Indie perfumer John Pegg (aka Kerosene) has released a tenth fragrance with Black Vines. It is always wonderful to watch a perfumer you have followed from his garage days rise and shine. In just over two years, Kerosene Fragrances has gone from a pet project to a worldwide sensation, distributed on both sides of the Atlantic. Applying a bold new no nonsense approach, streamlining his hand-adorned bottles to smaller simpler black cubes, he has left the garage behind and amped up both his juice and his game.
Inspired by his love of all things licorice, such as Good ‘n Plenty candy, black jelly beans and licorice ropes, John has created a gourmand scent, based heavily on star anise, that is very grown-up and doesn’t smell too much like either food or candy. I should inject here that I abhor the taste of black licorice, yet love its aroma. Despite its intense and rich foody components, Black Vines radiates as a dense yet sheer cloud of alternating cool and warm spiciness contrasted by sharp and bitter green notes. Black licorice flavoring could contain any blend of licorice root, anise, star anise or fennel. This perfume is all about the anise.
Maleficent by A. Vallois
Smelling intriguingly green and yummy from the atomizer on the bottle, I osmagined dark otherworldly vines would wrap around me upon applying it. I expected anise and sweetness, even the ivy. What I did not expect was what happened next. One small spray to each wrist, touched to the sides of my neck, and I was awash in the most sinister and utterly intense anisic aroma I have ever encountered. Surprising everyone around me with the cloud of black and green I was wafting, I felt a bit like Maleficient must have when she appeared cloaked in emerald fire at Sleeping Beauty’s wedding feast. Mean and green from a bitter ivy twisting through it, anise pummels you with its almost mentholated warmth and keeps from being sickening as a dark pulpy fig note adds just the right amount of smooth sophistication, almost without you realizing it.
Clinging Vines by Keith Dotson
Though Mr. Pegg claims there is nothing cold in this perfume and that it is a warm touch on the shoulder, I get the distinct impression of a cold green fire (possibly galbanum, though it is not listed) surrounding the black and violet eminence of the opening. A warm heart of cinnamon, fir and Peru balsam lurks under that cold façade – yet it was not until I stepped outside, into a wintry night of 20 Fahrenheit degrees, that the cold crisp air blew away the bulk of the black licorice and left a woody somewhat sultry spiced aura behind. The finish, hours later, is much more relaxed and less bombastic. A simple trio of tonka bean and dry vanilla swathed in incense maintains the same dark magic and still smacks of the anisic elegance of the opening; but the pale glowing fire is gone, and so is the flash and show. All that remains are hints of a delicate nutty sweetness, a kiss of spice and golden wisps of smoke. Sillage: excellent. Longevity: Above average.
Notes: Ivy, Fig, Star Anise, Cinnamon, Canadian Fir, Balsam of Peru, Tonka, Incense and Vanilla
Disclosure: Review based on a spray sample sent to me by Kerosene Fragrances. Black Vines is available on the Kerosene web site for $140 for 100 ml.
John Reasinger, Senior Editor and Natural Perfumes Editor
Thanks to Kerosene Fragrances we have a sampler set of all ten perfumes in the line to give away to one reader anywhere in the world. Sampler includes,Black Vines, R'Oud Elements, Creature, Copper Skies, Whips & Roses, Pretty Machine, Santalum Slivers, Unknown Pleasures, Fields of Rubus, and Wood Haven. To be eligible please leave a comment saying where you live, your favorite Kerosene scent (or one you’re dying to try) and your favorite sweet guilty treat. Draw will end February 10th, 2014
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