In 2004 Allan Cumming launched Cumming the Fragrance, which was created by Christopher Brosius, and while they were pleased with the it, there was some disappointment with its mass-production so in 2010 the fragrance was brought into the CB I Hate Perfume line and re-christened 2nd Cumming.

2nd Cumming opens softly with citrusy bergamot warmed by black pepper. It smells of warm skin. A light note of Scotch pine wafts up – it doesn’t smell of the forest but of some who has walked through one. Then slowly, because this frag is a seducer, so it takes its time to develop, the notes appear: a caramel, salty, woody note of scotch whiskey, the smell of cigar, floral, musky heather and camphourous Douglas fir – they are all here, anchoring the fragrance in Scotland and giving it a rich, heady depth. A whiff of rubber surprises me, even though I know anything to do with Alan Cumming shouldn’t be a surprise. I smell soft, worn leather and a deep, full earthiness tempered with a note of smoke so beautiful I crave great big lungfuls of it.

But 2nd Cumming isn’t about identifying different notes, it’s about experiencing them so that the drydown is warm, animalic, clean and dirty at the same time. It is the smell of intimacy and I love it!

Notes: bergamot, black pepper, Scotch pine, malt whiskey, cigar, heather, Douglas fir, rubber, worn leather, highland mud, burnt rubber, peat fire and white truffle.