WHAT I SMELL:  Morning Chess opens with a sparkling, yet muted bergamot that is soon met with a lightly sweetened leather.  Quickly a blackberry/currant note enters in the most ethereal way.  It’s light, doesn’t overpower and it’s completely dreamlike.  And gliding right behind the berries enters an evergreen note.  Here, the perfume feels like a warmed northern forest partially lit from the sun as it hits the top of the trees and the green grass that it manages to reach at the forest bottom below.  As it continues to develop, the green fir moves to the warmer with a low dose golden amber.  Here, the perfume feels like you’re in a warmed meadow at the edge of the forest where the smell of the fir lingers in the air.   In the end, the perfume dances between a berry like lightly sweet patchouli and the fir.  In all, the perfume maintains the lightest of touch and the fir notes stay muted in perfect harmony with the fruit and leather.  Morning Chess is an exceptional perfume with a Scandinavian sensibility…it’s simple, clean and perfectly peaceful.

From the Vilhelm Parfumerie website:

Bright endless mornings in a cottage, minds battling in wit over a chessboard: the memories of Jan’s summers shared with his grandfather. The ripe, green lushness of summer on the Swedish coast, where grassy notes are light enough to hint at the evergreen sharpness of the distant winter air.

Top:  Bergamot
Middle : Tuscan Leather, Galbanum
Base : Patchouli, Black Amber

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  A dreamlike Swedish garden spot.

THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE MORNING CHESS:  calming, comforting, contented

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT MORNING CHESS:  Life in a Cold Climate, Now Smell This

BOTTOM LINE:  The other morning I had applied Morning Chess before heading out of the house. When I came back hours later, I jumped in the pool to cool off.  In between my dozing on my float, I kept getting whiffs of the most beautiful lightly berried fir scent and wondered where it was coming from.  Finally, I realized that the incredibly pretty scent was coming from me.  The heat of the sun had pulled the perfume off of my skin and surrounded me in the most beautiful haze.  Not many perfumes can enrapture me in such a way.

• Bone Rating: 4.5 out of possible 5 bones
• Scent: Leather
• Nose: Jerome Epinette
• Classification: Unisex
• Expense: $150 for 50 ml eau de parfum at Twisted Lily Fragrance Boutique and Apothecary

* Sample provided by Twisted Lily Fragrance Boutique and Apothecary.