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CHRISTMAS EVE IN THE COUNTING HOUSE 2010 (LE, Yule, Christmas Carol): (Company says: Creaky wood, thick fog, and dying embers.)

In bottle: This is one of the darker wood notes. The embers give the impression of frankincense without whatever it is I find annoying about frankincense. The effect is sharp and a little viscous, with an ashy aftereffect. The fog note grants what little softening there is here. This is not a comfortable scent, but intriguing. Wet: One the skin, the wood goes from dark to green, I think due to the way it blends with the ash. The frankincense feel is gone. The fog bank rises. This is making me think of unripe coconut, for no reason I can quite pin down, though I’ve reacted to wood/ash combinations this way before. It is lighter and slightly sweeter on the skin, and much easier to live with than I was expecting from the bottle. As it warms, the fog/ember combination turns out to be quite lovely, and vaguely spicy. It’s an androgynous scent, which I think will vary widely with skin chemistry of those wearing it. Dry: The fog does the thing that ocean/ozone/strom scents do sometimes on my skin, though not as strongly. I’m having trouble describing this, but it’s clearly a my skin chemistry breaking something down to make something flat and not quite right. In this case, itt’s a much softer version of whatever it is goes wrong and I could likely still wear this in a pinch. It’s basically the degraded fog note, linen, and a touch of wood at this point. I’m not sutre how useful this review is to other people, as it’s very likely my bizarre skin chemistry, but this is a sad finish for a promising scent.