We are right at the cusp of the Holiday season in the US. It means this is the time of year where you call on friends and family. One of the scents of this time of year for me is as you walk into a home and breathe in you get a preview of what is coming. So many of the foods of the festive season are spice-based. As we sit in family rooms and dens visiting, we are surrounded by the smell of wood paneling and spice. Mizensir Celebes Wood reminds me of the season and the camaraderie.
Alberto Morillas
Mizensir is the brand founded by perfumer Alberto Morillas. It is his opportunity to work on a fragrance where he is both creative director and perfumer. It is unsurprising that this is a brand which has no duds in it. M. Morillas can expand the sensibilities which have served him so well as the best mainstream perfumer in the world into something a touch more adventurous. The way this has been most exemplified through the Mizensir line has been his use of new materials in ways which show them off. In Celebes Wood it is the patchouli substitute Clearwood.
Celebes Wood opens on one of my favorite spice notes in perfume; cardamom. This is the greener version of that ingredient which has become more common over the last couple of years. It is joined by the piquant heat of cinnamon and white pepper. It is like getting a breeze from the kitchen on your way to the family room. It picks up some of the sweets of the season as tonka bean, labdanum, and vanilla provide that. This all comes together on top of a foundation of musk and Clearwood. The advantage of Clearwood is that much of the dirty aspects of patchouli are removed without fractionation. What remains is a warm light woodiness. Riding a wave of musks it smells like a wood paneled den.
Celebes Wood has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.
I have a lot of Holiday perfumes, but I like the things Celebes Wood reminds me of. Which means I’m going to be doing some visiting in my mind while wearing it.
Disclosure: This review is based on a sample provided by Mizensir.
–Mark Behnke
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