Deep Midnight A Study in Brown Review

Brand: Deep Midnight
Availability: General Catalog
Notes: A scented story of aromatic copal, nutty tonka bean, oak wood smoke, and toasted sugar

First impression out of bottle: Smoky wood and sugar

Freshly applied: You can taste the crunchy brown sugar crystals, which are sweetening up the gorgeous resinous wood notes. There's also strong smoke here. It smells like a very sweet and smoky version of Solstice Scents' Attic. It has that same resiny astringency that I love, but overlaid with a toasted sugar topping.

Like this, but with sugar

Drydown: This gets less sugary as it dries, and more nutty. The tonka is a great note here that's sort of surprising. It's not sweet but it's a bit earthy in a non-woodsy way. This starts to smell more like slightly sweet toasted nuts, resin, wood, and a hint of clingy woodsmoke.

Smoky toasted nuts

After several hours: Same as above. This gets to be faint after a few hours, but is a scent that clings nonetheless. 

Longevity: High, but the sillage fades later
Sillage: Very high at first, moderate amount of time with high sillage, then toward the 8 hour mark, this fades to a whispery light scent

Would an [X] lover love this? I think any fan of woodsy perfumes would love this. It has the characteristic astringency and wood notes that someone who loves cedar, pine, redwood, teak, oud, or mahogany would like. The smoke is just enough to make you think of a forest, not like an actual fire. The sweetness never crosses over into being too girly, I can see this on a man or a woman.

Would an [X] hater love this? I think even people who are frightened of woodsy scents or find them too assertive would love this. It's playful, a little lilting and charming, not super straightforward or bold. It's got strong, assertive notes, but it's a little sweet and fuzzy around the edges. I think this is a beginner-friendly scent, especially for a man who isn't accustomed to wearing perfumes.

Where am I? t makes me think of your hot lumberjack boyfriend who comes in from the cold with his flannel shirt stinking of wood and smoke. Then he eats a plate of cookies, and you wear the flannel the next day and it's a beautiful mix of earthy natural notes and sweet gourmand.

Where would I wear this? Work, home, weekdays. It's not quite sexy/sultry enough for nighttime. I like very girly scents, so maybe that's why it reads more daytime to me. It's sexy in a subtle, masculine way, but not ostentatious, so definitely work-appropriate. This has a cold-weather feel, but would be good to wear in the last hot days of September as well.