STRANGELOVE NYC
afirewithin EDP

2024

PERFUMER
Hamid Merati-Kashani

vanilla
apple
cypress

carrot
chamomile
geranium
oud

pink pepper
spicy notes
cedarwood
incense

After I heard that afirewithin was not made by Christophe Laudamiel, who’d made all the previous Strangelove, I became a bit skeptical. Especially when afirewithin was released as a Harrods exclusive initially and the brand seemed to have turn over a new leaf in terms of marketing. First reactions to afirewithin also painted a more mass appealing and vanilla-heavy picture and I was expecting a more generic release this time around. I’m here to tell you that my skepticism was a bit overblown and afirewithin is not nearly as safe or mass appealing as I anticipated.

In fact, there’s something about this opening hour here that I find up there with the hardest to wear from the Strangelove collection, next to silencethesea. And I find myself thinking about ambergris in afirewithin as well (even though that’s not what it is).

I suppose it’s the fresher, aromatic spices and herbs that create a slightly unsettling contrast with the sweetness. Vanilla is here for sure, but it feels very very heavy on the frankincense, which in itself has a medicinal, freshness built-in alongside its sweet side. It’s the reason I rarely feel 100% comfortable with frankincense-centric fragrances and afirewithin doubles down on this aspect. Fresh and fiery; with a subtle hint of ‘barbecue’ bacon smokiness to my nose as well in the first minutes.

Now, this is all relatively manageable in reality; it’s easily wearable to me and it fades, to make way for a more conventional incense-heavy amber. Yet, it’s still far from mass appealing; it has a dry, pungent, Middle Eastern style sweetness. Maybe I’m lead on by the apple-oud combination in the notes (I don’t actual smell apple in this), to make me think of fragrances such as Frederic Malle Promise or OmanLuxury Oud Aquilaria. Even Marc-Antoine Barrois B683 Extrait. That harsh, unrelentless wave comes at you from start to finish, but in afirewithin there remains a strongly contrasting freshness to the amber accord and woods. It’s loud and dry, almost powdery at the same time.

Does afirewithin wear differently than the Laudamiel collection from the brand? Yes, absolutely, and I do prefer some of the older releases greatly over this. But its replaced with something more daring and perhaps more Middle Eastern styled than I was ‘afraid of’, and I’d argue similarly artisinal. Not for me, but an interesting new addition to the brand’s line-up in my opinion.