Nox
Angela Ciampagna (2015)

First impression was a freshness in the direction of lilac (terpineol). I can also relate to Luca Turin's association to a church crypt, but it's not the usual incense, something different and I agree with Turin when he says it's "lovely stuff".

On the negative side, I see it contains the usual dose of salt, along with practically every other perfume on the market. Salt has no odour so won't interfere with the fragrance; all the same, I can't believe all this salt is doing us any good.

In summary a great perfume, but keep an eye on your blood pressure.

An interesting, bracing scent based around salty florals (think also Fleurs de Sel) and some nose-clearing cedar in the base. Frankly I think some of the other notes are lost. Good development, interesting concept, and certainly demonstrable high quality, but not my kind of thing.

There's nothing wrong with confounding expectations, but then one had better deliver something that improves on the original premise. I'm not sure if this is the case with Nox which is pitched as a salty interpretation of Hinoki but whose realization is thoroughly mixed up.
Hinoki is an odour of some delicacy, lemony-woody for sure, but its essence is a dry mellowness which shouldn't really be tampered with. Here this lovely note is paired with cedar (to which it has some resemblance), swirled in greens, dosed with indistinct but calorific florals, and more or less completely subdued by a hefty salty licorice (familiar from other offerings in Ciampagna's line) which gains a hay-like aspect during the evolution.
The result is wearable if somewhat morphed and has a brash vitality about it. But I can't help thinking that the original, much more tempting, idea of a salted hinoki gets a bit lost in the brew we've been served up.

Nox goes on with a nose tingling turpentine-like green, dark woody cypress accord. Moving to the early heart the natural smelling green dark woods take the fore as slightly sharp cedarwood gradually joins the cypress, supported primarily by black peppery resin with a dirty cumin spice facet and a faint salty accord additionally in the background. During the late dry-down the composition shifts gears as powdery relatively dry vanilla takes control with a light, vague woody undertone through the finish. Projection is good and longevity excellent at over 12 hours on skin.

Nox is kind of an odd composition. It starts with a relatively off-putting sharp woody green accord that literally felt like it singed nose hair, causing it to tingle rather aggressively. Getting past the weird aggressive open, the composition stays more than a bit outside the norm, as the initial accord joins a cypress and cedar woody mix that stays very dark and green, flanked by some very heavy spice. The spice is really just as much a player as the woods, as there is a huge amount of pepper resin, coming off with a cumin-like dirty facet when paired with the dark green woods. It wouldn't surprise me if there really *was* some cumin in the composition as well. At this point the composition while interesting, is rather unappealing and difficult to wear. Luckily, as time passes the spice and woods gradually mellow to a point that they are much more tolerable and even near-pleasant smelling. The late dry-down is a rather mundane dry powdery vanilla focused affair, but it is welcome relief from the aggressive spicy-woody green middle, finishing things off less interesting but a lot more pleasant. All-in-all the composition has its moments, but the negatives to a degree outweigh the positives making Nox one that is a bit of a tough sell. The bottom line is Nox certainly gets points for being different for most of its development, but in the end, "different" does not necessarily mean "good," and in this case the final verdict is more of a rather "average" 2.5 stars out of 5 rating and a "neutral" recommendation.

Angela Ciampagna Nox is an earthy-mossy-floral (slightly medicinal and vaguely camphoraceous) hinoki's rendition. The cedary woodiness is by soon humid, really earthy, darkly green and realistic (at least for a part of the run), the floral notes are quite vegetal and rooty (with a violet-like melancholic woody twist- cyclamen seems prominent). I detect a really mossy-herbaceous vibe all around by soon flanked by a really pharmaceutical aura (the artemisia-patchouli accord is quite grassy and rooty-aromatic, bergamot is deep and "fizzy"). The woodiness is typically cedary (the hinoki's vibe is there sharply spicy and woodsy resinous, in part vaguely incensey). I catch a touch of slightly dissonant grassy/soapy acidity in the middle of the rooty-herbal depth. There is a more than vague saltiness all around supposedly provided by pink pepper and herbal/hesperidic fizziness (a touch of vetiver??). Along the way the "spiciness" recedes (as well as the "apothecary" vibe) and a more ordinary soapy/detergent-muskiness takes the stage (in a far less interesting way). The general evolution conjures me partially the Testa Maura Acqua di Casta's run but several further scents jump slightly on mind too for several of their nuances (So Oud Nur and several Oriza L. Legrand's and Geo F. Trumper's as for instance Wild Fern). Neutral is my humble dry down's rating despite I find the top and the central stage quite compelling and enjoyable.
P.S: the dry down becomes gradually more salty (with a touch of "ozone"), vaguely vanillic , piquant (still or more peppery) and sweetly spicy (anyway the sweetness is quite moderate throughout).

I love hinoki and often wear it as a solo note, but to me, it's like a dressed-up cedar. Nox places hinoki at the center of the composition, but blurs the focus in a way that neither transforms the note into something larger than itself, nor features it in the way that draws out its best points. The leads to a perfume that smells a bit Declaration-cumin to me – which isn't a bad thing, but doesn't strike me as the greatest treatment of hinoki.

Essentially, what this scent does is to adds greenery to a note that's best served dry. There's a patchouli in there (earthy and green) and some coniferous / herbal items that are too subdued to register as anything specific. The result is almost like hinoki through a green filter – the image tinted into a slightly unrecognizable state. Fortunately, the scent is quite airy so you're not getting clubbed down with heavy notes, but the overall effect isn't holding my attention in the way I wish it would. It's not as confident a composition as others in the line, and personally, I'd rather wear the hinoki by itself. Nox doesn't smell bad, but it is a tad uninspired and a bit uninspiring.