What does it feel like taking a deep breath whilst standing in a wild Hinoki forest on Yakushima island, just off the coast of southern Japan? How are your five senses stimulated by the imposing 7,000-year-old trees growing all around you? Inspired by the ancient practice of forest bathing, or Shinrin-Yoku, Heretic’s Dirty Hinoki fragrance was created to express the multi-sensory experience of clearing your mind and opening yourself up to the nature around you. Grounding and reassuring, yet with a fresh edge, this is a scent that harnesses both the power and the peace of an ancient woodland.
The smooth, citrusy, and herbal note of hinoki wood runs through the top, heart and base of this fragrance, and is accompanied by cozy and reassuring sacred resins and cashmere as well as complex woody notes from Himalayan cedar, cypress, elemi, Siberian fir, and balsam. The result is a perfume which exudes enduring strength, eternal elegance and refined proportions, while promoting a sense of safety and protection. Hinoki’s proven ability to alleviate anxiety and depression and soothe the nervous system makes it an especially powerful companion when we need to take a beat from our busy lives and remind ourselves of our primeval connection with the woods.
Like all of Heretic’s scents, Dirty Hinoki is a truly functional fragrance where they’ve gone to great lengths to ensure that the wearer’s physical and mental wellbeing are enhanced by their perfume of choice. In this instance, they used shinrin-yoku as their muse after having taken a deep dive into recent scientific studies about the benefits of forest bathing. The evidence shows that mindfully immersing yourself in this way can not only reduce blood pressure, lower the stress hormone cortisol, and improve concentration, but the phytoncides released by the trees may also boost the immune system.
Part of Heretic’s Dirty collection, where classically beautiful natural ingredients are given a new spin – their hair let down, their lipstick smudged, and new territory explored.
NOTES
Top: Lemon, Cedar, Nutmeg, Thyme, Pine
Middle: Hinoki, Cypress
Base: Elemi, Wormwood, Fir Absolute, Ambrettolide, Balsam, Frankincense
PERFUMER
Douglas Little
HOW IT WEARS
We imagine Dirty Hinoki as the scent of the steam coming off an onsen in the forest. Opening with lemon, bright and juicy, steeped with the green, herbaceous and mossy notes, as the steam rises from the herbal bath, it permeates the trees and foliage around it. In the dry down you pick up the cedar, the hinoki, and the cypress which meld with mystical incense and fizzy elemi. Woody but without the heaviness that can sometimes accompany rich woods, Dirty Hinoki feels weightless on the skin and uplifting for the soul. We get about 6 hours of wear of Dirty Hinoki, with a projection that will have you deep-breathing and tranquil all day.
LORE LOVES
Dirty Hinoki is the ultimate fresh woody fragrance. Seriously. It’s actually surprisingly sweet, but not in a gourmand way, in a resinous way, due to the elemi, wormwood, and balsam. It’s crisp and fresh, but still with roots firmly planted in the ground. If you ever need an olfactory pick-me-up, Dirty Hinoki is the perfect fragrance to spritz on – you’ll feel immediately uplifted and ready to take on the day.
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