She Came To Stay
Edition Perfumes (2014)

She Came To Stay goes on with a highly aromatic natural smelling lemon spiked basil spice with hints of underlying clove before quickly transitioning to its heart. As the composition enters its early heart the deep, smooth clove remains, now as co-star, joining slightly sharp, aromatic natural cedar wood as the focus, with cinnamon-like nutmeg spice, woody vetiver and earthy patchouli support. The composition stays highly linear through the late dry-down, as the clove and cedar remain co-stars through the finish shedding their supporting notes as the development runs its course. Projection is average, as is longevity at around 8 hours on skin.

She Came To Stay is somewhat tough to evaluate for this writer. On the one hand, the composition smells superb, with its lifelike approximation of cedar wood and deep clove spice, not wholly unlike a personal favorite underrated Edouard Flechier perfume from 1991 called Vendetta pour Homme by Valentino. This is not a copy, but it does have the two primary notes that dive that one, with She Came To Stay also having a couple key supporting notes of basil and patchouli, then swapping similar nutmeg for the cinnamon in Vendetta. Similarity aside, another thing She Came To Stay lacks is any real development. This is not a major weakness (especially since it smells incredible), but Vendetta, while similarly incredible smelling, has much better performance, is the more complete perfume... and it came first. While discontinued, Vendetta pour Homme also can still be had on the aftermarket for a relatively inexpensive sum in comparison. The bottom line is the $160 per 60ml She Came To Stay is a fine all-natural perfume effort by Mr. Timothy Han, but it comes far too close to a superior release from a superior perfumer to earn higher than a "very good" 3.5 stars out of 5 rating and an avoid recommendation due to the similar, but superior smelling and performing Vendetta pour Homme being easily obtained for less.

The first release from the house of Edition Perfumes by Timothy Han is She Came to Stay, and was welcomed with a warm reception, but it's a little bit of a letdown for me after sampling his second perfume, On the Road, yesterday.

She Came to Stay is noticeably more unisex, an slightly more fresh, herbal, earthy blend of which the standout note to my nose is clove, which I generally enjoy, mixed with a lot of woods.

The fragrance starts off a bit cloying and sharp--the top note of basil doesn't play well for me--but it dries down into a more harmonious mix of clove, patchouli, vetiver, and cedar. It becomes significantly more agreeable in the dry down.

Still not one I'd buy but I ended up being a little bit more pleased with the dry down experience overall than the opening.

6 out of 10

Powerful and thick at the first spray, it kicks in very herbal with a slight medicinal hue. It feels very green and slightly leathery at the same time; the geranium leaves are very concentrated and, along with the spices (mostly cloves), are making the fragrance cold and serious.

30 minutes in and it starts to settle. It's not shouting anymore and there is a slight sweetness lurking underneath those spices that rounds the sharp edges.
The minty herbal aspect is gradually fading and the scent metamorphoses from cold to warm as the dry down is sweeter, woodier and smokier. It lasted for about 10 hours on my skin with moderate projection.

I appreciate it as a blend, but it's not really my cup of tea. I rate it with 3 and 1/2 subjective stars.

An addictively pleasant fragrance that smells naturally fresh, aromatic and healing at the same time. A nice balance of warmth and cool tones together. Oddly the smell is a dead ringer for the unique aroma of bandaids and medicated spray antiseptic. There is a medicated aroma you smell around doctors offices that is the smell of gum adhesives from medical tape and the light aromatics of medicated spray. It is mild , slightly rose, then cooling almost rubbery green, light aromatic spice of nutmeg, clove. Yes to me it smells of Bandaids and Bactine. Oh wait, is that geranium, nutmeg and vetiver? The essence of the blending is very soothing to smell and healing with a scent memory hook that I enjoy. I like the wearability of She Came To Stay and have worn it several times and enjoyed it thoroughly with no complaints.

My only critique is of the packaging and bottle which show some beginner flaws. The bottle rolls around in the cardboard die cut box that offers no cushion or security during shipment and the bottle lid does not snap on securely but is balanced over the sprayer and comes off with just a touch. But, these are engineering packaging flaws that prove this is a first time effort from Timothy Han - the fragrance itself is very pleasant and I give it 4 of 5 stars for scent enjoyability.

This strikes me as a candied, herbal rose-esque scent with some solid cedar powering it. There's a lasting citric twist up top for contrast which also counterbalances a slight soapiness from the florals. Clove is playing a big role, yet it doesn't throw the balance at all. In fact, the blend itself is meticulous with all the pieces working in unison. It sits somewhere between Diptyque's Geranium Odorata and Neil Morris' Gotham without forming a bridge between them. In other words, I imagine that this scent is flexible enough for multiple contexts: it's crisp and direct (akin to the Diptyque) but its depth reflect's Gotham's more moody, pensive state as well – appropriate, given the scent's namesake. Perfectly unisex, but best suited for fans of herbalized florals with a slight classical edge to them. If this is Timothy Han's debut, keep your nose to the ground, as this is seriously impressive.

A beautiful hermaphrodite.

To me, Timothy Han's debut fragrance is all about geranium. It's never sweet and it's not too aromatic as geranium can sometimes be. I agree with our friend deadidol that it is a crisp fragrance, crisp and cool. It opens with an almost minty (although it is actually basil) herbal geranium. The lemon may contribute to the crispness but it is far from obvious to me. On paper a striking accord of geranium and vetiver develops and I found this to be wonderful, and compulsive. Again on paper, at one stage there is an almost rubbery note, smoky, like a whisper of birchtar perhaps, or maybe this is an illusion.

Natural fragrances seem to perform very differently on skin than on paper, and I find She Came to Stay to be mellower and more subtle on skin. We have the cool minty/basil geranium, then after a time, perhaps half an hour or so the clove and nutmeg appear. These spices do not warm the composition, quite the contrary, the fragrance remains cool. At the same time the woody notes become more apparent, subtly supporting the fragrance. This phase is really beautiful and I am fortunate in that this is how it continues to wear on me. At this point I want to say that it is cold here, and dry, the house is cool and I am cool, and I do wonder if She came to Stay will be different in heat and humidity. I am going to guess that it will, and there will be more to be learned about it in those conditions.

The geranium note in this fragrance is very updated, very modern in my view, not classical at all. This is not the geranium of C&S No 88. Consider the geranium in Geranium Pour Monsieur with the mint toned away down to a wisp, and you will be somewhere along the right lines. Clean, crisp, modern. Unusually crisp for a natural fragrance I think. The accords are subtle and well blended and the addition of the cool spices and cedar and vetiver make for a wonderful fragrance. Simply put, it smells great. On first experience I did think that it had a kind of O'Driu lite vibe tinged with the sophistication of the Frederic Malle. That's some achievement.

I personally found that I had to wear quite a lot of this fragrance to enjoy it the way I wanted to, but as I said it is cold here and that may have an impact. With a generous application it hovered around me all day and I really enjoyed it. With a light application it will wear discreetly but still last a very long time, which will suit some people too.

In my view She came to Stay is neither masculine nor feminine and I would not describe it as "unisex". That is just too generic and clunky. I do think that some may perceive it as leaning to the masculine, but for me She Came To Stay occupies a wonderful place in that it is both masculine and feminine. It strikes me as a beautiful hermaphrodite of a fragrance. I really enjoy it.

The concept and the packaging are clever and appealing. I can see this being very successful, particularly in the fashion editorials.