psy_cou

psy_cou explores the fresh-mown-hay facet of coumarin. Frank Voelkl brings that dry grassy character into contact with cool spices and darker, smoky textures, allowing the material to take a less sweet role.

Perfumer Frank Voelkl set out to free coumarin from its pull toward sugar. Rather than its almond-like side, he focused on what the brand calls the molecule's true nature: the smell of fresh-mown hay. Cool, sparkling juniper berries and cardamom, along with creamy palo santo wood, used as incense in sacred Ecuadorian rituals, cast light on that hay.

Saffron plays the opposite role, drawing out burnt shadings of coffee, incense and oud. The listed notes are coumarin, cardamom, juniper berries, coffee, incense, saffron, oud and palo santo. Bright hay and smoky darkness sit side by side, making this a good study of coumarin with its sweetness held back.