Ghost House
Anna Zworykina Perfumes

Zworykina's narrative for Ghost House is fitting: the mix of incense resins, agarwood/guaiac, a dry patchouli, dark rose, and faint sharp vetiver effectively conjure a musty abandoned mansion. I found it a bit off-putting at first: there's nothing ingratiating about this scent. It's also no great performer—after the initial scowl, it retreats to hug the skin. Still, it's grown on me like moss as the hours have passed, much as creaky old houses slowly reveal their charms. It recalls a "grand maison" my then-fiancée and I visited in New Orleans that so enchanted us, we thought about buying it. It would have required more work and money than we were prepared to expend, never mind relocating, but we still have wistful memories of the place.

As with la grand maison, I might not give into my temptation to buy a bottle of Ghost House. I do, however, find myself tempted to furnish a room with century-old Palo Santo floorboards. Thumbs up either way.

I get a blast of cold orris in the opening of this, creating that ghostly/misty presence. This gives way to a dusty, woody scent that's rooted in earthiness and reminiscent of an abandoned house that's outlived generations of mortals. It's an interesting, atmospheric scent that lives up to its name.

A one of a kind, totally weird (in a good sense) one. A phantasmagoric house in the middle of forest, a foggy transilvanian early morning. A fragrance which manages to be cold and warm all in one. A Ghost House represents my first approach with the Anna Zworykina's alchemic experience and I have to say that this scent lives up to its sinister name. A misty, indecipherable, vaguely floral, balsamic aura envelopes by soon my senses in a sort of fuzzy, translucent, transcendent, puzzling vaguely medicinal embrace. This ghostly misty-resinous aroma is balsamic/medicinal, rooty/herbal and ashy/smoky/cedary/vaguely mineral at same time (supposedly this complex effect kind of being mostly provided by choya loban, cassia, cistus and leafy rose). Conceptually I catch elements in common with the Durbano Black Tourmaline's impersonal and abstract mistiness but whereas the latter turns out prevalently mineral and ashy A Ghost House is more properly vegetal, kind of hay-like (abstractly woody) and medicinal (with a sort of muffled kind of leafy-vegetal, hay-like, ostensibly aldehydic and "hyperbaric" vibe a la Andrea Maack). The note of oudh is in here basically rubbery under my profane nose. Frankincense and choya loban are not traditionally incensey but more weirdly vegetal, ashy, rooty, vaguely rubbery/leathery, gasseous and pharmaceutical (partially a la Boadicea the Victorious Complex and Santa Maria Novella Nostagia). Evolution is not laborious, just the juice becoming more and more warm, smoky, abstract, woody-rooty and balsamic along the way. Dry down smells like a watered down (not in a bad acception) sort of Hascish Homme by Veejaga. I recommend testing this fragrance to all those nonconformist and solitary spirits with the deep soul intimately sucked by dark forest's mysterious loneliness.