Morning fragrance friends! I'm so happy this morning - I found a small package of samples from u/jgloger that I had misplaced/misfiled in my system, so I hadn't gotten around to trying them. Apologies little buddies, you deserved my attention much earlier - and yet, it's a very welcome and pleasant surprise. Happy Fragrance Christmas-Come-Early!

Testing TRNP Kodama for the first time today - And oh god what a beautiful fragrance. This is a stunning green oud fragrance of surprising depth and intensity yet remaining bright and verdant - a beautiful emerald green that never goes dark or dank. Which, anyone who has tried any significant amount of green fragrances, particularly natural ones, call tell you is a rarity.

It opens with just a massive amount of evergreen notes, fir and pine and a lovely spruce. And yet somehow the mentholated character at the center of that family does not overwhelm the way many "piney" fragrances express themselves. Instead, the focus is on the bright greenness of the materials, with just a hint of lemony pungency.

After your nose adjusts to the bracing opening, a beautiful orange blossom note emerges, piercing, soaring and pure. I'm not entirely sure what Murraya blossoms smell like precisely, but the orange blossom seems laced with ribbons of jasmine and...gardenia? Perhaps that is the effect the Murraya blossoms give. Geranium adds a spicy twist that perfectly dovetails with the lemony evergreen accent.

And then the overdose of oud makes itself known, bringing in beautiful warmth, a rich leatheriness, as well as a whole different kaleidoscope of green. Over time, the fragrance becomes both more oud-y and yet more floral at the same time. The delicate buds grow and bloom over time, flourishing under the heat of your skin, while the oud begins to sing at a deeper register, bringing to mind ancient forests, noble sentinels with memories longer than civilization.

For the avid TRNP lover, I'll touch on how this compares to her other masterpieces. This is my favorite green fragrance that I've tried of hers by far, but that's really going to be a matter of personal taste. It's significantly greener and brighter than Aguru, but without the abrasive mentholic air that Black Spruce or The Path. It's smoother and more floral than all of those, yet I would to hazard to wager that there's more oud here than Black Spruce or The Path, and indeed nearly as much as Aguru. I haven’t tried it, but this is somewhat how I imagined the discontinued Tallemeja to smell like. Which I guess makes sense - they both are named after devilish myths of the forests.

I love it. I love it I love it I love it.