Winter demands something clean in a fragrance. The holidays call for excess and fancy finery, and by the time January rolls around I want to shake off that heaviness for something light and clean. Tom Ford’s lighter Private Blends are decidedly summer-slanting, as are the gorgeous perfumes of the Hermes Jardin line. Winter doesn’t want for something sweet. Like the finest cocktails, winter scents are best left on the dry side. A bit woodsy, a bit smoky, and with just a touch of leather. Enter the Huntsman.
A Christmas gift from Andy (after I tried it out on this year’s Holiday Stroll) this is Jo Malone’s ‘Birch & Black Pepper’ cologne, a part of their Huntsman line, currently offered exclusively at Neiman Marcus. (So much for avoiding excess; no place on earth is more extra than NM.) With its top notes of black pepper lending a spicy factor which gives it some heat, this is a dry scent that goes well with the season. The birch notes kick in shortly thereafter, giving it a smoky resin that marries beautifully with the pepper. Dry and warm, with a hint of leather for rugged comfort, it revolves around a base note of gurjum, giving it a heart of wood that staves off the coldest winter wind.
Like many of Malone’s works, ‘Birch & Black Pepper’ is a straight-forward reading of its namesake ingredients (at least, at close to birch as a fragrance is ever going to get), but slightly more potent than the usual light-as-air offerings this house tends to favor. Indicative of its higher price point, there is a bit more staying power, though it still requires multiple sprays to retain anything that’s going to be noticed.
That’s good for winter though, when we are all confined to small spaces with stuffy uncirculated air. This one opens up nicely into such confines, then lets you go on your merry way without commitment or offense.
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