Scentzilla!

The Different Company’s Bois d’Iris was composed by Jean-Claude Ellena several years back, but I have only just recently gotten around to trying it.

It feels cool to me upon first spray, but as my skin warms it, a lovely aroma reminscent of dry Cascadian hops wafts across iris root. (It’s an Oregon thing. I’m pretty sure that you’re not allowed to call yourself an Oregon citizen if you don’t become a beer snob and/or make your own beer at least once. Unless, of course, you wear Birkenstocks year-round with socks - a much more demonstrative display of being a full-blooded Oregonian.) Lightly green and spicy, this layer gently lifts Bois d’Iris out of any lingering coolness. It also makes play with the floral elements of the scent, causing innocence to transform into a brightened awareness.

This fragrance is a deceptively simple one, and easy to slip into. I think it’s one of the more mellow fragrances I’ve tried lately. By mellow I don’t mean melancholy or lazy. Just… relaxed. There’s also something a little old-fashioned about it, too, and yet I perceive it as a youthful scent.

Not knowing how to introduce it, I’ll just say it reminds me of Damien Jurado’s song Tether. It’s got an old feel to it, and certainly is mellow, but it also displays how a simple approach can render an interesting, pleasing effect. Click the player below to hear a brief clip.

Samples of The Different Company scents can be obtained through Beautyhabit.com, who have a sampling program. Image of pin-up entitled “So Sweet,” by Zoe Mozert for Brown & Bigelow in 1950. Tether is a track off of Damien Jurado’s album Where Shall You Take Me?, and is available online through Djangos and Music Millennium.