Woods of Oz

Woods of Oz is built around Australian sandalwood, which is a different material from the Indian variety most people picture: creamier, slightly nuttier, less sharply resinous. Abbey Perfumery puts it at the centre and arranges everything else to flatter it. Cardamom opens, warm and dry rather than sweet, and the heart brings violet and iris together for a powdery, faintly cosmetic softness that keeps the wood from reading as austere. A thread of mint runs through that middle section, which sounds odd on paper and works in practice, lifting the powder just enough to stop it turning heavy. Leather sits alongside the sandalwood in the base and gives the drydown a bit of grain. It is the most composed fragrance in the range and probably the one that reads oldest, in the sense that it would not have felt out of place twenty years ago. Performance is solid without being aggressive. Autumn and winter are its seasons, and it works better for office and evening wear than for anything sporty or hot-weather.