oddity by rag&bone

top notes: sichuan & black pepper, cardamom, angelica root
heart notes: leather, incense, licorice
base notes: vetiver, amber, vanilla bean
when i needed a hobby that wasn't a person, i turned to fragrances. i signed up for a subscription service to try new scents and this was the first perfume i acquired. i didn't know what i was looking for. i knew i had grown out of my fruity scents from a decade ago, and thus relied on my experience working in kitchens, and interfacing with materia from a culinary perspective. (i've always made the joke that i would like to be reincarnated into a cardamom pod.)
the first thing that hits, despite the pyramid is a dry, sour, smokey incense. i think the longer you sit with it, the more it sharpens into the pepper. angelica and licorice are both medicinal, and the bridge between top and base feels like you're crushing a root poultice on a hide of leather.
the vetiver/amber/vanilla bean combo is a rough & tumble (but comforting) green balsamic scent that lasts on clothes well into the next day.
scent memory: serving catholic mass during the stations of the cross. the wooded pews, the thurible full of burning incense, the green palms left over from ash wednesday, the blend of scents on bodies showing out for a holy day. something about masculinity of vetiver and the sacharrine quality of vanilla feels like the genderfuck of the holy spirit.