I feel I've a lot to say about this line, campaign... whatever...and it's largely positive, putting the most important thing to one side for a minute (the actual perfume) and looking at all the peripheral stuff I have to say that concept wise I like what Penhaligon's are doing here. The design and marketing is all on point, the bottles look great and clearly they must've spent a staggering amount promoting the potions and remedies collection, because either I'm stupid and can't tell augmented reality or photoshop from real life, but I could've sworn they had 100ft tall factice bottles on London's iconic Tower bridge. I mean hats off to them for that. Last general thing worth noting, I found the collection to be one of the quickest & easiest to review, understand whatever, and have compared it to a high concept movie pitch. If you can't explain the synopsis (or at least the general plot points) in 30 seconds or less then your idea is not by definition high concept. I'm often reluctant to jump in and review perfumes without a proper wear or two under my belt but these seemed easy to 'get' and subsequently wearing them I discovered no hidden secrets, or depth and take from that what you will. This is the first one I've properly worn and as usual I didn't consult with any notes or marketing bumpf even, I dive right in and give raw opinions, then look at that stuff later and compare notes (quite literally) and stuff and such. So immediately having just tried their newest portraits one (Mr Thompson) I was struck by the similarity in this one, being that it does have a prominent iris leaning vibe to me which perfectly embodies the feeling of calm and somewhat 'balm' as well, so the name is an apt one. My interpretation is of a figgy top note, with almost too smooth lavenderesque, lightly nutty iris, but without the leathery aspect or opulence of the Mr Thompson one, so in effect for all it's initial similarity they are very different perfumes in actuality. I'm getting strange hybrid of Valentino Uomo, Vera Wang, Ferregamo uomo and maybe even Le Male parfum, but also a host of other recent shit and I'm kinda thinking this is a little bit too commitee'd out of existence. It's difficult and unfair to quote all this stuff as reference context, because I'm despirately trying to mark balm of calm on it's own merits and comparing it to perfumes which I feel do mark themselves out. I like all those perfumes so I'm not having a huge downer on this, I'm just not sure this gourmand/amber/fougere hybrid stands out enough at this pricepoint to convince me. It's just a bit 'meh' if it took this concept and elevated it, I'd be singing it's praises gladly, but it's not a bad perfume, it's just not good either. Okay so looking at the notes now and clary sage, lavender and cardamom are not entirely unexpected in a perfume of this name and 'smooth' is often what I associate with cardamom, lavender here but they only chime after a very 'generic' opening, This is a much better perfume when settled on the skin, rare for Penhaligons and rare for this collection as it will become apparent. Rum? Okay Iris accord was clear to me right away and the rest of the sandlwood, vetiver and oak is it? represent the woody balast at the base of this perfume, fine.