Bois d'Ascèse (2012)
by Naomi Goodsir

The Goodsir website describes it as "RADICAL / MYSTICAL / STATEMENT" - wow, that sounds exciting!

Eh. None of the above.

Okay, maybe it smells a touch mystical, but in the way the apartment of that chick you know who claims to be a wiccan priestess (but by day she's an office assistant for a cosmetic dentist) smells.

Incense, a little campfire smoke, sweet booze and amber... You've smelled it before, even if you've never smelled it before. Perfectly nice, I guess, but perfectly uninteresting. Far more more commonplace than it thinks it is, just like the wiccan priestess.

the definitive scent of whiskey, wood smoke, tobacco and cedar wood.
very alcoholic in the opening. then I imagine myself and my girlfriend eating in the mountain hut with the fireplace lit. at the end of dinner our clothes smell of burnt wood smoke and cedar wood that comes from outside. all while I sip a whiskey and a friend next to me and I smoke a cigar.
some notes of amber, labdanum and oak moss.
excellent perfume but I would not buy it. too extreme for me. but I admit it's really good. 8/10
excellent performance.

Tobacco right from the start.
Cigar tobacco.
Whiskey, on the rocks.
Ultra light cinnamon.
Something dark underneath; woody, smoky, incense-like.
Mostly, I smell tobacco.
Manly.

This is lovely.

I don’t get the leather / tobacco that other reviews mention - on me this is just a relatively linear smoke. That said, it’s a lovely smoke - campfire rather than fireplace and not all acrid.

Good longevity - over time a sweet, powdery soapy note emerges which slides the overall impression over to an incense.

Tested in high summer - it’d be interesting to see how this works in colder weather.

Bois d'Ascese is among the hardcore smoky-woody scents, evocative of campfire, and at times reflective of a dark, forest-y green. There is a leathery nuance, perhaps with the addition of birch tar, while any tobacco or whiskey note is lost on me. I detect a touch of incense besides the leather; however, it is all about sooty, dark woods here. On my skin it is rather linear, with persistent projection and excellent longevity. It does mellow out somewhat after several hours as the slightest hint of labdanum becomes evident.

Bois d'Ascese is definitely an acquired taste. After spending considerable time with it, I have come to the conclusion that it is not for me. There isn't enough separation of notes, it is at times a little synthetic, and it doesn't excite me the way Sahara Noir does, for example. Neither does it convey any emotion, and perhaps it is lacking somewhat in abstraction. If you're after the dark, smoky, tarry wall of campfire wood - this is it. A must try for anyone interested in smoky-woody scents.

It is compelling and even manages to tell a story, but I'm missing the beauty here.

3/5