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There are few things I appreciate more than stumbling upon a clever word play which intrigues my mind and excites my hopes for something unusual. Mousse d'Arbre Gris was one such thing in the perfume world, and it caught me by surprise, since I had not heard of the Woudacieux Haute Parfumerie brand before. Lucky for me, the Internet and its wonders has a way of introducing me to all sort of bright ideas. And so, on I plunged and tried the fragrances.
Mousse d'Arbre Gris immediately impressed me. The wordplay lies in arbre being tree in French, while ambregris is grey amber, the notorious perfumery ingredient from sperm whales. And mousse is froth, foam, the fluffy texture of a dessert or lather. In short, it's not what it seems, it's so much more.
All the Woudacieux fragrances I tried give the sensation of high ratio of natural extracts in them. They have this herbal, primal quality about them. The initial spray of Mousse d'Arbre Gris is redolent of jatamansi, or spikenard (the Latin name Nardostachys jatamansi indicates being part of the honeysuckle family). Native to the Alpine Himalayas and mentioned in the traditional medicine system of Ayurveda, jatamansi/spikenard is precious and important.
The scent of Mousse d'Arbre Gris is both green, herbal, resinous, between salty and warm-powdery -it gives mysterious and welcoming vibes of the vegetal and earthy kind.
The brand as a whole has a hippy-classy quality about them, the fragrances are vegan and produced in limited batches (2000 were created for this one). The illustrations speak of an affinity for botanical sketches on old books, and the fairies that seem to be dancing on the labels give an impression of a Victorian album.
It's a quiet and introspective scent that projects moderately and creates a sense of allure about its wearer. The synergy of synthesized castoreum,civet and ambregris gives a rich body behind the greener and floral touches of the top. It's supple and soft, ambery, non invasive yet still very there. The company introduces it as "an introductory turn on for both sexes" and it really is.
The 20% concentration of compound in the Eau de Parfum ensures a great lasting power to the mix and a value for money application. You only need a couple of sprays I found to fulfill the frothy mix of mossy-herbal softness aura around you. The bottle can be found on the official website. You can see images of the brand on their Pinterest account.
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