New Perfume Review 4160 Tuesdays Eau My Soul- Per Fumus Populi

I know that the Internet was the spark that lit the fire for me to want to write about perfume. Some of it was that I had a place where I could. Some of it was there was a community where I felt accepted for my love of scented things. Facebook has helped this even more as there are dozens of perfume groups where like-minded perfume lovers find a place which fits their style. I am a member of a few for this reason. I don’t think it is possible or even desirable to be a participant in all of them but I have heard of many of the ones I am not in. One of those is the group Eau My Soul founded by Christi Long.

I’m not sure I know the entire story but somewhere along the line, during conversation, the members decided they wanted to vote on their favorite notes. During this time founder and independent perfumer of 4160 Tuesdays, Sarah McCartney, said she would make a perfume containing the 25 highest vote getting notes; named after the group. The process started with 100 nominated ingredients which were then voted on to result in the palette of twenty-five Ms. McCartney would use. As a creative process I thought this might be a bit too noisy although Ms. McCartney has the skill to wrangle a large number of ingredients into something coherent. The leading vote-getter was sandalwood which Ms. McCartney would make the keynote around which to wind the other 24 notes. Like a maestro stepping to the podium prior to an orchestral performance she manages to take the cacophony of the scale playing and tuning; gathering the ingredients together to form a piece of compelling music.

Sarah McCartney

Sandalwood as the keynote is a near perfect choice as it has so many facets for Ms. McCartney to work with as she adds in the remaining notes. After an attention getting flare of citrus the sandalwood comes to the foreground. It is ushered there flanked by incense. The resinous qualities find the sandalwood as a lift providing some softness to the austerity of the incense. One of the things about a perfume like this is Ms. McCartney is going to be inserting grace notes here and there which will pop-up like fun surprises. Right as I was getting caught up in the incense and sandalwood comes a kind of drunk uncle of a cognac, swaggering across my senses. It made me laugh every time I passed through this part of Eau My Soul. The floral top choices were jasmine, iris, and rose. These are popular for a reason and they go together well. What I find interesting here is that they provide the pivot from the resins and woods on top to the sweet ambery base accord. That base is primarily amber and vanilla with labdanum providing a recapitulation of the resins on top. The sweeter creamier facets of sandalwood shine during this part of the development. As with the florals these are popular because they provide a comforting feel to them. The last piece of Eau My Soul is that bit of subversion that can only come from a group of perfume lovers, oakmoss. Ms. McCartney doesn’t disappoint as she uses a nice amount which allows this to be the ingredient which reminds you of everything which has lead up to it.

Eau My Soul has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.

I think Ms. McCartney has produced a perfume which evokes the positive aspects of a group like Eau My Soul. I never would’ve thought a version of “per fumus populi” could have worked as well as this does. Maybe it just has to come from a group of perfume lovers who want to see the world smell good.

Disclosure: This review was based on a sample I purchased.

–Mark Behnke