Clash
Clash
301 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The first spray is an assault of galbanum's stemmy bitterness cut with aggressive peppermint and a lime so tart it makes you wince. Bergamot attempts diplomacy between the feuding aromatics whilst that peculiar carrion note adds an unsettling, almost fetid warmth—like finding something small and deceased beneath the compost heap.
Basil and lemon verbena emerge as the citrus recedes, creating a herbal greenness that's simultaneously bright and earthy. The aromatic quality intensifies rather than softens, doubled down on its garden theme with the persistence of someone who refuses to come inside despite the rain. Smoke begins weaving through, bringing the scent of distant bonfires and slightly damp wood.
Classic chypre bones reveal themselves: vetiver's pencil-shaving woodiness, oakmoss in all its fusty magnificence, and patchouli adding its signature musk. The smoke note persists as a grey veil over everything, whilst traces of mint and galbanum ghost through occasionally, reminding you this was never meant to be polite.
English Garden captures that precise moment when a British summer storm threatens on the horizon—electricity in the air, herbs crushed underfoot as you dash through the garden. The opening is a bruising collision of galbanum's bitter greenness and a peppermint so sharp it feels mentholated, whilst bergamot and lime fizz like tonic water splashed over cut grass. That curious carrion note adds an animalic edge, a whisper of something feral lurking in the hedgerows that prevents this from becoming just another citrus cologne.
The heart reveals this fragrance's true herbal character: basil leaves torn between fingers, lemon verbena with its sherbet-like brightness, both grounded by earthy aromatics that smell of potting soil and terracotta. It's uncompromisingly green in a way that feels authentically 1980s—none of the aquatic softness that would come later. This is the smell of an actual English garden: slightly damp, gloriously verdant, touched with the smoke from a neighbour's bonfire drifting over the wall.
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3.9/5 (306)