Black Cedarwood & Juniper
Black Cedarwood & Juniper
Black Cedarwood & Juniper is one of four fragrances in Malone's 2014 London Rain Collection. Each one represents rain at different times of the day. Black Cedarwood & Juniper evokes midnight showers in London.
It opens with a pungent combo of cumin and chili pepper leaves. The cumin is earthy, warm and animalic. It can easily overtake a fragrance, but the chili pepper leaves add a botanical dimension that smooths and checks the 'sweaty' aspect of cumin. This stage smells like rain-soaked skin at the end of a long day, making the fragrance slyly seductive. As it blooms, juniper appears and adds a balsamy, sharp freshness that contrasts the top notes' earthiness. Cedarwood is right behind the juniper, at the base, it's woody and slightly sweet. This isn't the smell of wood in a forest. This is the smell of wood that's been cut to make trim in windows and doorways. A note of tree moss evokes a feeling of humidity in the air after a downpour. It's just a gorgeous scent.
The drydown is woody, balsamy and elegant. I wear it and love it, but I think it does skew more to the masculine side of unisex.
Notes: cumin, chili leaves, juniper, black cedarwood and moss.