Bell Tower Raven

Bell Tower Raven is a gothic scent built around damp earth and moss rather than flowers, though tea rose sits quietly at the front. The maker calls it natural, green and woody, full of atmosphere and weight, and the word wearers reach for is murky: a dark forest at dusk, with cold stone, moss and petrichor. The opening mixes tea rose with citrus, basil, mandarin, plum and pomegranate over wet leaves. The heart is the point of the scent: oakmoss, petrichor, peat and coal with vetiver, cypress and sage. The base adds patchouli and cedar with a resinous trio of frankincense, opoponax and myrrh, which one sample wearer called resinous and a little creepy. It is divisive. Fans call it weird and wonderful, with a fresh, smoky sweetness, and it drew compliments at a wedding. Others found it intense and synthetic, like a household cleaner or air freshener, and one found it went powdery. The maker promises six hours or more with excellent projection, and one wearer reports two sprays lasting all day. It leans feminine on paper but is said to wear just as well on a man. It suits autumn and anyone who wants a perfume with a mood rather than a pretty shape. It is made by hand by Juliet Rose.