Hossegor
A Lab on Fire (2018)

Definitely an oceanic scent with mineral notes and citrus, very similar to Aqua Motu and dries in the same powdery, cheap ingredients way. Not a fan. Not bad, but nothing at all special. Not really modern aquatic on me, either, closer to the sea water I’m looking for, but without power or substance. I gave it another try another day and got a much better grassy herbal smell but it dries to a sharp wood. Skipping this.

An interesting piece of work. Hossegor starts off exactly as promised, largely mastic (which smells like lemony incense) with pepper and green woodsy juniper for lift, and a bunch of calone saltiness.

The peppery lemon mastic stays the focus for quite a while, with a subtle plasticky quality quietly coming in underneath (my best guess is that it's the drydown of some kind of aldehyde). Hours in, it slowly morphs into lemony tobacco, while dark green woods come in as the base, cleverly echoing the juniper on top.

I like Hossegor, though it takes its time to tell it's story, to the point where the basenotes seem really faint by the time they arrive. Nonetheless, I'm enjoying it as a mastic scent and appreciate its creativity. Thumbs up.