Wit and West Brumaire photo by Wit & West
“Everything that rises must converge” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
The Pacific temperate rainforests of western North America combine to form the largest rainforest region on the planet (as defined by the World Wildlife Fund). Today, less than 10% of the original coastal rainforest remains, making federally protected areas especially treasured as a part of our shared ecological heritage. One such area is the Columbia River Gorge, a canyon of the Columbia River. This path is the only navigable waterway through the Cascades from the Columbia Plateau to the Pacific Ocean. In 1805, it was used by the Lewis and Clark expedition to reach the Pacific.
Columbia River Gorge via Wiki Pacific
Time here is moss-grown and damp. Abundant waterfalls create wide moving waves of mist. Fog sits on its silent haunches while treetops of bigleaf maples, Douglas fir, and western hemlock commune in vaporous gestures. Trees, stone and earth covered in mosses, lichens and ferns shade with layers of jade. In the language of mist, everything is in transition. Warmer waters cool on the chill of newer greens, causing the change from invisible gas to tiny, visible water droplets. We ourselves create mist when we exhale hot air from our bodies into the cold. Perfume, like water vapor, is only seen as it disappears, vanishing onto skin in order to speak through its transitions. Perhaps only perfume can capture the slow sensorial tempo and cool refreshing emotion of the Pacific temperate rainforest.
Natural Perfumer Whitney Swales
Such a matchless expression of place can be found in Wit and West Brumaire Woods. Perfumer Whitney Swales uses all natural and whole botanical materials to create a fragrance intimately connected to memory, history and sensory experience. Brumaire Woods invokes a calm and peaceful sense of rootedness and home. According to Swales, “when I set out to create Brumaire Woods, my goal was to pay homage to my husband’s childhood home in the Vancouver-Portland area by capturing the experience you feel when hiking through the Columbia River Gorge, the canyon of the Columbia River. If you have never been, the Columbia River Gorge is a spectacularly scenic river canyon that meanders past waterfalls (90+ on the Oregon side alone) cliffs, spires, and ridges, stretching for over eighty miles as the river winds westward through the Cascade Mountain Range, forming the boundary between Washington and Oregon.”
Temperate Rainforest wiki
“Brumaire” was the name given to the second month of the French Republican calendar, after the French word for fog, brume, occurring frequently in France at that time of the year (roughly October 22 – November 22). One can sense the outlines of a classic French perfumery through the animated mists of this hand-crafted, small-batch perfume. Wit and West creates from a unique palette of wildcrafted and organic essential oils, CO2 extracts, absolutes, naturally derived isolates, custom handmade tinctures, and enfleurage extraits sourced from the perfumer’s own garden. Swales informs us, “for Wit and West Brumaire Woods, I decided to focus on the classic perfume fragrance family known as a fougère (from French meaning “fern” and pronounced Foo~Gere Gere rhymes with beer) The fougère concept really spoke to me in terms of the artistic and olfactory experience I wanted to elicit; cool, refreshing, and green (lavender and mint), soft, mossy, and earthy (oakmoss and tobacco). Brumaire Woods consists of all-natural ingredients.”
Pacific North West forest common use
Wit and West Brumaire Woods begins wild and green with a cool peppermint and fresh lavender combination well-tuned by a lightly herbaceous thyme note. I’m impressed by the thoughtful and innovative way fresh terpenic aspects of the top notes transition to an open and softly linalool-centered floral heart, calling to mind classic aspects of a Fougère within the ferns of our gorge. Neroli and jasmine beat a peaceful rhythm at heart. Brumaire Woods settles into an earthy, rich and mottled-green dry down. A complex tobacco note brings rich coumarin roundness to the mix. The smooth complexity of the nicotiana tabacum prolongs a thread of herbaceous coolness while also adding sweet hay and subtle stewed fruit tones to the base. Oakmoss (Evernia prunastri) brings us full circle, back to dewy deep greens. Through a stunning authenticity of place, Wit and West Brumaire Woods delivers a modern and polished meditation within its journey of transitions.
Notes: neroli (citrus aurantium var. amara), peppermint (mentha x piperita), tobacco (nicotiana tabacum), jasmine (jasminum grandiflorum), lavender (lavandula angustifolia), thyme (thymus vulgaris), oakmoss (evernia prunastri)
Disclaimer: Sample of Wit and West Brumaire Woods kindly provided by Wit and West Perfumes. My opinions, as always, are my own
Rachel Ng, Contributor
Wit and West Brumaire Woods courtesy of the brand
Thanks to the largesse of Wit and West Perfumes, we have a draw for one 15 ml bottle of Brumaire Woods for one registered reader in the U.S. (contiguous 48 states) only. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what strikes you about Wit and West Brumaire Woods from Rachel’s review. Draw closes 3/15/2023. Winner will be announced within 10 days after closing.
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All photos belong to Wit and West Perfumes unless otherwise noted.
Editor’s Note: Please welcome Rachel Ng as a ÇaFleureBon Contributor and revisit her Fragrant Awakening here.
Whitney Swales was the 163rd American Perfumer in our CaFleureBon Profiles in American Perfumery Series
Wit and West was featured in Steven’s video 3 American Indie Brands You Should Know
Please read Senior Editor Lauryn Beer’s review of Wit and West’s Honeysuckle Halcyon.
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