Criteria:
25% Concept, 50% Olfactory, 25% Technical
Category: Artisan / Independent Niche

“Independent perfumer Paul Kiler’s new creation is already born in an unusual way, being recognized and awarded at the 2019 Art & Olfaction Awards. In fact Paul delivers something exceptional here, different and challenging, something that somehow takes back the roots of perfumery in an exploration that could have produced something common but which is done here with great boldness and risk. Maderas de Oriente Oscuro is for me an ode to perfume as a liturgical and spiritual element, a kind of olfactory trance around the burning of aromatic woods, which carry within them the aromatic elements impregnated in their wood chips.

When the perfumer describes on his website that Maderas de Oriente Oscuro is a Dark Woody Oriental he is not joking or softening his scent. Perhaps I see this creation as a tribute to a perfumery classic of the past that is practically forgotten today, the Maderas de Oriente perfume from the Spanish Myrurgia. Paul seems perhaps to be inspired by the religious and exotic symbolism of this 1920s perfume and to re-contextualize it practically in Native American shamanism. It is an ode to North America in its earliest and most spiritual way.

On the skin, the perfume opens with a complex smoky aroma, as if we were actually feeling the pyrolysis of a blend of woods loaded with aromatic resins. The perfumer builds the concept of cherry wood smoke by including that smoky, woody aroma with a juicy and fruity cherry note that is virtually hidden if you do not pay attention. It is possible to perceive in a peripheral way a honey aroma that is between the sweetish aspect of a honey candy and the raw and animalic aroma of honey. I also notice a guaiac aroma more clearly and an impression of resinous incense that reminds me of the aroma of Palo Santo. You can still see a humid earthy cedar in the background combined with aromas of moss and patchouli.

There are more nuances to be discovered in this virtually photo-realistic capture of a religious ritual from the perspective of the smoking / burning woods. Paul takes a risky path by delivering a near-perfect scent whose perhaps defiance of its construction prevents it from getting there. It is not a creation for beginners in perfumery, but for those seeking the new, the risky, the radically bold, the conceptual. And for those, what is delivered here is unique.”