Pineward Perfumes

Pineward Perfumes have a motto something like – if you don’t like pine…. go pound sand you tree-hating dope or something like that.   Well, not anything like that – it’s just the way I would put it.

Pineward perfumes are my new point of fascination.  I swear, I keep trying different ones and finding something else about them. They are rich, pungent and not IFRA compliant!  They caution you to test these on your skin first carefully and be aware that it can stain your clothes, so don’t put the perfume on your nice white shirt.

From their website – “Pineward perfumes capture abandoned alpine farmsteads, boreal bracken and briars, frost-laden and fog-blanketed firs, loam-covered logs, prickles of pine, thickly thicketed thistles, rotting rooted carpets, morel mushroom mycelium, sap encrusted spruces, misty, murky, mossy, forests up in a stoppered bottle. My hope is that wearing Pineward perfume will transport you to remote untamed forests far, far, past the reaches of civilization and into primeval black woods of fantasy.”

I’m just going to talk about one this week – I thought two and then scratched that because they deserve more time and I didn’t want to rush through the other one that I  probably love the most so far. Some are adventures deep in the forest, others are sweeter, others are much more incense or woods.

Let’s start with Pineward Murkwood. Notes of fir balsam, black hemlock, lapsang suchong, moss, incense, bitter myrhh.  The notes from the brand are “Liturgical incense and tangles of gnarled fir boughs, a dark and forboding forest.”

I’m not sure what I thought I’d be smelling when I read that, but there is this big old pine tree wrapped up in myrrh smacking you square in the nose on the open. And it is gorgeous. like you have found a way to stick your nose deep in the forest and smell it exactly the way an enchanted forest smells in your head.

As the pine-myrrh quits beating you on the nose, there is more moss and little tendrils of incense.  Then it is almost like this thing just starts smoking. Not in a big huffing way, but the tea just makes it breathe smoke… lovely, delicate beautiful smoke.  After that, it is one of those can’t keep your nose out of it scents.  The changes are subtle in the drydown –   it softens in some places and sweetens but every part of it has the same charm.

Playing around with an embarrassing number of the Pinewards on Monday, I walked down the hall to bed and busted up laughing. I smelled like some weird forest molested by elves and orcs.  Lots of trees, little magic and a little rough.

I love this brand. It is not for everyone. They do have scents with less pine and I think even no pine. My favorite is the one I’ll talk about next week. I had to order a bigger bottle, the sample I got was gone, and I had more love to smother it with before I started writing about it.

What I think I love most about this brand is they know who they are, they make what they make, and it is for some and not for some, and they aren’t compromising. I hope they stay that way.  There are just too few companies that are willing to own the perfumed space they are great at and let those who don’t love it go find what works for them elsewhere.  BTW, these are extraits of 34% and for a crazy great price of $128’ish for 37 mls.

Oh, have we heard that Rihanna’s Fenty is releasing next week?  I’m actually pretty excited about it.  Here’s to hoping it does not suck.

So pine or no pine?  I’ll draw a winner from comments to get a sample of Pineward Murkwood.

  • Brigitte says:

    Yes. Love pine.

  • Calrayo says:

    Oh, I have been tempted to try these but also conflicted…I am a forester by training and I love trees, their smell, their ambience. But some of the copy for this line drives me NUTS (all the language about untouched, primeval forests – no such thing, all of them have been shaped by indigenous peoples for millennia, and the exclusion of that management has been a disaster, excuse me I did not expect to share this rant on a perfume page lol) and I haven’t gotten past it. Hmmmm. I do love Fille en Aiguilles, though, so I am back to being tempted! I’d love a perfume made to smell like a sequoia forest. They have a wonderfully spicy, cinnamon note to them, plus all the loam and ferns and such. Heaven.

    • Patty says:

      Oh, yeah, but copy is copy, they have to write something. 🙂 I have to look past a lot of prose, including some that I write! 🙂 I think they are well worth sniffing for those that love foresty scents.

  • VerbenaLuvvr says:

    I’ve ordered samples of several recent releases of “forest” fragrances and none of them do it for me because they are not pine-ish enough. I do think there is a great variation in what people consider to be and accept as a “pine” note versus what is true pine found in nature.

    • Patty says:

      I think that’s absolutely true. I’m not sure where I fall on that scale?

    • Holly says:

      Have you tried Sonoma Scent Studio Forest Walk? It doesn’t clobber you with pine, but it’s definitely more “forest leaning” than most types dare to go. 🙂

  • Holly says:

    Such a fun and fabulous post! This sounds right up my alley- I love incense, woods, all the smells on hikes…and I live in Colorado! This piqued my interest, hadn’t heard of this line, fell down the rabbit hole reading about it and found this on Fragrantica -“In June of 2020, Nick came down with COVID-19 – a frightening occurrence for a perfume lover, never mind a perfume creator. He lost his smell for weeks, but when it returned, it was altered somewhat. In general, things smell like I remember. There are some smells now where they don’t smell quite right, like they’re a bit ‘off.’ I don’t know if that will ever clear up. But there was one upside to contracting the virus. Because I had it, I was able to donate plasma, and the money they compensated me donating COVID antibodies was what I needed to start up Pineward. It’s interesting that COVID took something from me but also gave me the funds necessary to start my business.” What a nightmare for a perfumista- losing ability to sniff…but quite the interesting twist.
    I’d love to be entered in the draw!

    • Patty says:

      I knew I had read that somewhere, but couldn’t find it later! What a great story, and I wish they would put it on their website.

      • Holly says:

        Maybe they don’t want to promote his “nose” could be “off” ? 😉 Either way, very interesting!

  • Musette says:

    Honeydoodle –

    This post made me SO happy! The alliteration! The Squoo You, Pine Hater approach! The giggly, googly, goofiness of it all. I hate pine. But I now love Pinewards with the heat of a thousand burning suns!!!
    DNEM – but I just wanted to say thanks! for introducing me to this fantabulous brand. I don’t care if they smell like Lysol! I love them already.

    But not as much as I love you 😉

    xxoxoxo

    • Patty says:

      Hate pine? How are we friends? 🙂 There are a few of them that aren’t pine and are something else, so you might find something that suits. Maybe not. I’m trying to square that up in my head and get a big ?

  • Caroline says:

    Oooh this sounds good. Love woody piney smells, dark and incense-y. Would love to smell this one!

  • Grizzlesnort says:

    PLEASE enter me in your draw!

  • Dina C. says:

    This sounds great, Patty, in the same vein as Chanel Sycomore, which has that smokey vetiver thing I love crossed with the deep forest green of Jacomo Silences or SL Fille en Aiguilles. I’d love to sniff it! Thanks for introducing me to Pineward!

    • Patty says:

      Oh, these are a LOT more dense than Sycomore by like a factor of 10. I don’t have Sycomore around anymore, I don’t think, but it was much more behaved and gentile. It’s close to Fille, but then further out there. I really like getting directed – and I wish I remember who mentioned them – to something new and finding it to be pretty special and unique.

  • Sarah says:

    Adore pine. Can’t wait to hear about the others.

    • Patty says:

      Yeah, I’ll do another one next week, then probably lump a few into a separate post. I like them all, but not all of them are really for me, just admire them.

  • Janet in California says:

    I love pine but I think this would be sampled just for the name alone! Murkwood. Perfectly descriptive, I hope.

    • Patty says:

      Exactly! And Fanghorn. Fanghorn is amazing, but not one I’d probably wear? I think it’s actually Fanghorn II. But it was really fun to sniff and play with.

  • March says:

    Don’t enter me in the draw (obviously) but OH MY G-D these sound AMAZING. I was just looking at their website and drooling on my keyboard. These are … probably pretty strong, right? I’m tempted to order the sample set. Even I might be able to smell these!

    • Patty says:

      Some stronger than others, yes, but a couple of them or more are… yikes! If you are in the mood to give it a try, they are probably the most likely you can sniff. And the sample set is super generous, and you don’t need very much at all. They aren’t oils, but super dense and chewwwwwy!! 🙂

  • Carlene says:

    Yes to the pine and pine-adjacent! I love Fille en Aiguilles too, and CDG/Monocle Hinoki. I once got a hinoki essential oil from Eden Botanicals that was amazing. L’Occitane had a winter forest room spray that I only broke out in winter. (I wanted to love the Juniper Ridge pines, but found them kinda meh.) And I still want to sniff that Forest Lung thing, mostly so I can say “Thank you, it’s Forest Lung.”

    • Patty says:

      I love pine and all foresty scents, as long as they do not veery off into urinal cake. Forest Lung is still at the top of my list of new things I love most this year in perfumery.

      • Tara+Mc says:

        I keep staring at Forest Lung and telling myself no way do I need that, but sometimes I do love a little hit of pine! Makes me want to visit Colorado again.

  • Tara C says:

    I love pine and am looking forward to sampling the line. Fille en Aiguilles, Dasein Winter Nights and Zagorsk are right up there in top faves.

    • Patty says:

      My pine people! 🙂 I love the other CdG incenses, but Zagorsk is the one that does it for me, too. Fille en Aiguilles, I don’t remember if I originally loved that or not? But I sure do now.

  • Jennifer S says:

    Pine. Yes! An interesting sounding house. These forest scents sound very captivating and serene indeed! And try saying thickly thicketed thistles three times fast!

  • Tiara says:

    While not my lane, my youngest son leans towards anything woodsy, piney, outdoorsy. I’m guessing he’d enjoy this line. And yes, thumbs up for knowing who they are and sticking to it.

    • Patty says:

      The nice thing about the lineup they have, there are a lot of various depths of forest. So if you like it deep, dark and overgrown and mossy, they’ve got that. And they have more delicate pine-forest. It’s a great little niche to pop up for us foresty perfume lovers.

  • Koyel says:

    Wow, this sounds…incredible. I love pine! I may have to go check out this brand myself! I think there’s a SSS or DSH pine that I like, but darned if I can remember the name.

    • Patty says:

      Oh, they are for you then. It is serious pine and forest, and some of them last forever! I mean, I got up this morning and wondered who let the Ents in my house! It was me. 🙂

  • Gina Tabasso says:

    I LOVE pine!!!! One of my faves is Guerlain Winter Delice. The other is Dasein Winter Nights. DSH Colorado is lovely, too.

    • Patty says:

      For some reason, I could never quite do Winter Delices. but love Daesin Winter Nights. Don’t think I’ve smelled Colorado, but Dawn just does beautiful work, so I bet it is amazing. Pine is, I think, tough to do right, but spectacular when it is.

  • datura5750 says:

    I’ve been wearing “BOREAL” for a few months now, and its just remarkable in its piney goodness!

    • Patty says:

      I need to jump back over to Boreal. I got stuck on Murkwood and one of the others.. Fanghorn, and I need to play in Bindebole and Boreal. It just takes a while because there is a lot there to sort through.