l'eau de parfum #2 Spiritus / land
by Miller et Bertaux

Fresh Incense! I know it sounds like an oximoron but overall Spiritus/Land smells exactly like fresh incense. It opens with an incredibly realistic ginger note (but after a while you start to wonder if that was really ginger) and some herbaceous notes to create a quite original accord. Intriguing if not very pleasant, familiar but somehow weird. Everything is juxtaposed to an incensey base that adds to the fragrance a meditative aspect.

While I was waiting for the drydown I went totally crazy to understand this bizarre composition and arrived to this conclusion: It's mainly made of two different parts. On one side you have a very familiar accord that is clean, somehow green and fresh (I call it soap). On the other you have woods, spices and incense. The clash between the two parts gives birth to an odd composition that's quite unique but not completely successful.

3rd August, 2011. (Last Edited: 5th August, 2011.)

Like someone was trying to make a spicy soap. Not the usual 'oriantal spicy' though, no clove or cinnamon or nutmeg. It immediately reminds me of 'clean' like a bedroom with linen blankets, semi-opened blinds, flowers on the window and some potpourri in the wardrobe. There's a church nearby and a garden with herbs. Not the big city by all means. Quiet happiness, lazy summer afternoons with a book.
The thing spoiling the deal for me is that in the drydown it becomes a carbon copy of Montana Parfum d'Homme with its freshly cut tobacco, oakmoss and herbs (being a rustic doppelganger of Aramis Havana). ANd it spoils the deal mostly because I remember how excited I was when I bought Parfum d'Homme and then how I was completely unable to wear it. If you don't think that Montana and Aramis are dated smells then this won't spoil it for you.

15th July, 2011. (Last Edited: 16th July, 2011.)

Notes: incense, sandalwood, rose, tobacco, spice (cardamom, pepper, ginger).
Crisp and juicy ginger – that’s the distinguishing feature of this scent. Sometimes it smells like a freshly-cut root, other times it is like the pickled ginger at a sushi restaurant. Many scents promise ginger, this one delivers! The spices are woody-dry and very good. The incense is haunting, dry, and not over-done. The scent is green and lively. It is bright and invigorating, a real tonic, just like fresh ginger. There are some smoky, tobacco-leaf notes in the background. The dry-down is a satisfying, gentle spice chord. I like this scent a lot.

18th June, 2010.

Miller Et Bertaux Spiritus Land #2: #2 embraces skin with sparkling notes of tender juicy herbs and a deft hand of spices. it's almost like Franceso Smalto Ph to an extent. only with #2, the quality and smell takes it 30 levels further interms of quality. The tranparency with which this scent exudes it's shimmering quality is purely remarkable. The way spices have been handled in this one is not a step shy from being a masterpiece. i dont detect any prominent notes of thyme or ginger..well, call it a unique blend. However, the image that it evokes for me is " light green" especially betel leaf blended with lovely notes of woods...the scent progresses to harmonize and blend with the skin in a way i have never (and i mean never) experienced before...the soothing quality, the serene nature...and the unique set of progressions makes it 3 different perfume in one. The Top Notes smells nothing like it's mids and the mids nothing like the base notes. just to give a hint, the basenote smells like a refined version of Costes by Hotel Costes. smooth notes of sandalwood treats you with deft touch of incense by mids to basenotes (the quality of incense? non parellel). i'm overwhelmed to say the least. This ones a must have or at least, must test.

6th February, 2009.

Herbal and heady. Very, very herbal. Rosemary, lavender, sage, thyme, ginger, they're all here in an irrational conglomerate. If you like to smell like a spice rack of green herbs then so be it.

1st July, 2008.

A beautiful, rich opening: not really green and not really abstract – but a denial and an affirmation of the two. I don’t know what to make of it except that it is unique and special. It immediately has almost a narcotic effect – it has the ability to sooth and calm. After fifteen minutes of studying the opening, I still can’t confidently identify the notes, even though there is nothing strange or exotic in the accord. I believe Scentemetal said that the key note is laurel – bay: I think he’s right. I should have recognized it because I have used Bay Rhum for years, but this bay is beautifully modified into a wonderfully meditative accord… Its use presents an oxymoron: strange familiarity. The middle notes move to more familiar territory: a mild, gentle, just barely incense and a mild, gentle, just barely tobacco … surrounded by an amalgam of gentle spices and dirt. It works. The base provides an excellent sandalwood accord still tinged with the remnants of bay and incense, and gently hugging the skin. I can’t say that I have smelled a fragrance quite like this before, but its uniqueness and originality are only small parts of its attraction. #2 Spiritus / Land just plain smells great, is beautifully refined and balanced, has excellent longevity, is very wearable, and does wonderful things for my mindset and my relationship to the universe. This is a gotta have.

9th March, 2008.