So Chris Rusak's Timbre (a fragrance I mistakenly keep referring to as 'Timber' to the man himself and he was likely too sweet to correct me) is a strange fragrance of two halves. The first, the opening and main body of the fragrance which is a stunningly well rendered and natural smelling woody scent that propelled me back to childhood, climbing tree's and very specifically getting incredibly viscous sap on my hands. This is a lightly smokey, pine, cade, vetiver tinged incense with the impression of silver birch in my head. It truly is a feat to cram that much vivid woodiness into a fragrance and for that he must be applauded. This is where my amateur perfumery experience (or lack of?) can come back to bite as I'm constantly thinking about and trying to deconstruct a composition, especially from Indy perfumers. A little bot of knowledge being a dangerous thing because this is when we enter into the second phase of the fragrance which for me smelled a great deal more synthetic. I rattled off a list of aroma chemicals and natural isolates I use in 'woody/amber' bases to Chris and only one of the materials he said was in Timbre (Cedramber) but only in a trace amount and as a supporting role to the cedar in the base. Now I think I perhaps neglected to mention that I also use cedar (Virginian and Atlas) in pretty much everything too and perhaps Timbre is teaching me a valuable lesson about just how tenacious natural cedar is, in the base, remaining as they do with all the tenacity of Timbersilk, ISO E SUPER, or ambroxan. I also got a blackcurrant nuanced, peppery, licorice, wood smell that I often get from synthetic oud (especially the Firmanich one) and often when paired with pink pepper, but Chris uses real oud in here and I have smelled this in real oud materials too so for those who say that synth ouds don't really smell like real oud...they do....(a bit) I get the oud purists point but they sort of do in some senses. The base is a smokey, rough brown paper of a thing, with elements of vetiver, resinous warmth but more seems more sterile to me, than the lucid opening. For all this waffling, and struggling with a rubix cube, navel gazing nonsense this is a superb woody fragrance and one that I would implore anybody who loves that sort of thing to check out. It promotes images of fresh air, great big skies, mountains, huge sequoia tree's and all that good stuff. I liked it a lot.
Timbre, from Chris Rusak was released in 2019. The perfumer behind this creation is Chris Rusak. The notes are Agarwood (Oud), Cedarwood, Galbanum, Mandarin Orange, Mineral Notes, Myrrh, Petitgrain, Yuzu.
So Chris Rusak's Timbre (a fragrance I mistakenly keep referring to as 'Timber' to the man himself and he was likely too sweet to correct me) is a strange fragrance of two halves. The first, the opening and main body of the fragrance which is a stunningly well rendered and natural smelling woody scent that propelled me back to childhood, climbing tree's and very specifically getting incredibly viscous sap on my hands. This is a lightly smokey, pine, cade, vetiver tinged incense with the impression of silver birch in my head. It truly is a feat to cram that much vivid woodiness into a fragrance and for that he must be applauded. This is where my amateur perfumery experience (or lack of?) can come back to bite as I'm constantly thinking about and trying to deconstruct a composition, especially from Indy perfumers. A little bot of knowledge being a dangerous thing because this is when we enter into the second phase of the fragrance which for me smelled a great deal more synthetic. I rattled off a list of aroma chemicals and natural isolates I use in 'woody/amber' bases to Chris and only one of the materials he said was in Timbre (Cedramber) but only in a trace amount and as a supporting role to the cedar in the base. Now I think I perhaps neglected to mention that I also use cedar (Virginian and Atlas) in pretty much everything too and perhaps Timbre is teaching me a valuable lesson about just how tenacious natural cedar is, in the base, remaining as they do with all the tenacity of Timbersilk, ISO E SUPER, or ambroxan. I also got a blackcurrant nuanced, peppery, licorice, wood smell that I often get from synthetic oud (especially the Firmanich one) and often when paired with pink pepper, but Chris uses real oud in here and I have smelled this in real oud materials too so for those who say that synth ouds don't really smell like real oud...they do....(a bit) I get the oud purists point but they sort of do in some senses. The base is a smokey, rough brown paper of a thing, with elements of vetiver, resinous warmth but more seems more sterile to me, than the lucid opening. For all this waffling, and struggling with a rubix cube, navel gazing nonsense this is a superb woody fragrance and one that I would implore anybody who loves that sort of thing to check out. It promotes images of fresh air, great big skies, mountains, huge sequoia tree's and all that good stuff. I liked it a lot.