Wood Violet (2008)
by Sonoma Scent Studio

Sonoma Scent Studio WOOD VIOLET is much more about wood than about violet. The burnt cedar note really dominates the composition, overshadowing whatever floral components might be present. The violet, in particular, is virtually drowned out, aside from the violet leaves which are slightly detectable. WOOD VIOLET is a woody oriental but not a particularly subtle one. I think that it might be too loud for most males, and it smells too much like a wood shop for me. There is also a beefy facet to the burnt cedar note in this composition which reminds me of a lumberjack or a cross-country trucker such as I often saw driving down the main drag, Division Street, in St. Cloud, Minnesota, where I had the displeasure to live for about a year. Désolée.

10th July, 2011.

Wood Violet was sent to me in a Violet Sampler. All of the rest were sweet and sweeter, and that lovely sweetness was just what my novice nose desired. So I put this one aside and used all the others.

I have just found and sampled this one again, now that I am very weary of all the sweet and sweeter violets, and find it very beguiling. Dry, woodsy, sophisticated, and yummy. Now weren't they clever to include this in my Violet Sampler? It is just what my jaded nose needed!

4th May, 2011.

It's delightful, it's delicious, it's de-lovely!

This is the ditty I found myself singing an hour after applying this. Violet leaf is a dry, slightly pungent note that takes getting used to if you're firmly in the fruity floral fan club (which I'm not).

Here is it paired with various woods and spices, none of which you'll be able to detect. What you will detect is slightly fragrant, woody dry-down. Think a bouquet of florals inside a sauna.

That said, my favorite woody fragrance from this line is still winter woods, which has more of a chypre edge. But i think this one would wear well on people in a high desert climate or desert, it's very well done. (I also think it's easily unisex,)

13rd March, 2010.

The violet seems a little more subdued here, its powdery edge rounded somewhat by the plum and cinnamon accords. But the cedar is allowed more freedom to roam, combining well with cloves to give this scent a warm woodsy glow that is oddly comforting. Easily unisex.

Notes: violet, plum, cedar, cinnamon, clove, sandalwood, violet leaf, musk.

16th January, 2010.