Scent No. 8 - Aldehydic Oakmoss
Cognoscenti (2014)

Opens green, but picks up a chemical smell that is unpleasant. Sharp, alcohol smell unwearable.

Aldehydic Oakmoss is a middle toned scent that has a continuous hollow toned metallic vegetal green aroma that occasionally slows down to a warm toasty cocoa but then returns to the metallic green. This ringing and changing vibrancy is from the nature of aldehydes upon scent which creates a revolving and changing tonal circle of green tartness and then toasty tonka cocoa tones that returns back to each other. This creates kind of a changeling leather aroma. It is an elliptical frequency of changing aroma that is pleasant but very difficult to pin down because there is no start and stop points. The inability to identify specific notes makes the fragrance hard to remember. It is nice to wear and smell, but soon it is "what was that smell again?" I dunno. This fragrance has an invisibility cloak quality due to its generic tonal range and changeability. It is pleasant but hard to identify/or remember. I would rate it 6/10.

Honestly, at first I just thought No. 8 was weird, but it ended up winning me over unexpectedly after a few wears.

So what does it smell like? Not what I expected. I figured it would be a big aldehydic chyrpre, but that's not it. Instead, the aldehydes are like a disengaged chemical sparkle, like the smell of hot electrical wires. In the meantime, there's a weird leathery rubbery smell that reminds me of new sneakers. There's a bit of green oakmoss in the background, but it just adds a surreal molten greenness to the overwhelming artifice.

Then, somehow, this all dries down into a warm, creamy hazelnut pudding that's just gorgeous and edible and not at all like sizzling wires or shoes.

And now I love it. The crazy electricy and sneaker smell has utterly captivated me, and I'm rather obsessed with the creamy hazelnut as well. Definitely worth a sniff!