Alkemia: An Autumn Wandering Review

An Autumn Wandering - A curiously familiar yet unfamiliar autumnal foraging of sweet maple wood, black currant, damson, garnet berry, charred rosemary, lemon verbena, Japanese pumpkin, Madagascar vanilla, tonka, and sun warmed oak leaves.

Like all Alkemia scents, this blend errs on the abstract, elegant side rather than a hyperrealistic rendition of autumn leaves and all its warmth. From the bottle, this is a soft subtle sweetness, with a mishmash of unripened berries and vanilla. On application, this scent is a little astringent and almost sharp, reminding me of upturned soil paired with the woody quality of the maple wood, with just the barest hint of freshly snipped rosemary, and after dry down, it retains most of the rich maple wood. It's not sweet in an overtly sugary way, but it has a slightly caramel-esque like quality in its aromaticness. For me, the black currant, berry and lemon verbena add a slight nuance of lightness and zest to the scent, but the pumpkin is largely absent for me, with the vanilla and tonka only adding a slight warmth to the blend, although the slightly medicinal properties of the rosemary peek in and out, and are a little too sharp for me at times. 

This scent doesn't quite scream autumn to me, and for me, Alkemia's approach to scents always lean a little too abstract for my tastes and their hit rate for me is... extraordinarily low. I keep an open mind that I will someday eventually find an Alkemia love, but at the moment, it doesn't look like this is one I'll be picking up again anytime soon.