Chapter One for the Colder Months

Chapter One has eight extraits. Four of them carry their weight in amber, resin, woods and smoke: 05 Plum Beneath Snow, 07 The Last Golden Hour, 01 Before The Crown and 08 Beyond The Horizon. This essay reads those four for autumn and winter, then two softer ones built on musk, and the two brightest for grey mornings.

05 Plum Beneath Snow

Its description begins "Dark fruit, warm under a cold sky." Syrupy plum and spice sit over smoked oud and resin, and the description calls the result opulent, and a little severe. The name already places it in winter. Plum Beneath Snow, Note by Note follows each of its four notes, and Oud Without the Mythology covers the material in its base.

07 The Last Golden Hour

"The light, just before it goes." Warm amber and blonde tobacco, bitter orange against dried fruit and rum, with tonka and vanilla beneath. Seven notes are listed, the most of any bottle in the chapter, and it is the sweetest of the four. Where 05 is dark fruit and resin, 07 is tobacco and rum. The Last Golden Hour, Note by Note takes them one at a time.

01 Before The Crown

"The hour before everything changes." Cool pineapple and citrus open against smoke and ashen birch. It is the brightest of the four, so it suits someone who wants smoke without sweetness. Three Kinds of Smoke sets it beside 05 and 08, and Before The Crown, Note by Note reads it on its own.

08 Beyond The Horizon

"The line where the day opens out." Bright bergamot and ginger dissolve into smoky black tea and warm amber woods, so here the smoke belongs to the tea. If you already wear 04 Tea Beneath Clouds, 08 is the darker of the two tea fragrances in the chapter. Beyond The Horizon, Note by Note has the detail.

Two to wear close

03 Space Between Us is a soft, milky musk with powdery iris and orange blossom, "close enough to feel the warmth of skin." 04 Tea Beneath Clouds brings bright bergamot to oolong tea, with fig and soft musk beneath. Both are built around musk, which suits a scarf, a sweater, a warm room. Musk, Tea and Citrus in Chapter One reads them together.

The two brightest

02 What Remains of Summer is ripe mango and bright pomelo with a ginger edge over dry amber and vetiver: "heat held a little longer than it should be." 06 Sun Through Linen is juicy orange, bright bergamot and ginger. If winter is when you miss the sun, start with these. Four Bright Openings compares how they begin.

What comes next

The next releases go further in this direction: darker, fruit-forward, smoky incense fragrances, alongside soft musks and skin scents worn close. Each release is about 35 bottles in all, made by hand in La Conner, Washington, and people on the list get two full days to buy before it opens to everyone.

If you are choosing for someone else, or can't decide between two of these, write to Dave. He composes every Aether fragrance and answers every email himself, and he can include a handwritten note with a gift. Gifting has the details.