There's a crack in the mirror and a bloodstain on the bed...

CB I Hate Perfume Wild Hunt

I love that vampires are back in vogue.

As an adolescent I always felt an affinity for the supernatural and macabre. Maybe it was the familial ghost stories that are passed down like precious heirlooms in my family, like that time my aunt saw footprints on the ceiling or how Mother Nanny or Aint Lee grew up on the “most haunted road in Texas.” Regardless, I never understood the Victorian prayer to deliver us from “ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night.” I was always fascinated and drawn to the bumping, not scared of it. This carried over pretty heavily into my teenage fashion, which was at the height of the Anne Rice vampire frenzy. At the time, though, I did not have a fragrance that could match the inky threads wrapped around a body that housed was I was sure was a dark, dark soul.

One of the scents I frequently associate with all things dança da morteis fresh turned earth. The graveyard. The freshly risen – vamp, mummy, zombie, whathaveyou. To that end, CB I Hate Perfume Wild Hunt encompasses everything I find alluring about Death and her siblings.

Christopher Brosius describes Wild hunt as follows:

This is the fourth scent in my series of primal smells.
Wild Hunt is the scent of an ancient forest in the heat of a summer afternoon. It is a blend of Torn Leaves, Crushed Twigs, Flowing Sap, Fallen Branches, Old Leaves, Green Moss, Fir, Pine and Tiny Mushrooms.

When I smell Wild Hunt I am transported to every darkened movie theatre, screening that quintessential horror film opening that begs for the voiceovers of Vincent Price. Wild Hunt is all about the end and its glorious possibilities. It starts out like the smell of bare hands plunged directly into freshly turned, wet earth. Not the clay/sand/soil “gumbo” soil I grew up with along the coast either; deep, black, rich soil, like the expensive kind my grandmother used to buy for her rose bushes. Soil meant to move and shake and break down and build up. Soil that screams, “Life!” in the way that Frost meant when he said, “If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles. You will hardly know who I am or what I mean.” The smell is strong and real and holds you there, in the presence of the moment. There are hints of greenness, but mostly what I get is warm, wet dirt. (It’s amazing to me how much I love the smell of dirt. I would never have realized it in my pre-perfumista life, but I do now. I love dirt.)

After about fifteen minutes, a sweet floral something comes into the mix. On me it reminds me of the taste of clover honey. It’s sweet and warm and a little bit cinnamon-y. In my macabre mind, it might represent the fresh flowers left at a grave sight, or the point at which nature begin creeping back in, taking over the soil and all that lies below.

People are attracted to death for a lot of reasons – fear or fascination with the unknown, lost loved ones still yearned for, a desire to live in a world that simply acknowledges all of life’s magic and mystery through a manifestation in the real. All and all, I think Wild Hunt makes for a fascinating olfactory adventure, and this fabulous fragrance can aid your imagination’s wandering through the multitudinous what-ifs. And if you’ve got a niece or younger sister or friend who is currently riding the wild tides of True Blood or Twilight, gift them with a sample of Wild Hunt. Had sixteen year old me known such a scent existed, I would have worn it 24-7.

"They used to dance in the garden in the middle of the night.
They were naked as the day they were born, skin all bone-china white.
Oh, you were a vampire, and I may never see the light.
Oh, you were a vampire, and I may never see the light.
I got the ways and means to New Orleans.
I'm going down by the river, where it's warm and green.
I'm gonna have a drink and walk around.
I've got a lot to think about..."
~ “Bloodletting (The Vampire Song),” Concrete Blonde

CB I Hate Perfume Wild Hunt is available direct from the perfumer, as well as through a number of distributors, including LuckyScent.

For more reviews, try:
~ A review by Perfume Smellin' Things.
~ A bunch of CB I HATE Perfume quick reviews in one large post from Nathan Branch.