Wit and West Brumaire Woods Review (Whitney Swales) 2021 + Mists of Memories Giveaway

Wit & West Brumaire Woods

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.

Wit and West Brumaire Woods by Perfumer Whitney Swales

  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

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.”

 Wit and West Brumaire Woods

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.”

Brumaire Woods Wit and West

   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

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.

Please support our artisan perfumers and order directly from their website. It is often the smallest brands that sponsor the majority of our giveaways

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.

This is our Privacy and Draw Rules Policy.

Follow us on Instagram: @cafleurebonofficial @rachel.k.ng @witandwest

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23 comments

  • I was struck reading Whitney’s words describing her focus in the creative process of this perfume. US

  • Sherin Thomas says:

    Never came across a fragrance that is fougere mixed with tobacco. I am curious to find out. Thanks for the opportunity !

  • This sounds like it’s after my heart. My childhood was very similar to the perfumer’s and this is a scent I often seek for but seldom find,living in an urban area as I do now. Sounds wonderful!

  • I’ve been in the mood for a new green fragrance. Rachel describes mint with lavender and thyme. Sounds like a good blend. I like the photos in the article. Puts me in a mood. New Jersey, USA

  • Beautiful and poetic description. It was a great read! I’m keen to try out the neroli and peppermint tobacco fougere-ness of it all. Sounds like a great pairing! NY, USA

  • CaFleureBon introduced me to Wit and West and I was so impressed by the post, I ordered some samples. Brumaire Woods was not included but I was struck by the quality and uniqueness of the fragrances I chose. Whitney Swales has a vision and I look forward to seeing more from her. Brumaire Woods seems to capture the essence of the Columbia Gorge region. I appreciate that Wit and West is a natural perfumer. MD, USA.

  • I am curious to see how Ms. Swales interprets this natural wooded area. I just drove through the Columbia River Gorge returning home from Bend Oregon a few hours ago. So cool she uses things from her garden in this scent. The Gorge is truly a beautiful drive, especially on a non windy day. I remember my Dad having sore shoulders driving on Hwy 84 on a very windy day in a VW bus. Thanks for the memory of my day and for the chance to win this. USA.

  • Wit and west Brumaire wood, green mint with combination of lavender sound like a good smell, lavender calm sensation for me, thank you for article.

  • Warren Churchwell says:

    I am relatively new too fragrances, but the lavender and mint seems to speak to me, I am looking for a more green fragrance for St. Patrick’s day, and id love to win! Good luck to all! Tennessee, USA.

  • Welcome, Rachel! What a way to enter CaFleureBon perfume space with this beautiful review. I love natural perfumery, and when I see that a perfumer takes the time and risk to make their own tinctures and enfleurage, I know their work will be something special. I also like the idea of adapting the concept of fougère to the unique sense of place of the Pacific Northwest. Best wishes from the US!

  • bigscoundrel says:

    The peppermint, lavender, and thyme sound like a great blend of notes to go with tobacco. I hope I win. New Jersey, USA

  • This perfume sounds strikingly beautiful and perfect for the approach of Spring. I’m also a big fan of all naturals. The review itself was a wonderful read. I live in Missouri, USA

  • I love reading and knowing new fragrance houses, and Wit and West Perfumes seems like something I would love in my collection.
    Brumaire Woods seems like something so unique with the neroli, peppermint and tabacco notes. I love green fragrances, specially if they have a twist or something that makes them unique.
    I would love to try this beast.
    U.S. here.

  • In Rachel’s review of Wit and West Brumaire Woods, I enjoyed an olfactory and visual journey in my mind through the Columbia gorge. I loved it as we have been there a number of times and have enjoyed the waterfalls and the lush green forests and ferns that Rachel alluded to. It’s exciting to see this ambience captured in Wit and West Brumaire Woods. The notes seem lovely and I am curious to try this perfume. It was nice to learn about the correct pronunciation of fougere, though YouTube videos say it differently!! Thanks for the review and draw. From continental United States.

  • Sounds green and very fresh, perfect for the summer. I’m very interested to see how the citrus mixes with the more floral and green notes like oakmoss and tobacco in a sense. From TX, USA.

  • There is something absolutely intimate, complex, and unmatched when perfumers grow, harvest, and formulate their own base ingredients for their perfumes. They have life, they have soul in ways that other perfumes, as masterful as some are, simply do not have. It’s a labor of love but it shows itself to be worthwhile and precious.
    Very grateful to Cafluerebon and Wit and West perfumes for the opportunity and for Ms. Ng for sharing this find with us!!
    In California USA.

  • I love a good woodsy fragrance and this natural-materials Wit and West take on the Pacific rainforest sounds terrific. With the exception of Ellen Covey’s work, most woodsy fragrances don’t highlight the foggy mist and waterfall spray of the Pacific Northwest, and I like that this one does so with a fougère structure in mind. The way in which Swales creates her materials is also very intriguing.

    I’m in the contiguous USA. Thanks for the giveaway.

  • foreverscents says:

    I love perfumes that pay homage to forests. Used to live in Washington state and I remember very well the misty woods in this gorgeous part of the USA. Peppermint and lavender sound beautiful and evocative in Brumaire (what a lovely word). The earthy and rich dry down certainly call to mind a forest in the Pacific Northwest.
    I live in the USA.

  • wallygator88 says:

    Thanks for the fantastic writeup Rachel.

    I had the good fortune of trying out Wit and West and there is definitely magic in the perfumers hands.

    I love this idea of a Fougere that is inspired by the Pacific North West. This brings back memories of a trip I took to Portland, where I hiked in a random forest and was so enchanted by the cool greenness that I was encapsulated by. There was a beautiful mist hannging in the air and I wished that I could have stayed longer.

    I thought that the use of neroli and peppermint to great a that sense of airy cool expanse was quite interesting.

    Cheers frim WI, USA

  • sephrenia300 says:

    Lovely review Rachel! What strikes me about Wit and West Brumaire Woods from Rachel’s review is how she describes it as not only portraying the greenery of the Pacific temperate rainforest but also capturing the “wide moving waves of mist” that are such a quintessential part of the atmosphere by utilizing fresh terpenic aspects and dewy deep green oakmoss. That sounds so perfectly moody and beautiful! I live in the US.

  • I love perfumes that have a story behind them and an experience they are trying to capture. The incorporation of oakmoss is a nice touch.