Clean
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The bergamot and vervain combination hits with immediate green-citrus brightness, simultaneously fresh and slightly herbal, before the quince's papery sweetness and bamboo leaf's subtle astringency begin to diffuse that clarity. The top notes feel like walking through a sun-warmed herb garden moments before someone sets a slow fire downwind.
The peony emerges with surprising delicacy, anchored by cedarwood's dry timber and moss's earthy green restraint, creating a contemplative floral-woody heart that feels neither traditionally masculine nor feminine. The smoky accord intensifies here—myrrh's resinous bitterness weaving through the woody base, suggesting something between incense smoke and aged cedarwood.
Vetiver dominates the final hours, its earthy, slightly smoky character becoming increasingly prominent whilst musk and amber provide a soft, skin-like warmth rather than projection. The composition settles into a hushed, intimate affair—the green and smoky elements persisting but mellowing into something closer to distant smoke and weathered wood than the more animated opening.
Clean Reserve's Smoked Vetiver arrives as a contradictory proposition: a fresh fragrance that simultaneously feels charred. The opening marriage of bergamot and vervain suggests something luminous and herbaceous, yet the quince and bamboo leaf introduce a curious desiccated quality, as though these bright citrus elements have been gently toasted. The heart reveals the real intrigue—a restrained peony sits beneath cedarwood and moss, creating an unexpected floral-woody tension that prevents the composition from tipping into either pretty or austere.
What distinguishes this fragrance is its commitment to the smoky accord without descending into barbecue territory. The vetiver base doesn't smell charred so much as sun-dried, as if the grass has absorbed wood smoke from a distance. Myrrh and amber add a bittersweet warmth that plays beautifully against the green, almost mineral quality of the moss. There's an intellectual quality here—this isn't comfort in a bottle but rather a fragrance for those drawn to complexity within restraint.
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3.6/5 (73)