Purple Haze by 19-69

There are a number of fragrances from this brand, 19-69, that I'm really enjoying. The brand came out in 2017. The person behind it is a Swedish artist and product developer named Johan Bergellen. He collaborated with various different Swedish artisans, French and Italian artisans to come up with this collection, which in my opinion is so well done. Each one is telling a story of a specific time and place and has its own unique mood. The one I've been wearing the most since I got to know the line in the first place is Purple Haze. With a name like Purple Haze in 19-69, you're going to be thinking about Jimi Hendrix, you're going to be thinking about Woodstock and the counterculture of the 60s and going into the 70s. It should come as no surprise that this fragrance features patchouli. Patchouli is a funny thing. I feel I have to be so careful when I say the P word to some people because it triggers them and immediately shuts them off. I don't even want to smell that. I don't like patchouli. But you do. A lot of people do like patchouli, whether they know it or not. Patchouli is a funny thing. On its own, sure, I'm not the biggest fan of it if you just take some patchouli essential oil and dab it on. It's a little bit too mentholated in a way that I don't like. But I have really nice associations with it because in my personal history, when I was growing up, goths wore patchouli and they also smoked clove cigarettes and something about this combination with such a wonderful smell that makes me a little bit nostalgic. Although it's called Purple Haze and the bottle has a really nice purple in the base, it actually starts off very, very green. I'm thinking specifically a canopy of trees like cypress trees, evergreen trees. You get that nice beautiful outdoor smell. I was wearing this the other day and my coworker was like, you just smell like the outdoors. I love that feeling. In addition to the tree notes, then you also get a great violet. Violet is used in traditional fougeres, this old school masculine scent which comes across as very clean, very beautiful. And then there's a gherkin balsam and black pepper and these are bringing out those balsamic notes which add to that quality of being in the woods under canopy of trees. Now I've been wearing this fragrance all week so I'm familiar with how it dries down and I sprayed it on earlier so I'm in the dry down right now on my wrist and it's changed quite a bit. It's less green for sure, less sunny and sparkly and now it's more subdued, earthy and the patchouli comes through but in a very careful blended way. It's not honking itself, its presence. I love it. In fact, it kind of reminds me now of classic masculine shippers of the 70s and 80s. It has a very French quality and I love those classic fragrances because to me they are just sheer sophistication. I just feel very grown up and sophisticated like I know what I'm doing when I'm wearing a fragrance like this. But it doesn't have that powerhouse quality that the fragrances from the 70s and 80s have. It's a little bit more modern up to date in that it stays a little bit closer to here. But I've been getting great reactions with this fragrance and I already know this is going to be something that's in my rotation for quite a long time. So I highly recommend it. Whether you like patchouli or not, you need to try Purple Haze from 1969.