Ghibli
Atkinsons (1978)

Cinnamon is a difficult note; as Mandy Aftel writes, it tends to smell like pot-pourri.
Ghibli is a sweet aromatic fougère -and- a cinnamon chypre.
It's also the contemporary of Azzaro pour Homme : the fougère yin to Azzaro's yang.
Star anise - or cinnamon; history shows which idea was best...

A true mystery, with very little detail of its release, and with an equally mysterious composition, Ghibli opens with lemon, lavender, and, most significantly, a sizable slug of clary sage, near overdosed, but spectacular as this misunderstood note is often relegated to the sidelines even in the most audacious of aromatics. Here however, its herbaceous and tea-like qualities almost impart a sour quality. Mind you, it is not at all an unpleasant gone off, sour milk type of sour. On the contrary, this is an astringent, tonic, make-your-mouth-pucker sour, like that of the lemon for which the clary sage shares the opening. It's delightful and seldom found anywhere, let alone a 70s masculine.

These top notes transition into cinnamon, carnation, and geranium, so what we have is something in a similar vein to Hermes Equipage and YSL Pour Homme (two magnificent fragrances in their own right). However, Ghibli reveals a certain furry animalic undertone, far more musky than the aforementioned, flanked with incense and amber: a plot twist, as it were. Ghibli turns out to be even more dark, brooding, and mysterious further into its development; an aromatic floral that shape-shifts into a spicy, musky amber. It somehow makes me feel nostalgic and wistful, like I am recalling faded memories of a far off place that I never actually visited in my lifetime.

Ghibli is a rare and unique beauty.

A rather mysterious scent: mysterious name, mysterious brown triangular bottle, mysterious liquid inside - and mysteriously hard to obtain. A quiet opening, which put me in mind slightly of a slow stream tinged with lavender, lemon and peat. A development that seems to belong to the same territory as that sometimes explored by niche houses like Etro: a beige or brown aura that is slight, mild and reserved. Then a stronger edge of earth and tobacco. At the risk of sounding distinctly weird, it is imaginatively a bit like visiting the lair of some rather civilized and friendly underground animal. There is almost a smell of warm, sleeping puppies about it. Thumbs up for strangeness.