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Curious
Mini 2 ml

Curious Mini


 

Scent Family: Musk
Curious, inspired by the atmosphere of the Aftel Archive of Curious Scents, is a smoky musk perfume, with notes of dried fruit and precious woods. The rich muskiness of Curious allows it to mix with each person’s body chemistry in an intimate and idiosyncratic fashion. I adore tobacco absolute and think of it as the ultimate botanical musk note, especially when paired with the sweet mossy apricot-like hay absolute.

An airy smokiness laces through the perfume from the opening to the ending, -- burnt fruitwood and caramel. Mesmerizing orange leaf absolute, like a green orange, is refreshingly tart, animalic, and indolic. Curious opens with creamy and smooth wood brightened with dirty citrus and punctuated with spice. The texture of the perfume is like soft fur. My Aftel Archive includes an exhibit that deconstructs Curious perfume note by note, and chord by chord, so that visitor can explore the mystery of how each essence locks together to create the perfume.

0.25 ml - $8

Featured Notes in alcohol
Tobacco, hay, smoke, orange leaf, Siam wood, dirty grapefruit.
Our Price: $55.00

Qty:

Reviews
 
“There is a deep earthiness to Curious which reflects its roots as a product of nature. After a while, the drying- out-in-the-sun feeling became an autumnal smokiness, like a bonfire in the distance. Curious unfurls its layers like a tree in all seasons, merging from fresh bud to green bitterness, to dried leaves to twiggy stem, but always grounded by the earthiness from whence it came. ... There’s nothing like it. Mandy has made a beautifully unique scent that I urge you to try should you ever get a chance.”
-- Sam Scriven, IScentYouADay!

"Curious opens with a full-spectrum orange accord, combing the green leaf with a bitter orange. It gets roughed up a bit with some spices cutting through the citrus. The heart is smoke over wood. It smells like an exotic hardwood after being charred a bit. This is a light smoke not the obtrusive kind you more often find. Curious is like the carnival barker enticing you closer to the attraction just through that door over there.”
-- Mark Behnke, Colognoisseur

“Unlike many smoky/musky perfumes, Curious has an enigmatic quality that makes it beautifully mysterious. Mandy thinks of tobacco absolute as nature’s musk and combined with hay absolute the way it is in Curious, it creates an aromatic muskiness without the laundry sheet or skanky facets often present in synthetic musks. It drapes across the skin and melds with your own chemistry. It’s redolent of the outdoors while possessing the texture of fur and the way it plays with the animal and the vegetal is compelling. As usual, Mandy has made a composition that is as clever as it is rewarding.”
-- Tara Smith, A Bottled Rose

This is musk and wood and smoke... perfume that almost crosses the line into umame. Curious is nearly savory, and if you love that line between meaty, smoky, and woody, you may really like Curious. ...a very appealing heart with lots of wood,... a darkness and a smokiness to Curious which should blend well with male skin. This is a scent that will be a nice addition to many men’s wardrobes, and if you like this sort of scent as a woman, then it is outdoorsy, a good choice for Fall. ”
-- Blacknall Allen, aperfumeblog

It's beautiful and intriguing in the extreme, and I think will take several wears to get the full measure of it! A smoky green with hints of damp earth and mushrooms furtively foraged in shady woods, the intensely mysterious - almost camphorated - top notes glide imperceptibly to a fruity piquancy and, somehow, a tangled garland of white flowers
-- Suzy Nightingale, Beyond Pale

Curious is immediately beautiful... It is a smoky, sooty leather shot through with singed orange peel and sunburnt hay. It is curiously balanced between refinement and something more rugged, more outdoorsy. So, on the one hand, that greenish leather note comes across as very slim, crisp, and urbane, but there is a distinct whiff of countryside too, by which I mean there is an undertow of melting tar and field crops, especially the warm, beery smell of the hops they feed to cows, or oat berries that have fermented slightly under the sun.
-- Claire Vukcevic, Basenotes

I catch myself sniffing my wrists often as if expecting a new treasure. The light layer of tobacco and smoke shows restraint, adding intrigue without being overwhelming. Sweet hay and creamy Siam wood add wisps of sensuality without being flashy. Dirty orange and orange leaf brightens up and balances out the smoke and musk.
-- Tami Yu Nakpil, Fête à Fête

I find Curious challenging to classify: its initial explosive burnt wood smoke note is sweetened by an extraordinary French absolute utilizing every imaginable part of the bitter orange: blossom, twig, leaf. Curious satisfies many cravings – sweet, tart, nutty, smoky, balsamic, wood-singed, wantonly floral. Chiaroscuro comes into play: illumination by means of sun and flame, a cool sip of tart juice commingled with creamy sagacity of unkindled heartwood. The unbridled sensuality of blossoms on the verge of last exhalation. Such a macrocosm in every tiny drop.
-- Ida Meister, CaFleureBon