Scent descriptions · 03
Almost Human
Abstraction Done Quite Well
00
Introduction
Almost Human is a house that really embraces abstraction and conceptualization in perfumery; and as an opponent of abstraction in any art form (generalizing of course), I hate to admit that I did love this house.
The first collection (which is what I smelled at the time of writing this) takes you through a journey of emotional self reformation in a digital world of some abstract future, and each fragrance plays some role in the general story. Now; I do not subscribe to that personally, so I will just tell you what I thought:
Despite the abstraction, the use of ai in the creation of imagery to support the fragrances, and the use of abstract notes that do not make sense to me (such as “green mist” and “quiet air”), the fragrances of this house are great. They are simple, and they achieve the equally simple goal they have. The fragrance that is supposed to smell like walking through the scorching desert smells exactly like that; the fragrance that smells like some specific personal iteration of rain achieves that too; and you get the point.
In the coming paragraphs, you will see my analysis of each perfume independently from the others, as a perfume, and not as a body of work; because I feel if I did take into account the AI, and the somewhat pompous abstraction, then some points would have to be deducted. However, I do feel obliged to repeat that that is a personal grudge I hold against the latter, and if any house managed to capture conceptualization, then Almost Human would be a damn good contender for the top spot.
01 Burning Bridges
Top
This is smokey, with citrus and some spices. It is simple yet unique. I could see this being the smell of acrid ground, in 50+ degree celcius weather. Though, I have a need to specify that this setting is captured during a windy day; windy because it does not feel dense, and day because there is a certain element of airiness to this (probably introduced by the citruses).
The citruses and smoke do combine nicely too, and there is some trigeminal activation.
Mid 1
It does turn more citrussy in the middle, and in a really nice way. It combines with the spices and smoke and becomes simple and very nice. I feel this isnt much different from my top description, so i have to emphasize that the character of the combination changes. It becomes somewhat more mainstream and more wearable. It drops the concept a little and takes a conventional direction; and becomes more pleasant.
Mid 2
It starts smelling sweet at some point, and surprisingly so, because it is a type of acrid sweetness that is seldom found in simple perfumes. It maintains some background smokiness too, as well as that trigeminal activation.
Dry Down
It is very pleasant when it dries down. It is sweet, smoky and unobtrusive and light.
02 Dear Future
Top
One of the nicest ozone centered fragrances I have smelled so far. Maaaaaaaybe i can smell some aldehydes too, or spices or ambers. I am not sure. It is equally warm as it is airy.
If I were to consider it to be like something, I can imagine Aeolus, the Greek god of the wind, to smell like this. Here is a list of stuff it also smells like:
- Skin of a person with prosthetics
- A robot
- A digital river
- A stray ray of sunshine
- High altitudes
Mid
in the middle, it turns way darker, real fast. It starts smelling more aldehydic/ambery. The high altitudes are now combined with a cloudy smell. The ozonic character persists, but the aldehydic becomes more prominent.
Dry down?
I feel that as this fragrance dries down, it leans more and more into smelling like some iteration of skin, but it is by no means a skin scent. I think it could be one if you would center it around a relatively large dose of aldehydes. It smells spicy and electric, but also like skin. As it develops in the dry down, it turns warmer and warmer.
03 Desert Hope
Top
This is an amazing fragrance. It conveys the scorching sensation of the sun so very well it is incredible; with the image I interpret is one of being barraged by the sun rays and having your sweat not be able to keep up with the heating while traversing some seemingly endless desert.
It is also a sweaty fragrance: dense and cumin-y; but not carnal (click here for a look into the architecture of sweat fragrances).
Additionally, I know what different sands smell like in different parts of the world, but this is not it. That is not necessarily a bad thing, because as I have stated in the introduction, this house attempts to conceptualize stuff rather than be direct and interpretable, rather than taking on a more realistic recreative approach. I did also confirm this with the owner; who was very nice and enthusiastic about it.
Do I think it achieves that conceptual smell of sand somewhere within this fragrance? 100%!
Mid
It is so damn strong. In my opinion, unwearable but incredible as an idea and fragrance. The cumin and the warmth really give it a lot of oomph in the mid.
Dry Down
When it settles down a little, it becomes more wearable, as you’re left with a cumin-y solar profile.
It is a very interesting scent.
In The Architecture of Sweat you place it as cumin-y (c), dark (b) and natural (b) — adding that it could be argued it is carnal (a), and that you do not feel comfortable presenting an absolute answer.
04 Ritual Code
Top
You get a faceful of smoky, earthy animalics. Despite an initial density, it turns airy and quite green. Not galbanum or oleoresins green, but like a dew-in-the-morning-grass green. This facet is also earthy in some sense.
Mid
It also is a little resinous, though ambiguously so, as I cannot quite place the type of resins. It feels like it borrowed some of the deeper ambery character of some resin, while trying to omit the brighter parts of it.
I can see this smelling like an overgrown train station, with the plants having cracked the concrete to grow, and the animals having populated this once very mechanical area.
Dry Down
It does turn a little more resinous, but remains pleasant. On the dry-down it comes close to being a semi conventional winter scent.
05 Silent Rain
Top
If youre driving a car, something unspectacular, in the hills in between villages in a country like the Czech Republic or Slovenia, where there are fields and forests on either side of you, and it has just rained lightly on this snaked road, just enough to carry the smell of everything aforementioned into the now damp end-of-summer air, then this is what you would smell. I know this is specific, but I can also vouch for this being a 1:1. Take my word.
It starts off delightingly bright and wet, and then within seconds it fades into this intrusive wet and green (here the green character is more like dew in the morning grass rather than galbanum, oleoresins or pine). I can 100% tell that it uses amboricinide (unrelated to ambroxide by the way), but in the perfect amount. I find that in excess, ambrocinide can smell sour and like rotten detritus and forest floor.
In my search for a fragrance that matches the vibe I described earlier, I have found this to be the closest perfume yet. Honorable mentions I have come across include Filippo Sorcinelli’s Nebbia Spesa and NVRNAGN’s Deluge, both of which unfortunately overdose on the ambrocinide to the point where it smells rancid and dense to the point of unpleasantness. Silent Rain doesn’t do that.
Silent Rain is my favorite of the five.