Fragrance Family:
Mossy Woods

Notes:
Antarctic Air, Ice Accord, Juniper Berry, Pink Pepper, Saffron, Labdanum Absolute, Sandalwood, Musks, Seamoss, Suede

Concentration:
Extrait de Parfum (20%)

Occasion:
A snap of cool, frosty air. Crisp herbal notes are grounded with soft leather and moss notes in the base. Penguin is fresh but not as one might expect it: approachable notes are bestowed a serious and somewhat traditional form. Definite summer wearing, but versatile enough to carry into cool days and nights.

Made in Canada

Ice and salt are fantasy notes, and although they truly bear no smell – they appear on our noses unmistakably. Penguin combines this double fantasy in the form of a glacial Arctic blast. Its opening is cold through and through, like frozen sheets of ice on seawater. Here, in particular, smell is indistinguishable from sensation, as its smooth yet sharp texture is redolent of our iciest memories. Penguin is a foaming, frothy composite of frost – an aromatic slush made up of seawater and marine material. Its cold sensation is undeniable, its vapours tingle the nose, and after the initial shock of its chill, there is nuance and variation. Its texture is fuzzy, shivering, sweet and spicy, and primarily lead with the pine-like and aromatic snap of juniper berry and the mellow fruity sharpness of pink peppercorn. These are berries frozen in ice, whilst touches of saffron double this effect, its metallic sheen vaguely covering its smooth warmth sans flame.
Sensations of warmth add difference to this otherwise frigid scent, while incredible moss, labdanum, and suede notes flushed in fluffy musks contribute to its contrasting base – which aligns itself with the chypre category more than anything else. This is Penguin’s magic: it inverts the chypre, forming its categorical style through ice rather than earth, working in the realm of iridescent and crystal blues as opposed to arboreal greens or brindled and russet browns. This evokes the solitary and upright walk of the male penguin, the precious egg surrounded in feathery warmth, all with a certain seriousness … this fragrance captures the complex battle of warding off the cold; warmth at its core radiating against an external wind, a waddling movement along ice and snow secures its footing on a surface of sandalwood coated in the grip of moss. Neither one nor the other, Penguin settles in a state equilibrium – it is a sublime tension so very typical of the chypre style, filled with a beautiful spiciness.