A perfume
of fruit
& flowers
with an earthy finish.
All day,
everyday – dirt,
petals & roots.
Top: Grapefruit, Bergamot, Pink Peppercorn & Apple
Heart: Peony, Cypress, Lily of the Valley & Rose
Base: Vetyver, Musk & Ambergris
THE BOTANIST unfurls with a sharp and bitter citrus zest, intertwined with a fresh green scent of sap, creating a bright and invigorating opening. As the fragrance evolves, a sheer and clean floral heart, tinted with a green hue, maintains the effervescence from the top, while the coniferous cypress note gracefully connects with the woods. The finale showcases the star, a rooty, smokey facet of vetiver, wrapped in a musky ball with a touch of fresh mineral note.
deadidol –
Probably one of the more unusual scents in the line, The Botanist opens with crisp greens that are countered by a furry animalic chord. The greens are grassy and brisk, and the musk is akin to that of L’Ombre Fauve (minus the caramel). The result is slightly destabilizing; it’s adventurous, but I found it to be hardly the most appealing of juxtapositions. As with many grassy notes in fragrance, they subside fast and a musky amber is revealed beneath. The lingering greens assume a galbanum-like sharpness which, when paired with the oriental base, come across as a bit unsettling. A strange, disconcerting fragrance that, at least, gets points for going in a new direction.
jamie81 –
The Botanist is an earthy, green fragrance that is like stepping inside a greenhouse at the start of spring, with a use of vetiver that steers it away from the overtly masculine scents on the market today. It isn’t too earthy, as per Coven, and it isn’t too vetiver smoky, as per Arso. I think the use of bergamot and apple to effect verdancy, and the ambergris to add a mineral element are inspired. I have loved pretty much everything I’ve tried from the line, and having sniffed most of the niche and designer market, I have to say that I think the MIN team has brought something really interesting to the table.
Tresor –
There is something about the accord of wet earth in a fragrance that I find so utterly captivating. I’m aware that this may not be the most approachable nor the “prettiest” note for one to gravitate towards but I find it so powerfully grounding. Pun totally intended, of course. Now as much as I am mesmerized, very few fragrances can truly harness the note and imbue it with an thoroughly chic magnetism and refined harmony but one which truly has is MiN’s exquisite ‘The Botanist”. The brilliance of this composition is how this accord is so pulchritudinously foiled by an enormously ebuillent exhibition of dewy apple, citric grapefruit and a rather luminous flash of bergamot. There is a a soft and somber emerald hue of vetiver which encapsulates the atmosphere, encompassed by the phantasmic sillage of flowers which have been plucked from the loamy soil. The Botanist is a hyperrealized sequence of a spring time garden, without needless romanticism or flights of fancy. A portrait of authenticity and a study in how the visceral splendour and genuine essence of what is surrounding you always bares the most astonishing beauty.
Clayton –
In the dank still air of a partly shaded glasshouse, a pail of freshly picked apples rests in water. The Botanist is a daring scent to make. An untold number of low-cost cleaning products have scarred our appreciation of lemon essential oil and its remarkable beauty and similarly apple notes in perfumery are often viewed as being lowbrow; it is the common scent of shampoos or air fresheners and when it is used in fine fragrance, the note is often exaggerated to the point of being caricature. The Botanist is a very honest portrayal of this ancient fruit. Opening with crisp green notes, the fruit’s pale flesh is supported with hints of peonies, roses and muguet. Cypress, vetiver, musk and ambergris bring an earthy quality to the dry down, reminding me of the scent of moist potting mix. The Botanist is charming in a subtle way, much like Dune Road.
Lee-Ann –
If you have a green thumb or just appreciate the outdoors, then you۪ll feel at-one with The Botanist. An earthy, dirty, and grounding scent for all the tree-huggers and nature lovers abound.
The concept is genius, combining ripe juicy Apples, bright Bergamot and tart Grapefruit as the top notes; they quickly come and go (perhaps a little too quick for my liking) to reveal the more deep green woodiness of Vetiver and Cypress.
Also present are the distant trails of Rose, Peonies, and Lily-of-the-Valley, but instead of it portraying a distinct floral note, these blossoms lend a more over-all smoothness to the scent.
Due to the quickly disappearing fruit and far-away flowers, this scent gives off a strong forest, rather than garden, vibe.
Although there is a rich presence of Amber and Musk, this scent seems to live comfortably in the dry woodiness of the Vetiver and Cypress and smells like a walk through the forest at dawn with rays of morning sunlight flickering in between the branches.
Christos –
The Botanist was the first one of the lot I smelled and went Wow______ This is a vetiver straight up but done in a most wonderful way. I can say that this is the first vetiver that brings something new to the genre since Lalique Encre Noire. Sherapop has found a nice way to describe Emcre Noire, as the smell of Darth Vader, dark and broody, lacking conventional topnotes, as if it were drawing you into the dark side. Well, if you agree with this description of Encre Noire, consider The Botanist as what Anakin Skywalker used to smell, before he joined the dark side: inky, watery vetiver, vibrantly green and earthy at the same time. This is an ode to spring, or better to the last days of winter, just when the first green shoots appear. It is all about the promise of life, the potential of growth. This is simply beautiful! It smells round and sparkling and there is just enough floral notes in there to make this interesting and fresh.
thesmellyvagabond –
A beautiful peony and rose bouquet touched by a hint of greenness and earth. I was indeed transported to a garden tended lovingly by a botanist. Far, far superior to Penhaligon۪s Peoneve, which for me became dull in order to pander to the masses۪ craving young, pretty girl fragrances۪. This was, surprisingly, my favorite of the line surprising because I۪m usually not a fan of the genre, but was rather moved by this one. I took home a sample of this to enjoy it further.