apoteker tepe Archives - Colognoisseur

As frustrated as I can get with many of the self-taught perfumers who send me their brands there are exceptions. What makes those stand out is because these artists who have essentially taught themselves how to construct perfume is they break the rules; because they weren’t told what they were. 98.5% of the rule breakers mostly serve to sharpen the reasoning for why these rules exist. The other 1.5% find new directions to explore. This group is the one which makes up our most talented independent perfumers.

Holladay Saltz

One of these iconoclastic rule breakers is Holladay Saltz. She founded her brand Apoteker Tepe in 2015 with four very well thought out constructs. Ms. Saltz showed her resistance to being bound by convention throughout those releases. Now 2016 brings her first two follow-ups. Pale Fire is a good example. Ms. Saltz combines large amounts of labdanum and vanilla versus another accord of olibanum and oakmoss. The combination is volatile and wildly kinetic. That fervent energy kept me from wanting to wear it for a couple of days to review it. I have incessantly smelled the strip it is sprayed on but it is not something I wanted to wear. The other new release is called Karasu and that I did find the time to wear for a couple of days.

Karasu-Tengu

Karasu refers to the Japanese demons of the forest called Karasu-Tengu. They are summoned by the foolish humans who want to bind them using an incense ceremony. This is what Ms. Saltz is trying to evoke in Karasu. To do this she corrupts the incense ceremony with decay and smoke forming a desperate ritual in the woods that is not going to go well for the summoner.

Karasu opens with a version of oud from Indonesia called Gaharu Buaya. It is sort of a regular grade version of oud to its high octane cousin the purer Gaharu. Ms. Saltz choosing this as the representation of her incense is inspired because it carries an almost entropic air of collapse around it. As if right from the start the incense the supplicant is using is foreshadowing what is to come. To further enhance the deterioration Ms. Saltz takes birch tar and costus to fully warp the good intentions. The birch tar she uses is kept at a precise pitch throughout. This is the smoke of the smudge pot not the viscous contents within. Costus and its ability to push forward rot works incredibly well here. When this all comes together it is incense as scorched by olfactory brimstone. There is no surprise that what has arrived is not sunshine and light. Much later on the woods of the site of the ceremony take over as hinoki and cedar clear away the unclean act.

Karasu has 10-12 hour longevity and moderate sillage.

In both of the new Apoteker Tepe releases Ms. Saltz seems to be experimenting with stark contrasts of well understood raw materials. It really comes together in Karasu to form something I was completely fascinated by. I may never be desperate enough to try and summon a demon but I surely will be summoning Karasu when I am in the mood for something unique.

Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by Twisted Lily.

–Mark Behnke

When I was a child the twin goals of being both dirty and wet were often abetted by the near daily thunderstorm which occurs in South Florida. Just behind our house there was a depression which would fill up with the rain. I would lustily jump in, channeling my inner swine, as I rolled in the muddy water. This would all finish as the water would drain away leaving loads of ooey gooey mud for me to dig my hands in and make mud pies with. It was the afternoon version of bliss when I was seven. Considerably removed from that time I haven’t really thought about my days in the earthen bakery until I tried one of the perfumes from independent brand Apoteker Tepe called After the Flood.

Holladay Saltz

Apoteker Tepe is the brand owned by Holladay Saltz who is also the perfumer. She works out of her brownstone in Harlem, New York. She released her first collection of perfumes in 2014 and has recently released her second collection called “The Illuminations”. The Illuminations are four perfumes which are meant to evoke “The Hero’s Journey”. After the Flood is inspired by Rimbaud’s poem of the same name. When I try the other three members of The Illuminations I am more easily drawn in to Ms. Saltz’s vision. After the Flood returns me to sitting in a hole surrounded by thick redolent mud.

Ms. Saltz at work in her in-home atelier (via designsponge.com)

One of the best, and worst, things about independent perfumers is they will try almost anything. There are times where that fearlessness coupled with inexperience can take a good idea and bury it underneath too many concepts vying for the wearer’s attention. Ms. Saltz is one who uses only a few ingredients and her perfumes are much the better for that restraint. In After the Flood her keynote is violet leaf absolute. She takes the green earthy quality of that ingredient and adds in even more earthiness. Mushroom, patchouli, and green cardamom are combined with her wet soil accord. Throughout it all there is the violet leaf unchanging and beautifully displayed as these other notes enhance and contrast it. I found the cardamom in particular helped evoke the slightly spicy nature wet dirt has. It is subtle. Ms. Saltz recognized this and keeps the cardamom finely tuned.

After the Flood has 8-10 hour longevity and moderate sillage.

Any fragrance which can strongly evoke a scent memory is always going to find a fond place on my skin. After the Flood is a perfume which celebrates a time where I could sit in the mud and consider the world from its center. I’m much cleaner, and less impulsive, these days but it doesn’t mean I don’t want to be reminded that little boy is still there. Thanks to Ms. Saltz I now have a perfume which accomplishes just that.

Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by Twisted Lily.

–Mark Behnke

New Perfume Review Apoteker Tepe Karasu- Summon Originality

New Perfume Reivew Apoteker Tepe After the Flood- Making Mud Pies

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