Hwyl
Aesop (2017)

The opening and mid notes remind me of 2 Man from CDG, and then the cypress and oakmoss become more prominent, resembling Hinoki from CDG. It's around 75% Hinoki and 25% 2 Man. I have to give it credit for having better performance than Hinoki, and it stands out from the Aesop line.

Hinoki was released in 2008 and this one in 2017, so I won't give it points for originality. However, if I had to choose, I would go with this one. The price isn't as steep as the other Aesop fragrances, but it's not cheap either. Performance is moderate at around 6 hours with around two hours of decent projection. It's not the longest-lasting fragrance, but I'm not complaining. I would deduct a few points if this were as expensive as the other scents in the line.

This is essentially Hinoki Intense. The spices are amplified, and the olibanum shines a bit brighter through the clean cypress. It's worth sampling.

The first spray is a delicious noseful of a really subtle, clean smoke, and a cool bittergreen mix of cypress and herbs. It settles into a dark, forested, still faintly bitter grounded smell. It's somewhat reminiscent of some of the Japanese cypress incense sticks I have around, and overall is an ascetic and refined forest scent (definitely *not* the wilderness, more of a meditation retreat). Like other Aesops I've known, it doesn't last that long unless I take a (for me) exceptionally heavy hand with the sprayer, but it's lovely.

Hello Earthhhhh! Hwyl brings out my inner backwoods dweller with its mix of mud, forest greens and high grade incense. Perfect for wafting at any New Age gathering and for reminding oneself why a connection with nature seems to be hotwired to our notions of spirituality. Uplift all around – and with a bit of muck thrown in. What's not to like?
The drydown is a touch smokier and less earthy – but it's all still happening in the coniferous forest.

Oh what a shame - with a name like ‘hwyl' it promised so much but in the end it was a ‘hwyl' disappointment (sorry - 'real'!)

The opening is amazing - a mysterious and brooding fug of smokey earth with a bit of conifer (so far so good).

But all that's quickly over powered by a minty medicinal vibe somewhere between stale chewing gum and Covonia cough expectorant, and the subtle conifer becomes an overpowering pine note, as if some pine-needles are stuck to some chewing gum on the bottom of someone's shoe, and are being ground down and intensified as the person walks home from the drugstore.

I'm upset to be so down on this one - nothing particularly ‘stirring' about it at all - other than ‘stirring' together a bathroom cabinet of cough sweets, toothpaste and radix pine shower gel. Why couldn't they have just stuck with the opening...?

Musky is the word to describe this scent. Just perfect for the cold winder evenings out.

I stop smelling it about two-three hours after applying it to my skin, so the sillage isn't all that great, but other people still can and have complimented me on it.

Happened to be in an Aesop store looking to purchase some of the wonderful smelling hand soaps and noticed they had fragrance, which I never knew. Was very intrigued as I love the smell of pretty much all their products, and their quality is very high across the board.

Tried out Hwyl bought my soaps and then walked around for an hour, and then went straight back to buy a bottle.

I would say it's very similar to many of the CdG's, Wonderwood, Blackpepper, Hinoki, Sequoia, Kyoto, which I always like at first but have never been able to wear as they all give me a headache, must be the ISO E...but much more wearable and warm, less austere/dry and chemical/artificial. This probably has some ISO E in it (what doesn't?!), but I think much lower levels than CdG's.

Definitely has an AESOP feel to it if you know any of there products. It's strong stuff and I have only been using a dab.

It's not unusual or groundbreaking but just a very nice warm and balanced interplay of incense, spice and woods...definitely for fall/winter. Definitely a grounding and spa-like smell if you're into that kind of thing but one you'd have to be careful about applying too much of.