Ajne Parfums: Lago, Adler and Husten

My friend Jessica sent me an article about perfumes that she tore out of a fashion magazine (I know! How old school is that?), and in the article there was a mention of the perfume house Ajne -- an all-natural fragrance and skin care company based out of Carmel, California (with an additional location in Maui, Hawaii). I'd never heard of Ajne, so of course I zipped right on over to their website and ordered some samples of their work: three each of their self-described masculine and feminine scents.

I'm testing the three masculines today, and I'll probably get to the three feminine scents in, like, the next six months -- though they do sound perfectly nice and I know I need to throw in some more sampling of the overt feminines just to keep from going overboard on ambers, patchoulis and the occasional floral leather: "Throw him a lifeline -- he's drowning in patchouli!"

The sample packages are well presented, and I greatly appreciated that they included a small spray vial for each sample, since it allows for a more complete diffusion instead of just dumping the liquid on the skin and hoping that it opens up properly.

Here's a photo of the sample presentation below:

ADLER: Adler is their "woody" masculine. There's a bunch of new-age folderol in the PR material about chakras and allegedly powerful aphrodisiacs, and they oddly blather on about how they're using "plant mimics" of ambergris, musk, civit and castoreum "reproduced with natures very own plant pheromones" -- I mean, don't waste my time with nonsense. Just tell me what the plants are that were actually used and be done with it. In this case, ambrette seed, labdanum and oakmoss, a twist on the chypre formula.

There's an easy-going character to the fragrance that's balanced out by the bitter oakmoss in the base, eventually giving way to a smooth, woods-like (though not really woodsy) quality that's lightly sweetened and a little green around the edges. I kept waiting for some real wood notes to make an appearance, but I only got the semblance of wood rather than anything I could seriously chop down and throw on a fire.

On a side note: me + an axe = disaster. I won't horrify you all with the story of how I nearly beheaded my sister the first time I attempted to cut down a Christmas tree. Suffice it to say that I vividly recall the look of abject terror on her face as the axe swung as if in slow motion within a centimeter of her very (and thankfully still) pretty nose.

HUSTEN/HOUSTON: Labeled a masculine floral, Husten (the label on the vial said Houston while the info card read Husten) is a pipe-tobacco fragrance laced with bright citrus oils. The citrus fades like all good natural citrus is wont to do, and what we have left is a mellow pipe-tobacco scent that reminds me of Social Creatures Rebel Ambush, including how quickly it vanishes from view.

I like Rebel Ambush better for its dusty, spicy nature, but Husten is casual and easy to wear, nonetheless. The lack of synthetics and fixatives is distinctly noticeable when you compare Husten to, say, Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille, with Husten's light, all-natural composition at a disadvantage when compared to the depth and longevity that's an attractive quality of Ford's work.

All in all, a pleasant pipe-tobacco fragrance, but if you're really on the bandwagon for a synthetic-free tobacco, I'd recommend both Social Creatures Rebel Ambush and Dominique Dubrana's Tabac, instead. They're not as sweet as Husten, but I consider that a feature, not a bug.

LAGO: The one I thought had the most "oomph" of the three, though I'm not particularly wild about what I'm experiencing from the line as a whole (but I try to give the all-naturals a chance; really, I do!).

Anyway, back to Lago. Rich and strangely bittersweet, Lago has designs on the classic chypre trio of oakmoss, bergamot and labdanum. Kind of syrupy and mossy at the same time, though it eventually errs on the side of syrup, thus depriving the nose of anything more interesting than a kind of burned sugar that's been spilled on a pile of dirt effect.

Now that I think about it some more, it has an almost molasses-like quality to it. Dark, earthy and sweet, but a foody kind of sweet that works against, rather than with, the earthy darkness. Lago also got sweeter and sweeter as it sat on the skin, until it tilted a bit off-balance. It's one of the few instances where I liked how a fragrance started more than how it finished up.

All three of the above fragrances have similar qualities, each opening with a strong citrus essence, then mellowing into either a sweet plant amber (Adler, Lago) or the sweet pipe-tobacco of Husten. The longevity is decent (Lago especially), but not as good as a juice that incorporates synthetic fixatives into its base.

I wanted to like them more than I did, but the three I tested today rely too heavily on sugars for their charm. I have to say that out of the natural perfumers I've tried, Ayala Moriel offers a much more varied, creative and complex line-up, and without all the added syrups and new-age crown chakra bull***t mucking up the works.

Ayala Moriel and Dominique Dubrana are probably two of the best natural perfumers working today (well, Mandy Aftel is pretty darn great, too). Moriel's Épice Sauvage and Film Noir are especially fine pieces of work.

But if you're casting about for a new synthetic-free fragrance line to try, Ajne is at least making a genuine effort at producing an appealing, wearable product, even if they fall short of producing work that can stand up to the perfumers mentioned above. Maybe their feminine fragrances are better . . . ?