Eucris (1912)
by Geo F Trumper

A dirty, musky concoction that is more earthy than friendly. I did not enjoy much of this scent except the brief opening that quickly digressed to a earthy orris root and musk.

I'm giving Eucris a neutral rating because I can tell it's made of high quality materials and it is a well-crafted scent. However, personally I hate this kind of stuff. I tend to like dark and spicy scents, but I like them to be bold and daring. Though dark and spicy, Eucris does not smell bold at all, but rather simply dreary and depressing, as well as stodgy and uptight. I think it's the moss in the base that ruins Eucris for me, because it gives the whole scent a moldy smell. The moss just smells way too prominent to my nose, and completely out of place in this fragrance. This, plus an inherent dandified powderiness eliminates any chance of my enjoying this. I love the individual notes contained in Eucris, but I hate this combination of them. This scent strikes me the same way Knize Ten does - as depressingly funereal and not at all appealing.

I just can't fully warm to Eucris, it's just a little stale and dry for me. There is a short period mid-way through when a faint fruityness and freshness come through, I just wish it was for longer. I'm not convinced about the presence of cumin that others can pick out, it's certainly not freshly ground cumin. The only thing it could be is packeted cumin that's well beyond it's sell-by date.

Eucris feels incomplete, as if it's missing top and mid notes, I may try to layer with something like very light. I can see myself wearing this when the mood takes me so a negative would be inappropriate.

Aak! Tutankhamun's tomb in a bottle. I tried hard to like it, but couldn't find any blackcurrants, or indeed anything other than the cloying sent of death. Wearing it, I felt like Howard Carter... always expecting a grisly end.

What I mainly get from Eucris are the moss and, to a lesser extent, the musk. As usual, when I encounter the moss / musk dominance in an accord, I am not impressed – I guess it’s not a favorite. The spices do not come through very strongly to my nose, and the spice notes that do come across are a bit muddled and unclear. As much as I usually enjoy cumin and pepper in fragrances, I can only find an echo of them here – the moss overwhelms. The floral dimension in the heart could have been an excellent contribution of the fragrance: The florals are full and rich with some substantial indole action from the sweet jasmine, but the accord itself is smudged by the unclear spice notes and the too-strong moss that gives a heavy soapy feel to the scent. The soapiness is not the winning kind to my nose. In the base I get very little sandalwood coming through, so what I’m left with is just a not very exciting soapy / mossy emanation from my skin. Eucris is composed of good ingredients and the movement performs nicely. It has very good projection and longevity and is a well-made fragrance, but I can’t find the love.

Spicy oakmoss. This opens with an unmistakable cumin and citrus accord (a dirty, musky, peppery and spicy note) and dries down into the soap-like note of oakmoss. For distinguished gentlemen.