Haxan
Parfum Prissana (2018)

A lovely composition from Prin Lomros in collaboration with Rajesh Balkrishnan. An agrestic-fougere with a twist, unlike anything I have smelled. I don't get the whole witchcraft mumbo jumbo. This perfume is rather luminous, like the brightest days spent in the summer fields. A complex composition that plays on the Fougere edge through the use of lavender and several aromatic herbs while also nodding to the countryside by employing grassy, hay-like, and earthy accords, as well as goat hair tincture. The latter is barely detectable, as opposed to other works of his. More than anything, it helps to provide a beautifully warm creaminess to the base. The mushroom is prominent, especially in the early stages, alongside spruce, galbanum, and hay. The lavender is there but kept in check by clever usage of cashmeran and beeswax to caress its potentially abrasive nature. It is well blended and feels like a polished perfume, sophisticated and easy to wear while offering an olfactory journey. You will smell unique without polarizing your surroundings, as most of his creations are notorious for—an early favorite of mine from the house.

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Green, resinous, spicy and smoky - that's how I would describe Haxan in a nutshell. Very complex with long development on my skin. The dominant vibe is herbaceousness with some oriental and animalic notes hanging around. As with others from the brand, excellent sillage and longevity.

One of my favourites from Prin Lomros.

VERY complex, with a floral open quickly receding to favor cedar and pine, with a subtle leather overtone. Honestly gives the impression of having layered at least two distinctive perfumes...Fascinating to explore, but not necessarily wearable as a signature. Like a complex, but difficult to drink wine.

It wears as a somewhat fresh airy scent, almost water-like (not with the dark aspects one might attach to its name). Interestingly, I don't find any aspect of it particularly sharp on the skin. The endless list of notes is perhaps over the top, I agree. It's still very well blended for this nose (not getting one note over another). Very wearable without being sweet; gender neutral. Original - will look forward to exploring more from this house.

Haxan opens with a relatively dry cedar wood and woody vetiver starring tandem, tempered by a tinge of slightly sweet sandalwood and aromatic patchouli before transitioning to its heart. As the composition enters its early heart, the slightly sweet sandalwood and patchouli remain, now supporting a strong, damp mushroom accord that takes the fore, with additional green spruce and earthy aromatic cypress support. During the late dry-down, the woods and mushroom accord vacate leaving remnants of the patchouli in support of a focal aromatic, slightly sweet green fir balsam that emerges and remains strong through the finish. Projection is average, but longevity is excellent at around 12 hours on skin.

Haxan has a laundry list of notes, some rather exotic and the truth is the more objective note breakdown above doesn't cover even a tenth of them. I found myself struggling, especially in the mid-section trying to identify individual notes and eventually gave up and just "went with it." One accord that really sticks out, however, is the mushroom. I am not a fan of mushrooms at all, and when paired with the patchouli and the aromatic slightly sweet greens it was quite unsettling and not particularly pleasant smelling. On the flip-side, the disappointing middle is flanked by an impressive woody natural smelling cedar and vetiver led open, and a fine fir balsam led finish that makes grading Haxan quite tough, but in the end they just can't overcome the odd musky mushroom dominated middle. The bottom line is the $140 per 30ml Haxan proves a bit too ambitious to succeed due to its laundry list of odd notes that don't quite come together well in the critical mid-section to yield anything more than an "average" 2.5 stars out of 5 rating and a neutral recommendation.

Haxan...a cacaphony of juniper berry and oakmoss to my nose although neither note is listed in the 38 notes that "are" listed. This is a very sharp scent that slashes the senses in a way that those who love say, Mousse Illuminee by Rouge or Itasca by Lubin will absolutely love. In fact, this smells A LOT like Itasca. They are very closely related when it comes to the overall smell that they produce even though there are different notes listed. The minute I sprayed Haxan on my skin I thought, "okay...I've definitely smelled this before", and after about three minutes with Haxan it hit me that it was Itasca. Neither of them are frags that I need to spend much time with as they are what I refer to as very sharp and slashing to my senses. Haxan is well made, but it's not a love or a need for me.