is a new release, available only at Colette in Paris for about $250 for 50 mls, plus shipping. Created by Francis Kurkdjian, It is meant to evoke the smell of Tonkin musk. I’m assuming this is not the real deal, but a chemical recreation. It strikes me on first sniff as one that you will either hate (my sister’s reaction), love as a close skin scent, but not particularly groundbreaking (my reaction) or possibly love as the best musk ever (I don’t have a third tester here, but can see someone feeling this way). It is musk, and it appears that there may be some anosmic elements at play. On me, I don’t get any bad smell at all, like my sister gets, just this very soft skin-hugging musk that’s my skin but better. I think it’s wonderful, but given the varying reaction so far, I’m afraid I’m not smelling all of it and if I wear it out, I might be shunned – so I need more people to tell me what they smell because it seems to be either a direct hit or a direct miss. YNMV. If you love musk, it’s likely worth a try. It is limited to 213 bottles at Colette, though once you buy a bottle, you can get refills for, I guess, forever.
Comme des Garcons Hinoki has notes of Cypress, turpentine, camphor, cedar, thyme, pine, Georgian wood, frankincense, moss and vetiver. This goes on ultra-woody and with the tang of the turpentine and camphor buzzing through your nose like a mentholated bullet. CdG’s incense series has long been a big favorite of mine, and I admire each of them for how they are different from the other, but hanging together as incense through and through. Hinoki feels like a piece of that set, focusing very much on the woody side of incense, but with a rich loaminess overlaying it, like a moss-covered tree. It never loses that tang throughout the drydown, though it does settle down the longer it is on. Even though it’s not officially part of the incense series, I think it belongs there and is a good addition, not like any of the other five, though touching on several of them.
In celebration of my slow return to health, let’s do a drawing for a sample of each of these. Just drop a comment, and I’ll draw a winner or two next week.
